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Fans of Beyoncé and Lady Gaga waited with baited breath ahead of the release of the former's new album, Cowboy Carter, and while they may not have got what they wanted, there was an Easter egg on the record for them.
The 42-year-old star dropped her much anticipated country album on Friday and speculation about her reuniting with Lady Gaga hit fever pitch in the days leading up to it.
The pair had already collaborated on the song "Video Phone" for Beyoncé's 2008 album, I Am... Sasha Fierce. But it was a follow-up to their 2009 song, "Telephone" from Lady GaGa's The Fame Monster that fans have long waited for.
The Lady Gaga chart-topping song saw Beyoncé feature and co-star in the short film music video where the pair played outlaws driving off into the horizon as the words "to be continued" appeared on the screen at the end.
A series of social media posts released by those close to the pop stars in the days before Cowboy Carter led fans to believe they would reunite and give fans a follow-up to "Telephone."
Lady Gaga is not credited on the album, but one of her famous lines from the "Telephone" music video does and is muttered by none other than country music legend, Dolly Parton herself.
"We did it, Honey B. Now let's go far, far away from here," Lady Gaga tells Beyoncé after they commit a murderous rampage against abusive men in the "Telephone" video. Beyoncé then replies, "You promise we'll never come back?" as the pair drive off in a giant yellow, pickup truck called the "P**** Wagon."
The Easter egg reference to "Telephone" happens in an interlude voiced by Parton where she refers to Beyoncé as "Miss Honey B."
Her interlude references Beyoncé's 2016 song, "Sorry" where she sings about her husband, Jay-Z, having an inappropriate relationship with a woman known only as "Becky With The Good Hair."
In the interlude ahead of Beyoncé's version of "Jolene," Parton refers to "that hussy with the good hair you sing about," and says it reminds her of "someone I knew back when. Except she has flaming locks of auburn hair," Parton says, referring to the Jolene she sings about in her eponymous song, who she begs not to "take my man."
Beyoncé is not the first superstar to try her hand at country music. Lady Gaga herself released the Americana-influenced album Joanne in 2016, which hit the top 10 on the charts in more than 25 countries.
Cowboy Carter serves as Act II in a three-part project for Beyoncé. Act I was her Renaissance album, tour and concert movie, which paid homage to house music and Black LGBTQ+ people, especially the Ballroom culture that gave way to vogue dancing.
She has yet to reveal what Act III will be, but some people have speculated it will be a rock album.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more