When it comes to music, Beyoncé truly can do it all... with or without instruments.
On her newly released album Cowboy Carter, the "Drunk in Love" singer has both redefined country music while simultaneously bringing it back to its Black roots, paying homage to the genre's icons, including Linda Martell— the first commercially successful Black woman in country music—and Dolly Parton.
To perhaps the surprise of some excited listeners and fans, on the track "Riiverdance," Beyoncé actually uses her nails as percussion—an homage to Parton, who has done the same on more than one occasion.
In a previous discussion with actress Mary Steenburgen, Jane Fonda—who acted alongside Parton on the hit television show 9 to 5—described an instance in which Parton used her nails as an instrument.
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“I remember the morning that she came in and she called me and Lily over," Fonda said at the time. "You know she has these century long nails ... and she said well I’ve written a song for the movie do you want to hear it? And then, using her nails as percussion, she sang, '9 to 5.' 'Working 9 to 5.' And Lily and I looked at each other—we both had goosebumps. And we both knew that this was going to be a legend. This was going to be a hit."
Some listeners were quick to put two-and-two together, sharing their excitement for the low-key homage on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Beyoncé is paying homage to Dolly and using her nails as percussion. simply ICONIC!" one fan wrote.
"Learning that Beyoncé used her nails as percussion on “RIIVER DANCE” just makes this video + the song even more special," another posted, along with a video of Parton and Patti LaBelle using their nails as percussion while they sing the folksong "Shortnin' Bread."
“You know, I write a lot of songs when I don’t have my guitar, you know I beat around the dashboard of my car when I’m riding around writing songs but then I have a little rhythm that we can do with these acrylic nails,” Parton explains to LaBelle. "You want to play a little something for ‘em?”
The pair of iconic entertainers then proceeded to both use their nails as percussion as they sang and harmonized. "That's cute," LaBelle said. "We did plan this, but we didn't know how it would sound."
A statement from Parkwood Entertainment confirmed Beyoncé did, in fact, use her nails as an instrument on her new album, which she describes as not a country album but "a Beyoncé album."
"There's also plenty of handclaps, horseshoe steps, boot stomps on hardwood floors and yes, those are Beyoncé's nails as percussion," the statement said.
"The joy of creating music is that there are no rules," says Beyoncé, in the same statement. "The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones.
"I didn't want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune," she continues. "I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk. All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature."
