Beyoncé drops first Cowboy Carter visual for ‘Bodyguard’ to encourage fans to vote

Saddle up, it’s happened: Beyoncé has dropped the first official music video from her Cowboy Carter era.

Queen B chose US election day, Tuesday (5 November), to finally remember her YouTube password and drop the music video for her song, “Bodyguard”, one of the biggest pop numbers on her most-recent album. 

The release date is by no means an accident either, as she appears towards the end of the uncharacteristically simplistic video with a prank gun, with the word “vote” written on a red flag draped over it.

Uploading the two-and-a-half-minute video to YouTube, the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer captioned it with a straight-to-the-point message, writing: “#Vote.”

The video also shows the star lolling about while paying homage to Baywatch legend Pamela Anderson, with blonde hair, and wearing a red bathing suit, emblazoned with the word Beywatch.

Other scenes show her take on the role of Anderson in her 1996 superhero cult classic, Barb Wire, and recreate the actor’s 1999 MTV video music awards outfit. The looks made up Beyoncé’s Halloween costume for this year.

The clip shows Beyoncé in her Anderson look collecting the “no visuals award”, a reference to her refusal to drop any music videos from her past two eras.

It’s the first official music video the star has released from either Cowboy Carter or her previous album – a tribute to the LGBTQ+ community – Renaissance.

After two years of fan demands, who knew it would only take one of the tightest US elections in modern history to get Beyoncé to (sort of) drop the visuals?

On social media, it’s safe to say that the BeyHive is not OK.

“Never thought we would get Cowboy Carter visuals before Renaissance,” wrote one fan, alongside a weeping emoji. Another said: “Three birds, one stone. Halloween outfits reveal, “Bodyguard” visual and advocating to vote. Queen.”

A third wrote: “Best thing about the election is the fact we got Bey visuals.”

Last week, the music titan gave a lengthy speech at presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s rally in Houston, Texas, endorsing the Democrat and her stance on women’s rights.

“I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother,” she told the crowd. “A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we’re not divided.”

Millions of Americans are heading to the polls today to vote for the next president, and, in some places, senators, representatives and governors.

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