Co-host Oliver concurred: “I don’t think the ‘Jolene’ one is good. … I feel like Beyoncé could’ve done a bit more with it or maybe picked something that was a little less big to cover.”

“I just feel like it’s quite an interesting thing to do when you’re trying to tackle a new genre and you just choose the biggest song in that genre to cover,” Allen replied. “I mean, you do you, Beyoncé, and she literally is doing her. Or is she doing Dolly?”

Lily Allen believes Beyoncé’s country venture is ‘calculated’

Allen and Oliver moved on from “Jolene” to discuss the rest of the album.

Oliver posited, “My friend Seb was here last night and he was like, ‘Do you think (Beyoncé is) trying to take over Taylor Swift’s market and be the most powerful record-selling artist in the world?'”

“To be honest, that hadn’t crossed my mind, and I love me a conspiracy but I think it’s been quite calculated,” Allen said.

She believes Jay-Z’s Grammys speech in February, in which he called out the Recording Academy for not honoring his wife with an album of the year trophy, “was part of this campaign.”

Allen said, “That was before the album had come out or even been announced and she was wearing the blond wing and a cowboy hat and Jay-Z did that speech. So it’s a bit about challenging these institutions that have thus far rejected Beyoncé as the icon and institution that she is of herself.”

She added, “Now (Beyoncé is) the most-played woman on country radio, number one, and I guess she’s coming for that market. I don’t really know why, but who am I to question it? I mean, whatever floats your boat.”

As Oliver pointed out, Allen herself is currently working on a new album in Nashville, her first she’s recording while sober.

“I’m not trying to conquer the country market. I’m here because I love country music and always have loved country music; (but I’m) not saying that Beyoncé doesn’t,” Allen said. “I tell stories in my songs, and country music does the same thing.”

Beyoncé asked listeners to enjoy ‘art with no preconceived notions’

In February, Beyoncé – who’s originally from Houston – became the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart after her single “Texas Hold ‘Em” debuted at No. 1. “Cowboy Carter” features several genre-bending Black artists as well as country music legends Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Linda Martell.

Parton, who appears twice on the record, sang Beyoncé’s praises after the album was released on Friday. “Wow, I just heard Jolene,” she posted on Instagram. “Beyoncé is giving that girl some trouble and she deserves it!”

“This ain’t a country album. This is a Beyoncé album,” the singer posted on Instagram ahead of the release of her eighth studio album.

“Being an innovator often means being criticized, which often will test your mental strength,” she said in her acceptance speech for the Innovator Award at Monday’s iHeartRadio Awards.

“My hope is that we’re more open to the joy and liberation that comes from enjoying art with no preconceived notions.”