Beyonce has sat atop the hierarchy of musical royalty for long enough that it’s often difficult to remember that 20 years ago, she had to hustle to break free of the genre trappings of a girl group. But through decades of her public prostrations and proclamations, she transcended mere R&B to achieve mononymic status, dominating and redefining contemporary pop altogether. For each confession she gave us — that she was “crazy in love,” “drunk in love,” and then betrayed by love and enraged by love — the public elevated her a little higher. Now, with the release of Cowboy Carter, she is powerful enough to catapult to the top of the Billboard top country chart overnight in her first-ever foray into the genre and become the first-ever black woman to do so.

But Beyonce is also now so powerful and iconic that for all her unparalleled prowess as a performer, she might not be knowable enough to anyone to be believed as an honest author of her own story.