The lyricist behind Kendrick Lamar’s “Luther” and Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em” steps into the spotlight with her debut single “Turquoise Cowboy”

Ink always knew she was going to become an “icon magnet” and a prolific artist in her own right. She remembers standing in the streets near the Georgia Dome with her guitar, busking alongside ticket scalpers and fans as they piled in to see Beyoncé and Jay Z on their 2014 On the Run tour.

“All the guys was fresh, all the girls were going on dates. The whole city was lit, and I was outside on the street with my guitar playing music,” Ink remembers. “I wanted to go in there so bad, but ‘I hope they have fun, because when I go in there, it’s going to be my time.’”

Fast-forward about a decade, and Beyoncé was performing songs Ink co-wrote with her — “Summer Renaissance” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” among them — inside the same stadium. “I always knew,” Ink says.

Over the last few years, Ink has become a secret songwriting weapon for some of music’s stars, penning tracks from everyone from Lil Nas X and Leon Bridges to Kendrick Lamar and Jennifer Lopez. Now, she is ready to introduce her own project. On Friday, she debuted her upcoming EP’s lead single (and her artist theme song), “Turquoise Cowboy,” with Rolling Stone.

“I always had these country vibes, and I was waiting until I had the perfect opportunity to market it, promote it, and give it the platform that it deserves,” says INK of the single and new music. “It’s my country, alternative twang.”

The cinematic video captures the musician embracing her over-the-top, fashion-forward aesthetic as she brings the lyrics to life, “You can keep your rhinestone cowboy / Baby, I’m a turquoise mind in the wild, wild west,” she sings on the addicting chorus. “Turquoise Cowboy” features Ink’s bright vocals over the sound of guitar as she laces a country twang with hip-hop energy. 

With “Turquoise Cowboy,” Ink is ready to fully dive into her own artistry after several years of focusing on co-writing and dropping songs on the side for her friends to hear. “I fully immerse myself in those projects,” she says. She explains that after Cowboy Carter came out, she was able to turn her attention elsewhere. “Once that was released, I could breathe, and I could bring it back to INK, the artist. Now I’m in that ‘Turquoise Cowboy’ bag.”

INK says she started working with Beyoncé to craft Cowboy Carter back in 2020, and she felt inspired by her artistry and work ethic. On Cowboy Carter, Ink had a hand in writing its lead single, along with “16 Carriages” and “Ameriican Requiem.”  “It was just inspiring to see her dedication to bringing a vision to life,” she says. “We spent years making it. It’s a testament to how much of a master it takes to really be obsessed with your art.”

For Lamar’s GNX, Ink says she and Lamar “bounced off each other” to create some of the songs for the record, including tracks “Gloria” and “Luther” with SZA. “Watching them work, I see why they’re the greatest artists of this generation,” she says. “It’s just a different level of craftsmanship that they have. It alters my process and how I look at music.”

Fans of Ink’s collaborators have steadily started to follow the songwriter’s own career after seeing her credited on some of their biggest songs. She’s also racked up listeners thanks to her vocals on the Chainsmokers and Zerb’s 2024 hit “Addicted.” She’s also a featured vocalist on Childish Gambino’s Atavista, and songs with Justin Bieber and NLE Choppa.

She says it’s validating to feel that support from musicians she considers to be icons. “It’s like when you look up in the great big sky, and you see a shooting star… you look over to the [person on the] right, over the left, and then you realize that they see the same shooting star,” she says. “It’s just magic in the moment that can’t be recreated. I feel like that’s what it is like every time I earn a fan.”

Ink says she’s played some of her artist tracks for her collaborators too: JLo told her, “I can’t wait for this to come out,” about her country-rock track “Hoedown,” out next month. And when Beyoncé heard her project, she called her an “artist’s artist.” Ink says, “That really meant a lot to me and reminded me to stay on my path. I’m blessed to get knowledge and wisdom from artists like that.”