Cam Breaks Down 'Surreal' Job Working on 5 Beyoncé 'Cowboy Carter' Songs: 'Dream Come True' (Exclusive)

• Country singer Cam worked on five of the 27 tracks on Beyoncé's No. 1 album Cowboy Carter
• The Grammy-nominated artist has previously collaborated on songs for Miley Cyrus and Sam Smith
• Cam is currently working on her anticipated third studio album

Cam is back in the saddle.

The country singer-songwriter worked on five of Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tracks — and is opening up to PEOPLE about the experience.

Cam (born Camaron Ochs) is credited as a writer on album opener "Ameriican Requiem," "Protector," "Daughter," "Tyrant" and "Amen"; co-producing "Ameriican Requiem," "Daughter" and "Amen"; providing background vocals on "Ameriican Requiem" and "Amen"; and engineering on "Daughter."

And the star has been hustling in Nashville long before she began collaborating on Cowboy Carter — which dropped on March 29 — in 2021.

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Cam wrote songs for artists like Miley Cyrus before finding fame in 2015 with her Grammy-nominated ballad "Burning House," which was featured on her debut album Untamed. Her critically acclaimed single "Diane" — and the Sam Smith collab “Palace” — came in 2017. But her second album was repeatedly delayed and, after disagreements with her former record label, she left.

"I had to separate from the Nashville label because their operations weren’t in line with my values,” Cam told PEOPLE of her departure in 2020. “It takes some time. It’s a risky move, and it’s not a fun thing to have to do business-wise or emotionally.”

In the years that followed, Cam — who also also released her sophomore album The Otherside in 2020 — became an outspoken voice in Nashville, calling out racism and sexism in the industry.

Now, as she continues to work on her yet-to-be-announced third LP, Cam talks about her experience working with Beyoncé, what's next for her — and which Cowboy Carter song is her 4-year-old daughter (with husband Adam Weaver) Lucy's favorite.

“I just think this album is doing incredible things, it's going to keep doing incredible things, and just watching it, it's such a fun ride to be on," Cam says of Cowboy Carter. "I’m so proud of it.”

How did this even come together? You just got a call?

My publisher, she called me. She's like, "Are you free?" That was it. "We can't talk about what you're going to do." I was like, "All right." It feels surreal still, to be honest, because of being in that space with someone who ... I've just grown up watching her actually embody being a cultural force and one of the most talented musicians and producers and writers, singers … and [to be] like, "Oh, yeah, come on by." What?

How do you even react when you realize you’re going to be working with Beyoncé?

For me, it wasn't even trying to be cool or being nervous or weird. It was just like, "Wow." You just feel so lucky to be in that situation. I know that sounds very zen of me, but I think I was just so grateful. I was like, "All I can do is show up as myself, and that's what I'll do, and then either it works or it doesn't." And luckily, it did.

Was this the biggest secret you've ever kept?

Yes, and as most people around me know, I'm horrible at keeping secrets. It was death inside, but it was a fantastic secret. Because, I mean, this album is incredible. Listening through it, I just was so tickled and overwhelmed and proud, and what she created is, no joke, I think one of the best albums I've ever heard. I know I'm biased, but I don't care. Having it live in this country music space too is just a full dream come true.

There's been an ongoing conversation about what is country music, who is allowed in country music, who does and who doesn't belong? You've had your own struggles in the country music industry itself. Having gone through your own stuff, what did it mean to you to be involved in a project of this nature and of this impact, given your own history?

I could cry, because you're right. There's just so much talk about belonging and not belonging, and then to be involved in a group — because she's this umbrella of belonging, of just making music that's great and amazing. It just was so collaborative and what you hope for from spaces like this, that it should be about the art first and making it great, and then the rest of that nonsense can just be left someplace else. It's what I hope for in a lot of situations, what I don't get in a lot of situations, and what I want to purposely try very hard going forward to make sure that I can do that for other people too. It was very inspiring.

Maren Morris commented on your post when you shared it. It’s nice to see that support.

She texted me too. She's such a sweetheart. She knows. It's such a sweet thing to see each other in these kinds of moments. That meant a lot. I think we can build something better around all this music.

Tell me a little bit more just about the response that you've received in Nashville and beyond.

Everyone's just so happy. Obviously the response to the record is incredible, everyone's just blown away … and then everyone being like, "We're so happy for you." I do love that about Nashville. Everybody's just so supportive, and it's not as competitive as it might be in other spaces, so it was really sweet having everybody just like, "Good job, go you, what a dream."

Given everything you've been through, do you feel seen now in a different way?

I do. I do. I feel seen. I feel validated. I love songwriting, I love production, and I love obviously my own artistry too, but I think I got to do something with this project that makes me feel like more of myself is seen. I think that's what we all want, and we're all desperately so afraid to do. Seen is such a great word.

And to be seen by Beyoncé. She must be familiar with your work if she wanted to work with you.

I know I said surreal earlier, but it just feels like a dream to have someone who's been at the top of her career over 20-plus years see what you're doing and invite you in, which is a very sacred space for artists. It's a huge honor, and I think it's one of the biggest compliments of my life to be just asked, not even the fact that anything made it or didn't. Just being asked is one of the biggest compliments of my life, yeah.

A big part of this album was blurring genre lines, and that's something that you've done in your own music. Why has that been important to you, just with your past projects and now coming into Cowboy Carter?

I think it's becoming more evident that the genre lines aren't really real. You should be making art for yourself and your own heart and for people that need it. I've always felt like that was the correct way to go, but it's scary, I'm not going to lie. It definitely feels like going against the grain in a lot of situations.

Watching Beyoncé do it to this extent was almost like this big comforting blanket of, "Yeah, you can do whatever you want to do and make it good." I feel like my mind exploded with possibilities. You don't know what's possible until you see the other people just breaking rules left and right. There's a lot of impact culturally and artistically that I think we're going to see coming after this, me included.

It's been almost four years since The Otherside, which was already years in the making. Tell me how working on Cowboy Carter inspired you creatively.

I want to make music from a true place of inspiration, not based on the rules that are happening outside of me. I want to make music in a way that honors who I am and who my collaborators are, and they get to show up as themselves. The famous thing that Mike WiLL [Made-It, producer] said to me back in the day with the Miley Cyrus stuff, he goes, "Just do you. That's the best thing I can get from you." It's on such a deep level, what it takes to do that for yourself, to make that kind of space and for people that are working with you, and it's just so worth it. You just get such amazing stuff.

I want this in my everyday life too, not just in the studio. I think that those values and just holding onto those, going into the studio every day, is just making music so much more fun. I'm having such a good time, and it sounds great. [My manager] gave me a shirt that says, "Sounds like bulls--- to me," so we put that up in the studio too, so we don't fall into any bulls--- while we're working. No bulls---.

You've obviously been successful collaborating with other people, writing for other people. How was the Cowboy Carter process different from Miley or Sam Smith?

I think it's been such a gift that I get to make my music the best I know how and be true to myself. Then when I'm tapped by other people to help them — it doesn't happen that often — but it feels like they see me as who I am as an artist, and I get to show up because I'm an artist. I get to show up as myself in a very specific way in those settings. That's been the key to success, I think for me, getting to be myself in all those situations. I also deeply respect and admire the artists that I'm working with, so this felt like a continuation of it — or a culmination of all that practice, of showing up in those spaces in that way.

You posted that your daughter's favorite track was "Texas Hold 'Em." Have any of your contributions grown on her?

Yes, thank God, I think partly due to my husband bumpin' it in the car. Lucy likes a beat drop. She likes a beat flip. She likes heavy bass, so “Tyrant” is currently [her] No. 1. I'm not going to lie, I've been semi-pushing “Ya Ya” because I just enjoy listening to it on repeat. She can clap in time, which I don't know if that's ... I'm just going to say it's brilliant for a 4-year-old because I don't know if that's brilliant or not. She can clap in time, and she does all these faces too, where they're like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." She's emoting so hard as she's listening to this. With “Tyrant,” luckily kids don't fully know what all the things are about. And “Desert Eagle,” too, she loves that one.