Beyoncé delivers an ageless club masterpiece with “RENAISSANCE”
Bey is back and I'm sleepin' real good at night!
Beyoncé has finally released act i of her highly anticipated RENAISSANCE album.
Renaissance is an entire 16-tracks of House, Techno and Disco music fused with joy and fueled with a love and appreciation for the LGBTQ+ community. Each song is complex and multi-layered, covering an array of different genres within one song. Using the pandemic as a driving force, Beyoncé shares a self-love message and ecstasy with the world. Throughout the project, Beyoncé is the puppet master controlling everyone who listens immediately. One chord and you're already hooked. With such a diverse set of tracks the effects remain the same: pure euphoria.
The album opens with IM THAT GIRL stirring you in the albums direction as Beyoncé reminds you who she is. The track combines Hip-Hop and House delicately as Queen B showcases her vocals. COZY is a complete self love song produced by Honey Dijon and Green Velvet. “I’m comfortable in my skin, cozy with who I am ... I love myself, goddamn,” she sings over heavy percussion. The track ends in soothing flutes over a consistent house beat and synth.
ALIEN SUPERSTAR, a track that captivated interest from its name, is completely out of this world. The track begins with progressive House and funky beats and ends with a sample spoken word from Mood II Swing’s Do It Your Way. The high synth takes over the song completely as Beyoncé softly and melodically sings "I'm stingy with my love." The track transports you to a time you’ve never even been to. An entire ethereal galactic euphoric track.
CUFF IT immediately begins with a light 70s funky beat and airy trumpets that continue throughout. Beyoncé just wants to have fun. "We gonna fuck up the night" she sings operatically. The track is one of the most happy, even in Beyoncé’s voice a wide smile can be heard as she was recording it. ENERGY, the shortest track on the album, features BEAM and incorporates a slight afro-beat influence and one of the most memorable lyrics on the whole album: "Cause them Karens just turned into terrorists".
CHURCH GIRL starts off with beautiful slow gospel harmonies. The track samples The Clark Sisters’ Center Thy Will but Beyoncé completely turns the song upside down adding a trap and bounce production to the track with background harmonies and self love lyrics. The song is already being labeled as the “Cook-Out” song. VIRGOS GROOVE is a continuous futuristic funky six minutes. The "magic ride" productions takes you to a modernized 80s club. At first, a six-minute song might seem excessive, but when you the track is done and you suddenly stop dancing to Beyoncé’s light and airy vocals, you begin wishing it was longer. A nice change of pace is PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA which incorporates soft house with jazz elements slowing the speed of the album.
MOVE, an upbeat rhythmic afro-beat infused track, finds Beyoncé, Grace Jones and Tems asking for space to dance. The track, at times, dips into sultry sounds granting Beyoncé a tap into her erotic and sexy side. HEATED begins with a strong, steady, consistent beat as Beyonce says she wants to cool it down. The song (which was produced alongside Drake) is slightly afro-inspired. In the last minute of the song, Beyoncé amplifies LGBTQ+ voices by chanting Ballroom phrases aggressively. The Ballroom scene is a community of mostly African-American and Latino members of the LGBTQ+ community that evolved out of the Harlem in the 1980s and had a huge impact on pop culture. A staple of the Ballroom scene, the fan, can be heard thworp-ing on the steady beat in the background as Beyoncé asks to be fanned. The beat halts as Beyoncé chants for the last time paying homage to her late gay uncle, who is one of the people the album is dedicated to and an inspiration to her when she was young: "Uncle Johnny made my dress/ That cheap Spandex/ she looks a mess" and gives a "Drunk In Love" laugh that ends the song.
THIQUE begins with a slow Bounce beat as Beyoncé raps. The high pitch synth takes the space for a while before Beyoncé drops sprinkles of trumpets everywhere. A magnificent Bounce mixture speeds up the tempo challenging Beyoncé as she matches the beat perfectly. ALL UP IN YOUR MIND, even though contains the same elements as the other tracks on the album, is sonically darker with an almost sinister tone. The song sounds almost like an elevated version of Beyoncé’s 6 Inches.
AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM which samples Cocaine by Kilo Ali and is produced alongside Jay-Z begins with the same beat as the sample that then dissolves into the background. Beyoncé brings out her rap skills over the Hip-Hop/Trance influenced track and synth droplets can be heard throughout. Beyoncé turns the tempo up until the track ends with synth chords making you take in the masterpiece just heard.
PURE/HONEY is one of the complete stand out in terms of theme. The track, let's just say, is for the gays. The track is classic Ballroom from the start. The beats builds up into a glorious and powerful bass production that just urges you to immediately dance. The tempo is sped and changed up as Beyoncé repeatedly says "It should cost a billion to look this good". The track then moves what is presumably HONEY which incorporates PURE’s elements with a funky twist. The song, which is reminiscent of Beyoncé's Blow, is an homage to her fans who call her Queen B and honor her with the bee symbol. It is joyous and fresh and very full. The song ends with a sample of famous drag queen, Moi Renee.
A perfect final track, SUMMER RENAISSANCE, finds Beyoncé sampling Donna Summer’s iconic “I Feel Love.” Beyoncé’s sampling the late queen of disco is a nod toward her 2003 smash, “Naughty Girl,” which used Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby.” The track, however, is completely twisted and changed shifting into a modern house track. The result is a banger informed by disco’s glorious past that could have only been made in the present day.
While this album is completely engulfed in joy and happiness, it is definitely not void of a political message. The album is a celebration of African-Americans who were pioneers in the Disco, House, and Funk genres. Even in her sampling, Beyoncé meticulously chooses artists and songs that pay homage to the greats that came before her. It would be remiss not to mention Beyoncé’s honoring of the LGBTQ+ community in the project. From pulling samples originating in the Ballroom scene, to the inclusion of artists like Big Freedia, TS Madison, and Moi Renee, and dedicating the album to her late gay uncle that was a huge inspiration for her growing up, Beyoncé lifts up the community that has always held her in such high regard.
Beyoncé yielded an ageless club masterpiece. To call Beyoncé a titan and icon in the music industry is a complete understatement of who she truly is. She always brings something new whilst elevating and celebrating her past. Like she states in ALIEN SUPERSTAR, she is one of one, she is number one.
