2022 - USA
Dance-Pop, House, Contemporary R&B, Ballroom
Since I started my Insta page, one of the main goal of my reviews was to study the connections between genres, artists, countries, multiple cultures and histories. That’s exactly the point of posts like A Tale Of, showing how Massive Attack and trip-hop find their roots in Jamaica, how Alice Coltrane meshes together multiple musical traditions from Russia to India and Egypt. When Beyoncé released RENAISSANCE, we all knew the album was going to be a tribute to the club scene. And during the sixteen tracks, she does exactly what I love the most, proudly affirming all the origins of the music she’s playing. In a way, RENAISSANCE is a tale of dance music. But Beyoncé ain’t no stranger to that process. On Lemonade, her last solo album released in 2016, she published a list of 72 credits, recognizing every artists, songwriters, producers and influences that helped her make the album. Because this is how music works, releasing an album is always the result of decades, centuries of music that came before you. The number of credits on RENAISSANCE are even more important than on Lemonade, and this process is essential to two things: memory and recognition. Beyoncé might be a solo artist, but she knows how much she owes to the past. And this knowledge is the core of her creativity, and that’s what makes RENAISSANCE such a powerful and brilliant album.
Since Dangerously in Love back in 2003, Beyoncé always focused on the legacy of Black culture in modern music, and how to use those influences to empower the Black community. This peaked on Lemonade with the country-like Daddy Lessons, the abstract Forward, the rock of Don’t Hurt Yourself and her feminist revendications on Formation. Those parameters make her seventh album not that surprising, because Beyoncé always put dance and her relationship to her body and collective expression at the center of her craftswomanship, two elements that are absolutely inherent to Black culture. The difference on RENAISSANCE is that Beyoncé isn’t only dealing with Black history anymore, but with LGBTQ+ history too. We’re talking about intersectionality here. And as she said in the album’s booklet, Beyoncé was introduced to that culture (thematically and musically) thanks to her gay uncle Johnny she mentions on the song Heated. This album was partly made as a tribute to him after he died in the 1990’s. And when Beyoncé records an album that takes its roots in a community that is not hers (queer), she learns the language (the word “category” on Alien Superstar), she learns the codes, she learns the rhythm and surrounds herself with legendary songwriters and producers who crafted the club scene between the 1980’s and the 1990’s, especially in Chicago.
So when Beyoncé published the credits, we gain access to a historical library. On Cozy, Beyoncé worked with Curtis Alan Jones, also known as Cajmere and Green Velvet, one of Chicago house music’s finest producer, also adding an excerpt of Bitch I’m Black by TS Madison, a reality TV personality and LGBTQ+ activist. Moreover, on this song as well as on Alien Superstar, she received the help of the legendary house DJ pioneer and producer Honey Dijon. And even more than working with the big names who made this music scene, Beyoncé studied the music. She brilliantly uses and samples Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy during the chorus of Alien Superstar, as well as Robin S. Show Me Love on Break My Soul. And during the ending of America Has a Problem, she uses a dance technique called “Reese bass”, a reference to a 1988 record, Just Another Chance by the techno producer Reese. During the entire album, taking inspiration from gospel, Dirty South hip-hop, house, disco, ballroom, she manages to make her music sounds like voguing and waacking. She doesn’t straightforwardly talk about it because it’s not her culture (unlike Madonna’s Vogue) but she makes us feel like it was made for the people in those clubs. She learned the musical structures, plays with it, and sings euphoria accompanied by brilliant musicians (Mike Dean who worked with UGK, 2Pac and Geto Boys, and Nova Wav (Ariana Grande, Rihanna)).
I borrow that expression to Pitchfork, but here Beyoncé solidifies the “interconnectivity of Black music”. And this is also something you can notice when studying her vocals. RENAISSANCE is Beyoncé’s best album vocally speaking. Since Everything Is Love with Jay-Z and Savage Remix, she improved her rap skills on Move and Heated’ s ending. She’s never afraid to hit the high notes with a newly crystalline voice on Cuff It’ s chorus and Virgo’s Groove ’s ending, playing with her lust while saying the word “rodeo” on Alien Superstar, her most impressive song featuring a steady and inventive flow. And then she renews her tone with the powerfully hoarse All Up in Your Mind. On the other hand, she easily impersonates her younger self on Thique when she sings “That’s that Jordy / That’s that Scarlet / That I just got out of college”. Right after this, she repeats the same lines with some crazy dark autotune, followed by an eerie pre-chorus, high-pitched back vocals and fast-paced medium-high rap, all this within 30 seconds. RENAISSANCE never stops. The songs’ structures don’t follow the usual verse/chorus/bridge structure. It’s all changing. All the time. From I’m That Girl to Pure/Honey and the finale Summer Renaissance, each songs feels like several ones, and the transitions between each of them makes the album incurably relentless (from Cuff It to Energy to Break My Soul, or from Thique to All Up in Your Mind).
If Lemonade was her most intimate record, RENAISSANCE is her most collective record to date. Even if the lyrics are about her empowerment as a successful and confident Black Woman, the fact that the lyrics about love, sex and sisterhood remain general makes it easy for people to seize them and sing along. Beyoncé also addresses the listeners numerous times: “I’m with my girls and we all need space” in Move, “Unique is what you are” in Cozy, and most importantly “I ain’t tryna hurt nobody / Tryna bring the life up in your body” in Church Girl. Beyoncé’s music was always made for dancing. By uplifting her persona, all she want to do is uplift women. That’s not an epiphenomenon if the choreographies of Single Ladies and Formation are so iconic. With RENAISSANCE, she extends what she always did to a new world of sounds, carrying the same values, words, freedom and understanding. She lost nothing of her sense of humour when she laughs on Heated and Plastic Off the Sofa, she lost nothing of her strength when she raps on Energy “I just entered the country with derringers / ‘Cause them Karens just turned into terrorists.” RENAISSANCE is a 100% Beyoncé, and this means that once again she establishes herself as a leading force catalysing the empowering claims of a community finding new ways to shine. From Grace Jones to Syd, Barbara Ann Teer to Afrika Bambaata, Donna Summer to the Neptunes, and Honey Dijon to Big Freedia.
They’re all up in our minds now.
Since Dangerously in Love back in 2003, Beyoncé always focused on the legacy of Black culture in modern music, and how to use those influences to empower the Black community. This peaked on Lemonade with the country-like Daddy Lessons, the abstract Forward, the rock of Don’t Hurt Yourself and her feminist revendications on Formation. Those parameters make her seventh album not that surprising, because Beyoncé always put dance and her relationship to her body and collective expression at the center of her craftswomanship, two elements that are absolutely inherent to Black culture. The difference on RENAISSANCE is that Beyoncé isn’t only dealing with Black history anymore, but with LGBTQ+ history too. We’re talking about intersectionality here. And as she said in the album’s booklet, Beyoncé was introduced to that culture (thematically and musically) thanks to her gay uncle Johnny she mentions on the song Heated. This album was partly made as a tribute to him after he died in the 1990’s. And when Beyoncé records an album that takes its roots in a community that is not hers (queer), she learns the language (the word “category” on Alien Superstar), she learns the codes, she learns the rhythm and surrounds herself with legendary songwriters and producers who crafted the club scene between the 1980’s and the 1990’s, especially in Chicago.
So when Beyoncé published the credits, we gain access to a historical library. On Cozy, Beyoncé worked with Curtis Alan Jones, also known as Cajmere and Green Velvet, one of Chicago house music’s finest producer, also adding an excerpt of Bitch I’m Black by TS Madison, a reality TV personality and LGBTQ+ activist. Moreover, on this song as well as on Alien Superstar, she received the help of the legendary house DJ pioneer and producer Honey Dijon. And even more than working with the big names who made this music scene, Beyoncé studied the music. She brilliantly uses and samples Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy during the chorus of Alien Superstar, as well as Robin S. Show Me Love on Break My Soul. And during the ending of America Has a Problem, she uses a dance technique called “Reese bass”, a reference to a 1988 record, Just Another Chance by the techno producer Reese. During the entire album, taking inspiration from gospel, Dirty South hip-hop, house, disco, ballroom, she manages to make her music sounds like voguing and waacking. She doesn’t straightforwardly talk about it because it’s not her culture (unlike Madonna’s Vogue) but she makes us feel like it was made for the people in those clubs. She learned the musical structures, plays with it, and sings euphoria accompanied by brilliant musicians (Mike Dean who worked with UGK, 2Pac and Geto Boys, and Nova Wav (Ariana Grande, Rihanna)).
I borrow that expression to Pitchfork, but here Beyoncé solidifies the “interconnectivity of Black music”. And this is also something you can notice when studying her vocals. RENAISSANCE is Beyoncé’s best album vocally speaking. Since Everything Is Love with Jay-Z and Savage Remix, she improved her rap skills on Move and Heated’ s ending. She’s never afraid to hit the high notes with a newly crystalline voice on Cuff It’ s chorus and Virgo’s Groove ’s ending, playing with her lust while saying the word “rodeo” on Alien Superstar, her most impressive song featuring a steady and inventive flow. And then she renews her tone with the powerfully hoarse All Up in Your Mind. On the other hand, she easily impersonates her younger self on Thique when she sings “That’s that Jordy / That’s that Scarlet / That I just got out of college”. Right after this, she repeats the same lines with some crazy dark autotune, followed by an eerie pre-chorus, high-pitched back vocals and fast-paced medium-high rap, all this within 30 seconds. RENAISSANCE never stops. The songs’ structures don’t follow the usual verse/chorus/bridge structure. It’s all changing. All the time. From I’m That Girl to Pure/Honey and the finale Summer Renaissance, each songs feels like several ones, and the transitions between each of them makes the album incurably relentless (from Cuff It to Energy to Break My Soul, or from Thique to All Up in Your Mind).
If Lemonade was her most intimate record, RENAISSANCE is her most collective record to date. Even if the lyrics are about her empowerment as a successful and confident Black Woman, the fact that the lyrics about love, sex and sisterhood remain general makes it easy for people to seize them and sing along. Beyoncé also addresses the listeners numerous times: “I’m with my girls and we all need space” in Move, “Unique is what you are” in Cozy, and most importantly “I ain’t tryna hurt nobody / Tryna bring the life up in your body” in Church Girl. Beyoncé’s music was always made for dancing. By uplifting her persona, all she want to do is uplift women. That’s not an epiphenomenon if the choreographies of Single Ladies and Formation are so iconic. With RENAISSANCE, she extends what she always did to a new world of sounds, carrying the same values, words, freedom and understanding. She lost nothing of her sense of humour when she laughs on Heated and Plastic Off the Sofa, she lost nothing of her strength when she raps on Energy “I just entered the country with derringers / ‘Cause them Karens just turned into terrorists.” RENAISSANCE is a 100% Beyoncé, and this means that once again she establishes herself as a leading force catalysing the empowering claims of a community finding new ways to shine. From Grace Jones to Syd, Barbara Ann Teer to Afrika Bambaata, Donna Summer to the Neptunes, and Honey Dijon to Big Freedia.
They’re all up in our minds now.