Beyoncé meets us at the dance floor
When word hit the internet about a possible new Beyoncé pop and dance project coming up, the first wave of excitement pointed towards a return to form for pop music’s number 1 radio artist of the 2000s. A call back to the clean, hook driven and non-political music that had dominated the first 12 years of her career.
That assumption would be further confirmed with the release of “Break My Soul” – the most “fun” and blatantly pop record she’s released as a single since “Single Ladies” in 2008. After a week with Beyoncé’s new album Renaissance, it’s safe to say - we were all wrong.
Renaissance is yet another artistic swing by Beyoncé that’s meant to explore Black dance genres and deconstruct pop sensibilities. We find Beyoncé at her most artistically daring as she takes us inside an underground ball where in one corner you could be sitting with Bjork (“I’m That Girl”), at the bar you’re sharing a drink with Kevin Aviance (“Pure/Honey”) and in the lounge you’re crooning with Sade (“Plastic Off The Sofa”) – all these ideas meeting in one area, the dance floor.
The opening track, correctly titled “I’m That Girl” is an introduction to the kind of journey we’re on – one where there’s no loyalty to song structure or tempo, Beyonce glides between a dark drum beat directly clashing with the sample loop on top of it, reminiscent of Missy Elliot’s earlier work. Choosing to be atmospheric and euphoric on perhaps the most interesting song on the album – but in my opinion, not yet the best – would be “Alien Superstar”. The bass thumping, ballroom, hyper-pop masterpiece with the best chorus she’s sang in a decade, “Alien Superstar” is the icon at her best and most bold musically and lyrically.
Beyoncé wears her references on her sleeve. The sample list, rich with underground queer artists and disco divas that help Beyonce, celebrates music and communities that often go overlooked in larger mainstream conversations. “Pure/Honey”, the most blatant of the ballroom bangers, starts off with the voice of Kevin Aviance and ends with words from Moi Renee. In the middle, Beyonce injects the sexy grooves of Vanity 6 and a throwback Michael Jackson leaning bassline. This kind of sonic exploration is also found on the bounce meets classic gospel of “Church Girl”, as well as the Grace Jones and Tems assisted “Move” that exists in a thrilling space between afrobeats and dancehall.
The album also sees Beyoncé return to familiar ground. Songs like “Cuff It” and “Virgo’s Groove” could’ve been on previous albums like 4 – with lush productions, stacked harmonies, call and response pre-choruses and blissful belting as Beyoncé sings “I feel like falling in love” reminiscent to the more cheerful moments from songs like “Love On Top”. Beyoncé is in her element doing complex singing scales and transitioning easily through her vocal registers reminiscent of her Dangerously In Love debut.
We also find sonic reminders of the under-appreciated 2019 soundtrack album, The Gift. On songs like “Cozy”, “Energy” and the Drake co-penned “Heated”, she finds herself rhythmically chanting back on accented ground, with “Heated” being the most successful in capturing the ease and lightness that made the best tracks from The Gift as good as they were. On the purest pop songs we still get material her peers could only attempt but not execute. “All Up In Your Mind” is intense and heavy with an irresistible earworm off a chorus, Beyoncé at her most trippy and 2022. The fast tempo of “America Has A Problem” is both evocative of Salt N Peppa’s 80s girl rap and the UKs garage EDM from early 2010s.
The finale song, “Summer Renaissance” is the singer at her most potent and concentrated. It has everything that makes a Beyoncé song work – the rap singing, the command, the crooning and the production switch. She’s both a disco diva and a ball commentator. The climax of a wild and satisfying ride in clubland putting together every ingredient she sampled on the previous tracks. A triumph of a song only the best scholars of Black dance music could pull off.
With everything Beyoncé has meant to black queer culture, Renaissance stands as a moment when the influencer becomes influenced. A love letter to the Black women who created the lane she exists in and the audience that loves them. Is the album her best work? That’s for that audience to decide. It will be up to Black queer people to decide if this music deserves a place on the podium that houses Diva Classics.
Now we wait for the visuals.
9/10.
