It may not feel like it, but it’s been six years since the last official Beyoncé album, Lemonade. She’s stayed relatively busy since then with multiple world tours, a collab album with Jay-Z, a curated album for the new Lion King movie in 2019, a full 90-minute visual album for that project, a two and a half hour long live performance movie of her Coachella performance, and a few features. She has been relatively absent the past couple years, but that’s not surprising considering the pandemic. So when she announced that there was a new album coming out in late July, expectations were high. This project is only considered as “Act I” by Beyonce, and ever since then, there have been rumors of multiple more albums that might be coming sometime soon. She’s even called it a “three act project” in a quote put on her website, seemingly confirming the three album theory. The next project is also rumored to be a country/soul album, which I think could be especially amazing, but let's not get to ahead of ourselves and instead, focus on Renaissance.
Renaissance had big shoes to fill after Lemonade was considered one of the best albums of the 2010s and she did the only thing she could, which is not try to top it and instead, just make a great body of work. Instead of blending a plethora of different genres like she did on Lemonade, this project exists squarely in the dance realm. The entire project could be played in a dance club from start to finish, and no one would blink an eye. In fact, Questlove actually posted that he saw this very thing happen, and people loved every second of it. Renaissance also flows together like a dance setlist, as most of the songs transition into one another. The tempos towards the end of the tracks tend to change to help make the transitions as smooth as possible, just like how a DJ would match tempos before changing tracks.
There are every type of dance song on here as well. “Cuff It” is an immediate highlight that throws back to the 70s and 80s era of music, and she enlists icons from that era to produce it as well. Disco legend Nile Rodgers, funk and soul producer Raphael Saadiq, and former Prince drummer Sheila E are all playing instruments on this one track! But then, there is a techno-inspired song on the backend, which is the first half of “Pure/Honey”. There are also more Afrobeat-inspired tracks here that she did on the Lion King Soundtrack, and even though they don’t reach the best of the songs from that soundtrack, they are still entertaining in the context of the album. “Virgo’s Groove” is a funk-inspired track that extends for more than six minutes in length, but it’s worth every second. “All Up In Your Mind” sounds like a Charli XCX track with all the distortion elements thrown on there, and it was even produced by A.G. Cook, who produces a lot of Charli’s material.
There is one negative to this album though, which is that the subject matter is nothing but partying, sex, and drugs. It’s not that big of a negative because it would be weird to have anything else over the sound of this album, but this is subject matter that I can’t relate to at all. But, even though the lyrics themselves are not relatable at all, Beyonce still has this ability to empower the listener to feel at their best, no matter who is listening. Listening to this album gives off the same energy as a trap album does for me, which is that even though I can’t relate at all to what they’re talking about, the confidence and energy bleeds off of this project and helps me feel more confident and energetic.
People will always discredit Beyonce for having a plethora of writers and producers on her songs, and that has continued with the reception to this album. One track, “Alien Superstar”, even has 24 credited writers! But what’s important here is that this project doesn’t sound like it could be made by just a few people. Renaissance sounds like millions of dollars and hundreds of people were needed to craft these 16 songs. Every track is filled to the brim with little production moments in the background that fill out the sound perfectly, whether it’s the wild string sections on the aforementioned “Alien Superstar”, or the powerful horns on “Cuff It”. Even the lead single, “Break My Soul”, has a choir that comes in towards the end of the track to round out the chorus. Projects like Renaissance can’t be made with just one producer and writer. Sure, having extra writers and producers can sometimes be a crutch, but it can also elevate your music to a level where you never could have taken it yourself, and the latter is true with this album.
Renaissance is the party of the year, and I doubt it will be topped. It’s not just a collection of dance songs, but is a full project that sounds way better when played front to back. Beyonce has come into her own this past decade with heading these grand projects, and Renaissance is no different. She may not be the one writing or producing everything, but at the end of the day, this is still her vision and her bringing everyone together. If Renaissance really is the first of three albums, I can’t wait to see what she has in store for these next two acts, whether it ends up being more music or just more content in general!
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