On her unapologetically escapist seventh album, the pop superstar unleashes everything from disco bangers to global house hedonism
: “With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love and laugh again. I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible.”Beyoncé was never going to make a corny “live, laugh, love” record, and her rebirth finds her in the role of siren luring us to the dancefloor. Lead singlewas a boisterous and euphoric slice of 90s diva house, albeit not exactly groundbreaking.
Sometimes these daring clashes are head-scratching: Alien Superstar interpolates Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy and just about gets away with it precisely because it doesn’t hang around too long: gliding strings and breathy singing beget rapping over thumping bass; then cosmic glitching, twanging guitars and expansive harmonies about supernatural love. At others, they don’t quite live up to the sum of their parts.
The increasingly politicised nature of Beyoncé’s work over the past decade has established certain expectations for this album. Break My Soul’s lyrics encouraging listeners to “release ya job” resonated with the sentiment of the great resignation; when she shared Renaissance’s tracklist prior to release, many assumed that America Has a Problem would offer a fairly literal exposition of its title.
Touted as Act I of a confirmed trilogy, Renaissance falls short of being Beyoncé’s best full-length, but it still fulfils her liberationist aims. It’s a celebration of living abundantly and outside the realms of others’ expectations, and acts as a reminder of how rare it is to witness this hyper-disciplined artist simply having fun on her own terms. Her sense of freedom throughout is palpable, and an infectious spur to action.
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