The singer will officially release her seventh solo studio album, “Renaissance,” on Friday. The title boldly calls up Europe's centuries-long cultural rebirth, ...
“I’m very humbled and very grateful and gracious, but my artist of my life is Beyoncé. The ‘Lemonade’ album was so monumental.” “It was a cultural event, and one that took place at the zenith of her career.” Beyoncé’s Coachella performance (or Beychella, as it’s commonly known) was perhaps the greatest in the history of the festival — and it’s hard to pinpoint just one reason. Stomping onto the field flanked by an army of dancers in black leather, black berets and black Afros — just Black — the singer delivered a performance that would be hailed as one of the halftime show’s top 10, a list that included her own solo halftime show just three years before. And yet, the Grammys gave the album of the year in 2017 to Adele for “25.” Even the British singer herself was surprised as she took the stage: “I can’t possibly accept this award,” Adele said. “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” — ironically released in 2008 six months before the singer’s marriage to Jay-Z — was a hit, winning three Grammy Awards (song of the year, best R&B song and best female R&B vocal performance). Its music video won MTV’s video of the year and inspired parody after parody after parody. The Obamas have a deep affinity for the Carters (that’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Shawn Carter to you). Former president Barack Obama is an unabashed Jay-Z fan and Michelle Obama once said that if she could have any job other than first lady she “would be Beyoncé.” The couples have crossed one another’s paths several times over the years, but the seminal moment was at the Neighborhood Ball the night of Obama’s 2009 inauguration. But “Listen,” the song Beyoncé’s “Dreamgirls” character, Deena Jones, belts to declare independence from her husband, may be her most convincing performance yet. Tracing her connection with the soft drink is informative of her career journey: Her first Pepsi commercial in 2002 dips into her character from “Carmen: A Hip Hopera,” a made-for-MTV movie. The singer no longer needs to do outright TV endorsements because she is a brand in and of herself. “You ready, B? Let’s go get ’em,” Jay-Z tells his girl, whom he was rumored to be dating at the time, at the top of the track. In her practically lifelong career, the 40-year-old singer has proven herself time and again to be bigger than the stage, the arena, the screen or the catwalk she struts on.
Kelis put Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams on blast Thursday for sampling one of the singer's songs without her permission or even advance notice.
“It’s called thievery because ... the definition of collaboration, it means that we are working together,” she added. “My mind is blown too because the level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all 3 parties involved is astounding,” she wrote in the comments of the fan account’s post. “The reality is, all of this female empowerment, it only counts if you really do it,” she said. He does this all the time, it’s very petty,” she said, while insisting that she is not jealous of Beyoncé. “If you’re really living it and walking the walk. I have the right to be frustrated,” she said in the first video, just hours before Beyoncé's new album is set to be released.
While Beyoncé has a songwriting credit for every song on the new album, her decision to tap many collaborators for the project is in keeping with her past work.
One only need look as far as “Break My Soul,” which credits house legend Robin S., thanks to an interpolation of the synths from her oft-sampled song “Show Me Love.” While the interpolation itself is fairly subtle, Beyoncé shows an admirable dedication to giving credit where credit is due to the artists whose work has touched her albums. Sampling and interpolation have now become mainstays of the music industry, especially as hip hop and R&B, genres that have long relied on samples as part of the craft, have become more mainstream. The most surprising of the songwriters might just be the polarizing indie rocker Father John Misty, who got connected with Beyoncé through the producer Emile Haynie (also a credited songwriter on the track). Father John Misty ended up writing the first verse and the catchy “jealous and crazy” refrain. However, the songwriting credits for rapper Soulja Boy probably best epitomize why contemporary music, especially hip hop and R&B with their heavy sampling and interpolation, has so many songwriters. That album boasted 72 songwriters in addition to Queen Bey. The sizable number spawned many a think piece and even a questionable meme, with detractors making the case that Beyoncé’s creative talent or finished project was somehow diminished by working with multiple collaborators. A single which dropped in June, “Break My Soul,” suggested that the album might be strongly influenced by house music.
More than six years after the lauded visual album Lemonade, Beyoncé returns, evolves and responds to a very different world.
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"Act I" of Beyoncé's seventh studio album, recorded over the last three years of pandemic life, has just gone live.
Really, what could say “I desire a release from ennui” like riding through the universe on a horse made out of the galaxy brain meme? Said themes include a general desire for freedom, escape, joy, and other reliefs from the monotony that we imagine gets down even those of us who happen to be Beyoncé; of course, you didn’t really need us to lay that out for you, since all those ideas are perfectly encapsulated in the album’s cover. More specifically, she’s released Renaissance: Act I, but since this thing is 16 tracks long, we’re going to go ahead and take it as qutie a bit more than a prologue.
Beyoncé's seventh album, "Renaissance," is a 16-song opus that delves into sex and self-worth, all while beckoning listeners onto the dance floor.
“Summer Renaissance”: Beyoncé wraps her ambitious opus with a nod to Donna Summer as a sample of “I Feel Love” swirls in the background. “Plastic Off the Sofa”: Beyoncé’s tremendous vocals are showcased in this pretty package of soulful nostalgia that cools down the tempo with woozy guitar strains and angelic backing vocals. “Energy”: A spicy banger that features Jamaican rapper Beam and samples Kelis’ 1999 song “Get Along With You,” which has incited some controversy. “America Has a Problem”: The most intriguingly titled song on the album includes production from The-Dream, a co-write by husband Jay-Z and a jittery hi-hat powering the production. “Move”: With guests Grace Jones (!) and Nigerian singer Tems backing her, Beyoncé is strident and fierce. “Alien Superstar”: Synthesizers creep in the background of this futuristic romp that is lyrically rich and musically zigzagging.
Beyonce, the paradigm-shifting music royal whose art has long established her as one of entertainment's seminal stars, on Friday released her hotly ...
"We are going to take our time and Enjoy the music." "My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. "It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving," she continued. Beyonce's soaring vocals have their place on "Renaissance" but it's the rhythmic, urgent call to the dance floor that stands out, with a tapestry of influences paying homage to pioneers of funk, soul, rap, house and disco.#photo2 A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking." "Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world," Beyonce on her website.#photo1
The 16-track album is expected to feature contributions from her husband Jay-Z, Drake, producer Skrillex and The-Dream.
Beyonce and Jay-Z had daughter Blue Ivy in January 2012, and in June 2017 she gave birth to twins Rumi and Sir. Since the release ofin 2016, Beyonce has remained busy, releasing , a joint studio album with her husband Jay-Z, credited under the name The Carters, as well as the visual album Its prefix, Act 1, has prompted speculation that the record is the first in a series.
The artist's first record since Lemonade has been met with a blockbuster response – and a spot of controversy.
In a Guardian interview from 2020, Kelis claimed she was “blatantly lied to and tricked” by her early collaborators the Neptunes and, as a result, “made nothing from sales of her first two albums”. In a Vulture interview earlier this year, Hugo brushed off the comments: “I heard about her sentiment toward that. House musician Robin S, whose track Show Me Love is sampled in Beyoncé’s Break My Soul, has said she was also unaware of the usage before the single’s release – though she received the news more positively. “I appreciate you for calling out anyone that was trying to sneak into the club early.” “I can’t thank y’all enough for your love and protection,” she said. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom.”
From the lead single 'Break My Soul' to featured artists, here's everything you need to know about Beyoncé's new album before it's released tonight.
“I’m tellin’ everybody, everybody.” - “Cozy” On Wednesday, however, the album reportedly leaked online approximately 36 hours before its scheduled release. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. “My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment.
It is the 40-year-old pop superstar's first offering in six years, following the critically acclaimed Lemonade in 2016. The official release comes less than 36 ...
Please review their details and accept them to load the content. She added: "To all my fans: I hope it inspires you to release the wiggle. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. "This three act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic.
The sprawling 16-track album features a spread of genres including driving disco, Afrobeats and house influences.
“We are going to take our time and enjoy the music. She added: “To all my fans: I hope it inspires you to release the wiggle. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. Thank you for being patient,” she wrote. “This three act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic.
Minutes before the album's release Beyonce, posted to Instagram thanking fans for their "love and protection" following the reported early leak of ...
It is the 40-year-old pop superstar's first offering in six years, following the critically acclaimed Lemonade in 2016. The sprawling 16-track album features a ...
She added: “To all my fans: I hope it inspires you to release the wiggle. “We are going to take our time and enjoy the music. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. “Mama, I luhhhh you. “This three act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic.
More than six years after the lauded visual album Lemonade, Beyoncé returns, evolves and responds to a very different world.
"A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. She addressed the leak, and the backlash from patient fans it received on social media, in a post just ahead of the album's actual release, writing: "I appreciate you for calling out anyone that was trying to sneak into the club early ... we are going to take our time and enjoy the music." Ha! And to feel as unique, strong, and sexy as you are." "My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment," Beyoncé's statement on her website reads. On her website, Beyoncé wrote of Renaissance, "This three act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic. Beyoncé's long-awaited and highly anticipated seventh studio album, Renaissance, is now available for the world to hear.
Beyoncé dropped her seventh solo album, “Renaissance,” on Thursday night as scheduled, calling out those who leaked the album two days early.
Late last month, Beyoncé surprise-dropped “Break My Soul,” the first single from the album. "My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving.
The pop star's seventh solo album is “Act I” of work born during the pandemic, a time she “found to be the most creative,” she said in a statement.
“He was my godmother and the first person to expose me to a lot of the music and culture that serve as an inspiration for this album,” she wrote. The performance was later turned into a Netflix special and an album, both titled “Homecoming.” In an explanatory statement posted to Instagram last month that Beyoncé expanded on her website on Thursday, she said “Renaissance” was part of a “three act project” she recorded during the pandemic. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. She announced the album more than a month ahead of time, did an interview with British Vogue, put out the single “Break My Soul,” revealed a track list and finally began posting on TikTok. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she added, thanking her followers “for your love and protection.”
Beyonce, seen here performing in 2016, just dropped her new album. (CNN) You should know by now that a Beyoncé album release is ...
Witnessing his battle with HIV was one of the most painful experiences I've ever lived." "I appreciate you for calling out anyone that was trying to sneak into the club early," she wrote. "He was brave and unapologetic during a time when this country wasn't as accepting. This is a celebration for you." So much to digest, so much to dissect and so much to dance to. "I've never seen anything like it.
The 2016 album Lemonade marked a decided shift in Bey's artistic direction. With this release came the dawn of her socio-political activism through music.
Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. And anyone who downplays the extent of her cultural value, quite frankly, has a lot to learn. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. In spite of all these injustices, these women still manage to make Lemonade from the sour lemons that they have been unjustly given.
Beyonce has released Renaissance, her first full-length solo album since 2016. The sprawling 16-track record features contributions from her husband Jay-Z, ...
This is a celebration for you.” She wrote: “A big thank you to my Uncle Jonny. He was my godmother and the first person to expose me to a lot of the music and culture that serve as inspiration for this album. The album was announced last month with the prefix Act I, suggesting it was part of a larger project, and Beyonce confirmed this in the liner notes on Friday.
A roundup of the songwriters who collaborated with Bey on 'Renaissance' -- and the songs that are sampled or interpolated on the album. By Joe Lynch ...
WRITTEN BY BEYONCÉ, DENISIA “@BLU_JUNE” ANDREWS FOR @NOVAWAV, BRITTANY “@CHI_CONEY” CONEY FOR @NOVAWAV, TERIUS “THE-DREAM” GESTEELDE-DIAMANT, LEVEN KALI, MIKE DEAN, ATIA BOGGS P/K/A INK, LEVAR COPPIN, SALIOU DIAGNE , RICKY LAWSON, DONNA SUMMER, GIORGIO MORODER, PETER BELLOTTE CONTAINS SAMPLE OF “COCAINE” WRITTEN BY TINO SANTRON MCINTOSH AND KILO AND PERFORMED BY KILO ALI. PUBLISHED BY OLIK MUSIC (BMI), SANTRON PUBLISHING (BMI) Renaissance was preceded by “Break My Soul,” a house-indebted anthem of resilience featuring frequent collaborator Big Freedia, which hit No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. WRITTEN BY BEYONCÉ, MICHAEL TUCKER, DARIUS DIXSON, MICHAEL POLLACK, DENISIA “@BLU_JUNE” ANDREWS FOR @NOVAWAV, BRITTANY “@CHI_CONEY” CONEY FOR @NOVAWAV, TERIUS “THE-DREAM” GESTEELDE-DIAMANT, RAPHAEL SAADIQ, MOI RENEE, ERIC SNEAD, JEREL BLACK, MICHAEL D COX , KEVIN MARQUIS BELLMON, ANDREW RICHARDSON, COUNT MAURICE "Thique" CONTAINS AN INTERPOLATION OF “OOO LA LA LA” WRITTEN BY MARY CHRISTINE BROCKERT, ALLEN HENRY MCGRIER AND PERFORMED BY TEENA MARIE. PUBLISHED BY MC NELLA MUSIC (ASCAP), MIDNIGHT MAGNET MUSIC PUBLISHING (ASCAP). CONTAINS AN INTERPOLATION OF “MILKSHAKE” WRITTEN BY PHARRELL WILLIAMS, CHAD HUGO AND PERFORMED BY KELIS. PUBLISHED BY WATERS OF NAZARETH PUBLISHING (GMR), EMI POP MUSIC PUBLISHING (GMR) AND UNIVERSAL MUSIC – CAREERS (BMI). CONTAINS A SAMPLE OF “EXPLODE” WRITTEN BY ADAM JAMES PIGOTT, FREEDIE ROSS AND PERFORMED BY BIG FREEDIA. PUBLISHED BY ADAM JAMES PIGOTT PUBLISHING DESIGNEE (BMI) AND GIRL DOWN (BMI). CONTAINS ELEMENTS OF “SHOW ME LOVE” WRITTEN BY GEORGE ALLEN, FRED CRAIG MCFARLANE AND PERFORMED BY ROBIN S. PUBLISHED BY EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC INC (BMI) AND SONG A TRON MUSIC (BMI). CONTAINS A SAMPLE OF “EXPLODE” WRITTEN BY ADAM JAMES PIGOTT, FREEDIE ROSS AND PERFORMED BY BIG FREEDIA. PUBLISHED BY ADAM JAMES PIGOTT PUBLISHING DESIGNEE (BMI) AND GIRL DOWN (BMI). "Heated" Check out our ranking of the Renaissance tracks here and see which songwriters Beyoncé collaborated with on each of the 16 songs on Renaissance below. WRITTEN BY BEYONCÉ, RICHARD ISONG, ARIOWA IROSOGIE, DENISIA “@BLU_JUNE” ANDREWS FOR @NOVAWAV, BRITTANY “@CHI_CONEY” CONEY FOR @NOVAWAV, TEMILADE OPENIYI, RONALD BANFUL WRITTEN BY BEYONCÉ, DENISIA “@BLU_JUNE” ANDREWS FOR @NOVAWAV, BRITTANY “@CHI_CONEY” CONEY FOR @NOVAWAV, MORTEN RISTORP, RAPHAEL SAADIQ, TERIUS “THE-DREAM” GESTEELDE-DIAMANT, MARY CHRISTINE BROCKERT, ALLEN HENRY MC GRIER, NILE RODGERS "Cozy"
Beyoncé released her seventh album, "Renaissance" on July 29 and allegedly sampled a Kelis song on "Energy" without permission. Here's what we know.
She did, however, go on to thank Beyoncé and Jay Z for "giving her her flowers" while she was still alive. Kelis claimed that she "had beef" with The Neptunes before her interpolation on "Energy." In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, she called out the production duo for "blatantly [lying] to and trick[ing]" her when it came to legal rights to her first two albums. Robin claimed that she learned about the sample because her son told her she was "trending all over the place." "Their argument is: 'Well, you signed it.' I'm like: 'Yeah, I signed what I was told, and I was too young and too stupid to double-check it.'" "But the real issue is the fact that the people like Pharrell and like Chad. Pharell knows better. Musician Kelis called out Beyoncé for allegedly interpolating her song, "Milkshake," without permission on Instagram.
Kelis accused Beyoncé and songwriter-producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of “thievery” late Thursday after discovering a track on Beyoncé's highly ...
“Show Me Love” is credited to Allen George and Fred McFarlane — who, similar to the situation with Williams and Hugo, earned writing credits on the Beyoncé track. “I also know the things that were stolen. “I also know the lies that were told,” she continued. But early on in her career, she struck a deal with Williams and Hugo that she now considers to be unfair. Neither Beyoncé nor Williams and Hugo were any under legal obligation to contact Kelis before drawing from “Milkshake,” Bennett said, as Williams and Hugo, who produced the 2003 single as the Neptunes, were also the only songwriters listed on it. A common industry model, called out in recent years by Taylor Swift, is for the record label to own the masters and the songwriters the musical work.
Why is Kelis speaking out about Beyonce, Pharrell, and Chad Hugo? We look into the 'Renaissance' track "Energy."
Energy She later added, “I have the right to be frustrated. “Pharrell knows better. The deeper issue here stems from Kelis’ contract and publishing troubles with Williams and Hugo, whom she collaborated with earlier in her career. “I also know the lies that were told. She added that it would have been “common decency” for someone to reach out and at least give her a heads up.
On her new album Renaissance, Beyoncé samples Kelis' 2003 song 'Milkshake,' but Kelis has criticized the way the singer went about doing it.
The Renaissance credits listed on Beyoncé’s website state that “Energy” contains an interpolation of “Milkshake,” which was “written by Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and performed by Kelis.” Beyoncé, however, has a history of dutifully crediting all of her many collaborators and contributors (even if those contributions are unwitting)—hence the lengthy “credits” section under each song on her website. In the last 15 or so seconds of the track, those “las” that Beyoncé softly sings are an apparent reference to the earworm pre-chorus from the Kelis track. “Nothing is ever as it seems, some of the people in this business have no soul or integrity and they have everyone fooled.” “Ah, la-la, ah, ah,” Beyoncé sings. “Ah, ah, ah, la-la-la-la-la-la,” Beyoncé responds.
Singer Kelis has said she's furious that Beyonce didn't tell her she was sampling one of her songs — but it's about a lot more than that.
Variety explored this issue at length last year in an article titled “ Inside the Dirty Business of Hit Songwriting,” which shows that the practice of artists or business people taking credit or royalties for songs they did not write goes all the way back to the 1950s and, as depicted in the film 2020 “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” much longer than that. Williams — who spoke at length about himself being on the wrong end of a publishing deal during his induction speech at the Songwriters Hall of Fame last month — has declined to discuss the situation with Kelis in the past and a rep for him did not respond to Variety’s request for comment. While some instances are allegedly cut and dried — Elvis Presley’s manager and countless others have demanded a significant percentage of a song’s earnings, arguing that the money wouldn’t be rolling in without them — others are among the greyest of grey areas. “I was told we were going to split the whole thing 33/33/33, which we didn’t do,” she told the Guardian in 2020. Kelis has said previously that she feels she was not properly credited or compensated for her work with the duo. In the past 48 hours, the only noise louder than the Beyhive’s buzz has been coming from R&B singer Kelis, who is outraged that Beyonce sampled her 1999 song “Get Along With You” without informing her.
The new album pulls from '70s disco, '80s synth-pop, '90s house and afro-beats. In other words, it makes you want to dance. This is only the first act ...
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Beyoncé's first solo album since Lemonade in 2016 takes the US superstar in a new direction. Renaissance adds dance music to her usual palette of R&B, soul, ...
Ignore the leaks — Beyonce's seventh studio album “Renaissance” has officially arrived. As hinted, it's an all-encompassing album for the dance floor, ...
More than 20 years later, Beyoncé's version remixes it with an eerie bassline that keeps that same emotion, comparing her addictiveness to that of the powder with lines like “I’ma make you go weak for me / Make you wait a whole week for me / I see you watching, fiending / I know you want it, scheming.” Beyoncé travels across the realm of Black music on “Renaissance,” as she’s done throughout her catalog. As a whole, the song turns the church on its head, opening with traditional gospel before trapping out the drums to let herself go, “Church girls acting loose, bad girls acting snotty,” she sings on the chorus while instructing you to drop it low and dance as you please. “And a special thanks to my beautiful husband and muse, who held me down during those late nights in the studio.” Beyoncé has shown love to her children across her catalog, but on track two of “Renaissance,” she honors her own body for bringing them into the world. She credited him for exposing her to the sounds that inspired “Renaissance.”
Beyoncé wears Gucci, Mugler, and Schiaparelli for the art released with her newest album, 'Renaissance.'
Then, wearing a custom Alaïa dress, Beyoncé seems to levitate in one of the photos, like the goddess she is. Her tiny sunglasses sit low on the bridge of her nose and a microphone docked in a pistol-shaped holder lays just beside her on the crushed red velvet of the seat. Thankfully, this is only part one of a three-part drop (and we are hoping that the other parts include a visual album.) All the while, Beyoncé has been quietly teasing us with visuals — decked out in the likes of GCDS and Harris Reed — on her Instagram for a while now.
Can Kelis sue the Neptunes, Pharrell and Chad Hugo, or Beyoncé for interpolating her 2003 song “Milkshake” in “Energy,” a new song on 'Renaissance'?
“My sense is that Beyoncé is a pretty sophisticated player and probably had her legal team make sure that whoever owned the rights to those things was giving her permission, because it’s definitely the case that if Beyoncé did it without permission from the copyright owners, that she could be sued even for a short” sample of interpolation, Nicolas explained. Kelis may also just be making a sort of separate moral-slash-ethical argument that Beyoncé should have given her the heads-up that she was going to be making use of this.” Kelis doesn’t seem to have any viable legal path for even getting songwriting credit for “Milkshake” by now or other songs she might feel cheated out of. Fishman voiced similar sentiments, stating, “Probably not, unless there’s a provision in a contract that would bind the sampling party.” Fishman pointed to several exceptions, but those involved situations where artists’ voices were used in marketing materials without their okay, which is a very different situation. One is to the underlying musical composition, the sort of notes on paper, if you will, that’s one copyright, and that’s typically owned by the songwriter — although they often assign those rights to a publisher,” Nicolas said. Beyoncé appeared to interpolate “Milkshake” — that is, use portions of the written music — but not outright sample it, as sampling entails using the actual recording. “Kelis seems to be making a claim, perhaps, that she has some role in the original musical composition, but at least on paper, it looks like if she ever had any rights. Beyoncé, it turned out, appears to have interpolated Kelis’s 2003 song “Milkshake” on her new track “Energy.” Responding to the fan page, Kelis claimed that Beyoncé did so without giving her a heads-up and slammed the Neptunes’ Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, with whom she worked on the single decades ago, for not originally giving her credit. The way Beyoncé apparently used “Milkshake” is also important here. “I also know the lies that were told. “I know what I own and what I don’t own,” Kelis said. On July 25, 2022, four days before Beyoncé was set to stop the world with her new album Renaissance, a Kelis fan page on Instagram claimed that a track would sample one of the hip-hop artist’s early 2000s hits.
Beyoncé herself might admit that her seventh solo album, Renaissance, is a mess. Conventional songwriting rules, polite-taste paradigms, and the best ...
“No one else in this world can think like me,” she says, a brag that is true for all of us, whether we embrace it or not, as we cut a trail in this world. Somehow she has found a way to make messages of individual empowerment, which can be so trite in pop, jolt again. Conflict arises only in flickering mentions of haters and “Karens” who have “turned into terrorists.” Some boasts are corny; some are instant classics; many are both. On the opener, “I’m That Girl,” fragmented noises cut in and out, accelerating and decelerating in frequency, as if controlled by someone revving an engine. Instead, she has re-cemented her status as one of America’s edgiest superstars, a sorcerer of synthesis and excess. The pulsing beat of Renaissance almost never pauses, though it does morph—from the pistonlike pumping of house and techno to the snapping and swaying of Afrobeats to the tick-tick-boom of various dance- rap styles that serve the almighty twerk.
If the music is an homage to uninhibited movement, the still images are steeped in fashion history, high maintenance glamour and perfectionism.
But there’s no denying that these pictures also express a delight in the male gaze — as well as the female gaze, the non-gendered gaze and the gaze of anyone who’d like to look. The clothes tell the chaotic story of an era in pop culture when people were determined to have a good time. The dancing endured in the face of the AIDS epidemic, homophobia, economic peril and dire crime statistics. And after years of track pants and yoga pants and dressing only from the waist up, she also presents her audience with fashion that is turned out, spit polished, cinched up and exhausting. The world has borne witness to the seventh coming of Beyoncé in the form of her studio album “Renaissance.” The 16 tracks are an expression of her moods and desires during the height of the pandemic when she decided to record music that allowed her to dream and to escape, as she wrote on her website. Back then, the pleasure bubbled up despite — and perhaps because of — dire circumstances. The posture makes one think of the fashion photography of Helmut Newton and Jean-Paul Goude. There are spangled ones and molded ones and one that is really just a bit of silver chain and rhinestones. Beyoncé sits atop it wearing chains and spikes and wielding a white hat; it calls to mind the pop culture moment from 1978 when Bianca Jagger rode a white horse into Studio 54 and helped cement the night club’s reputation as the era’s non plus ultra location for decadence and debauchery. There’s more Alaïa on display in the form of a custom acid-green lace dress with Mongolian lamb trim. She doesn’t communicate that much in a glance that’s caught in the click of a shutter. Photographs on her social media aim to evoke those emotions in concrete terms — in the form of bodysuits, disco balls, hologram horses and bedazzled saddles.
Fans celebrate the queer inspiration the music draws from as well as the Black LGBTQ artists who are featured on the album.
“This is Black culture, not the culture of kicking people out, not excluding people,” Tinsley said. “Break My Soul,” which has been celebrated as a gay anthem, was Beyoncé’s second collaboration with Big Freedia. She previously paired up with the rapper for “Formation” in 2016. The 16 tracks in “Renaissance” draw from house, disco and bounce music, genres that hark back to underground ballroom culture from the 1970s. They contrasted this joy with the political moment: “Renaissance” comes at a fraught time for the LGBTQ community amid an unprecedented onslaught of anti-LGBTQ legislation as well as recent protests and attacks at Pride events. “Thank you to all the pioneers who originate culture, to all of the fallen angels whose contributions have gone unrecognized for far too long.” In an era that has left LGBTQ rights vulnerable, Beyoncé has reaffirmed her support of the queer community.
BeyHive, welcome to the Renaissance. On Friday (July 29), Beyoncé dropped her long-awaited seventh studio album, six years after crafting her magnum opus ...
A place to scream, release, feel freedom. “My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. “Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world.
Hear tracks by Rosalía, Brian Eno, Robert Glasper and others.
Bobby Krlic, who usually records as the Haxan Cloak, has composed the score for a new Amazon series, “Paper Girls,” and “KJ’s Discovery” is from its soundtrack album. “Feathers,” from an album due in October, reveals the band’s new mastery with a clanging, lurching, meter-shifting song that enjoys programmed, multitracked precision even as Eve Alpert sings about spontaneity. Plains is a new group formed by Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield and the underrated singer-songwriter Jess Williamson — two Southern-born musicians who began their careers in the indie-rock world but whose more recent albums have reconnected with their country roots. “There Were Bells” is a threnody for planetary extinction from Brian Eno’s coming album, “Foreverandevernomore.” The LP, he has said, is about “our narrowing, precarious future,” and it returns to songs with lyrics and vocals after more than a decade of primarily instrumental and ambient works. Pandemic malaise and endurance are the foundation of “All Masks,” which looks back on years of “all masks, no smiles.” Over a murky, oozy track with synthesizer chords that climb patiently only to fall back to where they started, Masego sings about “Looking like you’re in disguise every day/Breathing my own breath.” “All Masks” comes from an expanded version of “Black Radio III” due this fall, continuing the keyboardist Robert Glasper’s decade-long series of “Black Radio” albums that merge R&B, hip-hop and jazz. Rosalía sounds aggressively unbothered on the studio version of “Despechá,” a fan favorite she’s been playing live on her Motomami World Tour. Influenced by Dominican merengue, “Despechá” is a quintessential summer jam, built around a buoyant piano riff and an insistent beat.
From Big Freedia to Ts Madison, the late Moi Renee to her Uncle Jonny, these are some of the figures who inspired Beyoncé in the making of "Renaissance," ...
"This is a celebration for you." He was brave and unapologetic during a time when this country wasn't as accepting." he and his contemporaries have "put a hip-hop spin on ballroom sounds and slang, while respecting tradition." At these balls, queer and trans New Yorkers competed, danced and created years-long rivalries between Houses (that is, "found families" of LGBTQ people who competed together). Madison, a transgender comedian, actress and advocate, first went viral in the 2010s on the now-defunct video platform Vine and her successful Youtube channel. "'I Feel Love' is still it." Their relative affordability and popularity has earned them the nickname "Bushwick Birkins," in her 2015 memoir of attending gay clubs with her brother and her own masculinity. But I think I've always tried to do that in the most natural way possible." Jonny even made Beyoncé's prom dress, Knowles-Lawson said. While a single Hermès Birkin bag, a symbol of outrageous wealth, can run you tens of thousands of dollars, Ms. Knowles-Carter prefers the Telfar shopping bag New Orleans' own Big Freedia, credited with popularizing hip-hop's bounce sound, originated the now-iconic line in her 2014 anthem