- The job of a pop star like Beyoncé is to push pop music forward. On her latest LP, she both pays tribute to and glosses over decades of queer plight in search of clubby new sounds.
- Few people know the real Beyoncé, for two reasons. One is that, much like other legendary pop stars of her ilk, she's a master of reinvention. The second is that, over the years, Beyoncé has erected an impenetrable fortress around her private life. "I'm grateful I have the ability to choose what I want to share," she told Harper's Bazaar in an unusually revealing interview last summer. "One day I decided I wanted to be like Sade and Prince. I wanted the focus to be on my music, because if my art isn't strong enough or meaningful enough to keep people interested and inspired, then I'm in the wrong business. My music, my films, my art, my message—that should be enough."
In an age where the impact of fame becomes diluted with the rising ease with which it can be obtained, the trope of the enigmatic artist can feel outdated. So when Beyoncé decides to "pull a Beyoncé" (meaning she emerges from long periods of silence—radiant, vocals warmed up, and in her Sunday best to effortlessly capture the attention of the entire world with a new release) she proves that true, untouchable superstars can still exist. On her seventh studio album, Renaissance, she lets us into her world a little, with a more traditional rollout campaign, interviews and all. A week after the record's house-inflected and Robin S.-inspired debut single, "BREAK MY SOUL," made its explosive arrival during the longest day of the summer, she filled us in on her intentions behind the project: "A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom," she shared on Instagram. "It was a beautiful journey of exploration. I hope you find joy in this music."
There is certainly joy written across Renaissance. The album is bursting with it. The record is Beyoncé's first that could be truly called a dance album, with production credits from a diverse crop of electronic music producers. It's fascinating to see the pop artist, whose hits have traditionally sat at the top of hip-hop and R&B charts, work with musicians like reggaeton producer Kelman Duran, house legend Honey Dijon and PC Music founder A. G. Cook. The star-studded list of guests and writers makes for an eclectic range of sounds encompassing New Orleans bounce, disco-pop, Afrobeat, ballroom, electro and even hyper-pop. Like a heady—if unfocused—DJ mix, the tracks transition seamlessly and satisfyingly into one another. Akin to mid-career pop albums like Mariah Carey's The Emancipation Of Mimi and Mary J. Blige's Growing Pains, the LP drips in grown grandeur. Beyoncé, now 40, isn't ringing alarms or dangerously in love anymore, but that doesn't mean she isn't having fun. In fact, on the funky disco-pop journey "CUFF IT," she waltzes into a promising night with a cup waiting to be filled, asking us, "Have you ever had fun like this?"
That song bleeds into the ebullient Afrobeat of "ENERGY," where the liquor-drenched antics continue. The Queen B oscillates between swaggering rap and buttery harmonies, all the while dishing out celebratory lyrics: "Poppin' our pain and champagne through the ceilin' / Sippin' it up, flickin' it up." And what would a Beyoncé album be without a bad bitch anthem coated in hard-earned braggadocio? On the opener "I'M THAT GIRL," she kicks off proceedings over Kelman Duran's reggaeton beat, asserting her authoritative position in the music industry with lyrics that slowly cascade from her (likely glossy) lips. She wants listeners to know that she's made it this far due to nothing—and no one—but her own pure talent and discipline: "It's not my man / It's not my stance / I'm that girl."
Beyoncé is an unparalleled tastemaker, with her recent albums providing a compass for where pop music and pop culture will veer next. What makes this album unique is how heavily and obviously inspired it is by queer culture (as well as her late Uncle Johnny, a gay man she credits in the liner notes for introducing her to queer sounds and subcultures). References to ballroom, a subculture with deep roots in the Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ community, show up on highlight "ALIEN SUPERSTAR," which strikes an uncanny balance between punchy house and celestial synths. It only hits a snag when Beyoncé details her singular beauty with a questionable line mined from ballroom jargon: "Category: Sexy bitch / I'm the bar / Alien superstar."
The ballroom scene has historically played a vital role in queer social networks as a safe space for developing kinship. In these clandestine environments, collectives, or families called "houses," compete against each other in different categories (which it appears Beyoncé is alluding to) for money and prizes. Underground queer communities such as this have not always been trendy enough to catch a pop star's attention. Historically, ballroom offered spaces of refuge, support and acceptance for Black and Latinx queer youth outcast by society, particularly during the AIDS crisis.
In a moment when subversive queer scenes, once inaccessible to outsiders, have been popularized by shows like the FX drama Pose and ballroom reality TV show Legendary, it's easier than ever for an artist like Beyoncé to do their homework. In the closing verse of "HEATED," Beyoncé hurls out insults, appearing to pay homage to ballroom's quick-lipped MC culture by adopting the witty cadence and shady flamboyance of a quintessential ball MC. On "PURE/HONEY" she samples Kevin Aviance's 1996 ballroom single "Cunty" as well as "Miss Honey," a classic '90s bitch track by the late underground drag icon Miss Renee. On paper, she has all the right tools to create a house track that would rock the nearest gay club. But, as a wealthy cis woman, Beyoncé lacks an intimate understanding of the subcultures she is borrowing from, and this sudden, random interest in underground queer culture renders the execution awkward at best, and painfully pandering at worst. Renaissance might be an immersive joy ride, but who is this joy being expressed at the expense of? At times, it's unclear where the record falls between appreciation and cooptation.
On the second half of Renaissance, Beyoncé dials down the smoky debauchery of the opening stretch with some ecstasy-addled love escapades. This is where she's at her strongest—and most authentic—on the album. Her vocals are rosy and sweet on the sun-speckled R&B of "PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA." Above "VIRGO'S GROOVE"'s funky guitar riffs, her robust vocal prowess comes out with gorgeous vocal runs powered by declarations of love. And on the racing electro of "AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM," Bey is at her most confident and sexy. Here, she boasts not only that her love is a hot commodity but that she's also not a lover to be trifled with: "Just know I run with them goons / In case you start acting familiar." Away from clichéd interpretations of dance music, this is where the pop artist is most at home, using her classically-trained diva vocals to transform racy, unpretentious lyrics into pop and R&B anthems.
The exploitation and sanitization of ballroom culture for mass consumption can be traced all the way to 1990, when Madonna released her hit single "Vogue"—a song interpolated on one of the latest "BREAK MY SOUL" remixes put out since Renaissance's release. Several decades into her career, Beyoncé is clearly itching to experiment with her sound. This latest album may not be her most cohesive release, but it does come with a handful of well-executed surprises. (Take "ALL UP IN YOUR MIND." Who would expect Beyoncé to put out a hyper pop track—and one that actually sounds good?). The album falls flat when it tries too hard to immerse itself in a culture that does not belong to Beyoncé. Underneath the glitz of the record's ever-turning disco ball lies decades of hidden kinship and struggle. In these moments, queer history is buried where it should have been uplifted.
Tracklist01. I'm That Girl
02. Cozy
03. Alien Superstar
04. Cuff It
05. Energy feat. Beam
06. Break My Soul
07. Church Girl
08. Plastic Off the Sofa
09. Virgo's Groove
10. Move feat. Grace Jones & Tems
11. Heated
12. Thique
13. All Up in Your Mind
14. America Has a Problem
15. Pure/Honey
16. Summer Renaissance