Renaissance (studio album) by Beyoncé

Beyoncé’s focus on albums is to be appreciated. Many major artists only make them as vessels for singles, but “Renaissance” is a cohesive, flowing tribute to club music from the 70’s to the nineties. More than just being the sound of a club, it has its structure. Pulsating rhythms will blend from track to track like a DJ’s set. The blending is always immaculate, even when the songs are occasionally uneven in quality. Above the club sound is a record about confidence and fierce sexuality. While it can be absolutely powerful on tracks like “Virgo's Groove”, more often than not, it feels limited. The lyrics rely on a lot of the same imagery and verbiage. After a while, hearing Beyoncé talk about how great her body is and how rich she is takes out a lot of the subject’s mystique. Flaws and all, I do think the record achieves its goal of being the spirit of the nightclubbing on a wild night.

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Why did Pitchfork put this at #1?

From ExTeaSea 11/05/2022 20:06

It's no Lemonade but it's pretty cool, especially the back half. It all flows together nicely like an endless dance club night out haha. Have been to a few haha, dancing in public isn't for me but I can see the appeal. They could literally just play this entire album and it'd be about the same as the nonstop dance music in your average club haha.

From AlvaroIesus 10/30/2022 06:40

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From HoldenM 09/10/2022 08:00

Party time!!!

From Arthurknight 08/26/2022 04:24

Renaissance has a lot of redeeming features, mostly how Beyoncé historicises the disco canon. However, it is also indisputably overhyped, a prime example of the way popstars of the 21st century post-album-distribution hellscape of streaming can waltz into mass critical appraisal with a single foray into big concept driven "high art" full album. Beyonce has proven already with Lemonade that she can be more than a singles artist, so I don't want to suggest that it's entirely bad faith, just more that let's settle at pretty good at best rather than "revolutionary". Moreover, people are and will continue to attach other weirdly hyperbolic triumphalist tags to this – i.e. music as celebration of [insert your choice of really anything] – and that's nice and all, but this really only is somewhat convincing when Beyonce is looking back and celebrating 70s/80s black musicianship, a well trodden path in the last decade. Early tracks like Alien Superstar and Cuff it are perfect examples of modernised disco, they are genuinely fun songs to return to, but god the areas in this indulging in contemporary pop and trap trends, as if they too are – in a way – as iconic as Donna Summer ruin this. Energy is the first completely terrible song, exemplifying the worst of Beyonce-does-Jay Z nonsense. While Break My Soul's sudden interruption of it makes for a very fun opening of the single (which, when initially heard in isolation seemed very cringe), the irony in that opening sample is a little lost by Beyoncé doing it rather than James Ferraro. I think Renaissance starts to get back on track with Virgo's Groove, but the backend of this is littered with sleepfest tracks like Move and All Up In Your Mind, which honestly should have been binned (Virgo's Groove -> Pure/Honey would have been a nice transition). Summer Renaissance's celebration of I Feel Love, which should also retrospectively be a celebration of "Renaissance" – or a track that rationalises why Beyonce needed to do this – just ends up making me want to listen to the original 12" to be brutally honest. Beyonce is at her best in Renaissance when she is subtle rather than overt with the referentiality. It's a record that could open a window to the past for zoomers, but worst case this will date itself quickly.

From InsanityPrawnBoy 08/15/2022 10:05

I can't stop laughing at the album cover.

Fiercely experimental, ambitious and expressive, ‘RENAISSANCE’ reinstates Beyoncé’s claim to the throne over the pop world kingdom.