Announced months ago, Beyoncé’s latest album, “Renaissance,” surprised everyone, especially fans who were expecting to hear R’n’B. Instead, the Texas diva serves 80s-90s dance and disco.
At the head of a heritage of 450 million dollars and followed by 270 million subscribers on Instagram, the singer Beyoncé has just released a new album. “Renaissance” has already reached the top of sales in the United States, making the Texan the first woman to have placed her first seven records on the top step of the podium.
This new triumph of Beyoncé, soon to be 41, was slightly tarnished by a controversy a few weeks ago on social networks: the singer will have to re-record the title “Heated” after criticism of a slang word considered an insult for people with motor disabilities.
>> To read also: Beyonce will re-record a song from her latest album, criticized by people with disabilities
The world after
Six years after ‘Lemonade’ became a classic, fans found their queen, ‘Queen B’, in this 16-track album for a world that’s starting to party again after the pandemic. A world where we meet the father of disco Giorgio Moroder or even James Brown, because the album is steeped in references and samples.
The singer had announced the color with her single, “Break My Soul”, a title sampled on a 1990s dance music standard, “Show me love” by Robin S. A reminder of electro, but also a way of pay tribute to the black, queer and popular artists and communities who shaped this musical genre in 1980s Chicago.
Dance tracks, “Renaissance” includes others, starting with “Cuff It” or “Virgo’s Groove”, literally a hymn to sex and love. The album ends in disco apotheosis, with a last title entitled “Summer Renaissance”, which takes up Donna Summer’s hit “I Feel Love”.
>> To listen to, “Summer Renaissance” by Beyoncé:
No visual clip
Beyoncé released the sixteen tracks of “Renaissance” on YouTube all at once, but without any music videos. The texts alone scroll, thus allowing the viewer to experience the music as it is without being influenced by the image and to better digest the messages.
“It’s popular music. We can listen to it in a light way and at the same time, we are imbued with what it wants to convey. It’s very complicated to do. Being a claimant can seem aggressive because we are not necessarily ready to hear these demands when we listen to music; it is supposed to relax us and give us a certain pleasure. [Beyoncé] manages to do both and that’s strong”, confirms Jiggy Jones, animator on Color 3.
Seventh album of the Texan in 25 years of career, “Renaissance” is only the first act of an announced triptych.
TV Subject: Maïa Boissonnet and Cecilia Mendoza
Web adaptation: mh with afp