With this past Friday’s arrival of Beyonce’s long-awaited seventh solo CD Renaissance Act 1 which is the triple threat entertainer & Ivy Park designer’s first official full-length disc since 2016’s sometimes dark & edgy Lemonade which was released during a tumultuous time in her life & Marriage to her Rapper/Entrepreneur husband Jay-Z. It seems as if the quintessential artist whom I often refer to as my fave is ready once again to grace us with some lighthearted and bouncy dance tunes to help us get through a grim time in America’s history with some infectious music that we are already learning lyrics to & creating our own choreography & Tik Tok video’s too even without visuals being released yet. Written in the past two and a half years during the height of the pandemic & social injustice the singer calls this body of work a means of escape during a scary time in the world. There is so much I can say about my love & admiration for Beyonce Giselle Knowles & how she has helped me to get through times of sadness & difficulty in my own life, but for time I will keep it to a minimum, but it is why I was inspired to write my own piece in honor and tribute to her latest effort. Her loyal fan base affectionately known as the beehive of which I have been a proud card-carrying member since Dangerously in Love her debut chart-topping CD in 2003 that is at least if we’re not counting the DC Group Days, anyway we have all been a buzz and patiently counting down the days since the “Alien Superstar” (track 3 on Renaissance) first announced her new release was on the way amidst speculation from the investigative hive last month on her social media platforms. We were even loyal not to listen to the record when it leaked two days early on July 27th which earned us a thank you note posted online by Bey for helping to Protect her artistic integrity & vision. I personally feel it was certainly worth the wait. Beyonce for me has been the voice of my generation as a Gen X 80s Baby she has been that artist that I have literally grown up with & watching her evolve into the woman, & even stronger vocalist that she is today is truly inspiring. As a songwriter myself her music transcends gender lines in my opinion many point to her anthems such as Single Ladies (Put A Ring on It) as songs that only a woman can relate to but I can remember watching the video for the first time in 2008 & not being able to stop smiling and dancing as I listened to the Terrius the Dream Nash Produced high energy track. I remember watching her run up the imaginary wall with the one robot glove thinking this genius woman is ahead of her time as she flashed the robotic glove & gave her precocious giggle at the end of the clip & she loves her craft thought. Now here we are in 2022 and again I still find myself feeling like that 25-year-old young man giddy with excitement like a child on Christmas day as I slowly unwrapped the tracks of her latest entry which again pairs her with The Dream on many of the record’s tracks including the first single “Break My Soul” Although in my opinion, it is not sonically her most cohesive storytelling effort to date I do love her ability to consistently reinvent herself staying relevant to the culture without ever making us feel like it is a complete departure from the artist we know & love which in itself is no easy feat for every artist to do. As she sings her luscious melodies on such standouts for me as Virgo’s Groove such metaphoric & innuendo laced lyrics as You can hit this boy don’t be scared it’s only gonna get you high for six breezy beautiful minutes & Plastic off the sofa which has drawn comparisons to her younger sister Solange’s Grammy-winning a seat at the table CD for again being a soulful ballad that leads into the aforementioned Virgo. She again turns up the temperature with the Drake-assisted “Heated “& “America Has a Problem” has an Afrika Bambaataa Ole School Hip-Hop feel to it which many thoughts were going to be a political anthem but turns out that in fact, the problem is “B” Self-Proclaiming her own sex appeal, & Cozy. On Summer Renaissance the CDS final track she samples disco queen Donna Summer’s 1977 hit “I Feel Love” for the second time since Naughty Girl another hit that sampled her 1975 hit “Love to Love You Baby” from her debut solo project which has gone on to sell over 5 million copies in the US to date. Overall, on this set Beyonce gives us 16 Bops that are sure to carry us well into the fall and possibly even until the promised next two acts are released in the already planned Renaissance Trilogy. We have no idea what to expect from this unpredictable Twenty-Eight-time Grammy-winning artist who effortlessly flips genres, but I do know that it appears that Queen Bey has no plans of relinquishing her seat on the throne anytime soon & will more than likely be receiving a few more Grammy Nods in the future. Her overall message in my opinion is much of what it was in the mid 70’s early 80’s which is of Liberation, Live and let love, and let’s dance through our problems & embrace the skin we’re in. For at least the CD’s 62-minute & 14-second duration she definitely helps us to do just that & I for one am here for it , so let the Renaissance begin.
