Renaissance (Beyonce)

Listeners Marvel Over The Sequencing Of Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’

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It is not enough to simply throw a bunch of good songs together on an album. Music listeners are more critical than ever about sequencing and transitions. Unsurprisingly, Beyoncé understood the assignment on her new album Renaissance and fans are in awe.

An early favorite 1-2 punch is “Plastic On The Sofa” into “Virgo’s Groove.” Another fan acknowledged the sequential trio of “Cuff It,” “Energy,” and “Break My Soul.” One, Scottie Beam, even described the transitions as “tender a** fall off the bone.” Needless to say, people seem happy with the album.

Beyoncé’s new album Renaissance is out now via Parkwood Entertainment LLC and Columbia Records. The 15-track LP was first announced in June, with Variety reporting it would feature heavy country and dance music. The latter was confirmed with the release of the upbeat lead single “Break My Soul.”

After sharing the album’s tracklist last week, the Lemonade artist finished off her rollout with a statement on her website saying “Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration.”

She released yet another statement upon the album’s release, thanking the fans who were patient enough to wait until today (July 29) to listen despite Renaissance leaking earlier this week.

Check out some of the adulatory tweets about Renaissance above.

Renaissance is out now via Parkwood/Columbia. Listen here.

Beyoncé Thanks The Fans Who Did Not Listen To The ‘Renaissance’ Leak

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An unfortunate reality for artists is that while they fully intend to deliver new music on their own timetable, the internet often has other plans. Many artists have had songs and entire albums leak ahead of their planned release. Shockingly, Beyoncé fell victim to this as well with Renaissance leaking just two days before its official drop. Queen Bey seems unphased, though.

In a tweet, the “Halo” artist posted a regal photo of herself and thanked the fans who waited. “So, the album leaked, and you all actually waited until the proper release time so you all can enjoy it together. I’ve never seen anything like it. I can’t thank y’all enough for your love and protection. I appreciate you all for calling out anyone that was trying to sneak into the club early. It means the world to me. Thank you for your unwavering support. Thank you for being patient. We are going to take our time and enjoy the music. I will continue to give my all and do. my best to bring you joy. I love you deep.”

Beyoncé’s new album Renaissance is out now via Parkwood Entertainment LLC and Columbia Records. The 15-track LP was first announced in June, with Variety reporting it would feature heavy country and dance music. The latter was confirmed with the release of the upbeat lead single “Break My Soul.” The rollout continued with the reveal of Renaissance‘s cover art, with a semi-nude Beyoncé sitting atop a crystalline horse with bright yellow lights within it.

Excitement for the album grew even further when the internet discovered its list of composers, including Drake, Jay-Z, Skrillex, Big Freedia, The Neptunes, Mike Dean and several other talented creators. A reference track for “Heated” performed by Drake even surfaced on the internet, causing fans to wonder if they would get a follow-up to their 2015 collaboration “Can I” and the cult classic “Mine” from 2013’s Beyonce.

After sharing the album’s tracklist last week, the Lemonade artist finished off her rollout with a statement on her website saying “Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration.”

The wait is over. The Renaissance is here.

Renaissance is out now via Parkwood/Columbia. Listen here.

Kelis Calls Out Pharrell And Chad Hugo Over Allegedly Not Clearing The Beyoncé ‘Renaissance’ Sample With Her

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Earlier today, Kelis voiced her frustrations over one of her records being sampled on Beyoncé’s upcoming album Renaissance without it being cleared. She commented on the @kelistrends Instagram page and went back and forth with fans who were excited about the “collaboration.” Evidently, the Harlem artist had much more to get off of her chest in the form of a near three-minute rant that a fan posted to Twitter, where Kelis called out Pharrell and Chad Hugo for purposely participating in the “theft.”

From the very beginning of the video, the 42-year-old clarifies that her beef is not only with Beyoncé, who she says has copied her before much like many other artists. “The issue is not only are we female artists, Black female artists, in an industry that there’s not that many of us,” Kelis says. “We’ve met each other, we know each other, we have mutual friends. It’s not hard, she can contact me.” She then compares the situation to when Ashnikko went through the proper channels to connect with her to clear “Deal With It,” where she sampled Kelis’s “Caught Out There.”

Kelis continued her diatribe by calling the “Bey Hive” sheep for defending her and pointing out how Kelis doesn’t own her music before turning her attention to Pharrell and Chad Hugo.

“Chad really is like an amoeba, he’s spineless. It’s a miracle he can keep his neck up, but Pharrell knows better. This is a direct hit at me, he does this stuff all the time. It’s very petty–very, very, very–and the reality is that it’s frustrating. I have the right to be frustrated. Why? Because no one had the human decency to call and be like ‘Yo, hey, would like to use your record.’ Which, by the way, is the reason I’m annoyed because I know it was on purpose.”

A new Beyoncé release always causes hysteria, so this situation isn’t too surprising, but it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. As of now, there have been no comments from the Lemonade artist, Pharrell, or Hugo.

Nathan Hubbard, The Former Ticketmaster CEO, Says Beyonce Has The Album Of The Year in ‘Renaissance’

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These days, bold predictions and music releases go hand in hand. Bold predictions about music the world has yet to receive also go hand in hand, and heighten the excitement and anticipation for what has not yet been released. Now, is the prediction really that bold if it has to do with Beyonce? Well, take that up with Nathan Hubbard, the former Ticketmaster CEO, who is planting his “album of the year” flag firmly on the forthcoming Renaissance for 2022.

In a tweet yesterday, Hubbard said “I’ve heard enough. Album of the year:” and listed his choices in order. The Lemonade artist’s upcoming album coming July 29 was deemed the winner, followed by Kendrick Lamar for May’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, The 1975 for their forthcoming October album Being Funny In A Foreign Language and Brent Faiyaz for his July release Wasteland.

In a follow-up tweet, he listed the number five but instead of offering a name or album, Hubbard simply said “Yes *she* is releasing something.” It is unclear who the mystery woman is, but clearly her project is good enough for Nathan Hubbard to also stamp her release as top five among a strong slate of music in 2022, both what has already been released or is set to come out.

As if anticipation isn’t already high enough for Queen Bee and The 1975, now, those who take Hubbard’s word at face value, will have a guessing game to play for another potentially groundbreaking 2022 album.

Check out Nathan Hubbard’s 2022 album rankings tweet above.

Beyonce’s ‘Renaissance’ Album Is Said To Be Heavy On Both Country And Dance Tunes

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Classifying Beyonce’s massive discography of music into any specific genre is a mostly fruitless exercise (which didn’t stop us from trying in 2020) because the versatile star is constantly evolving and experimenting, refusing to be kept to just one box or genre. That musical dabbling will apparently continue on her upcoming new album Renaissance; Variety reports that the album will see Beyonce leaning more heavily into the country direction she flashed on her last full-length album Lemonade in 2016, as well as incorporating more “dance” music — although that’s a broad category which could figure in a lot of musical directions.

A source familiar with the album says that Bey has tapped Ryan Tedder, whose past contributions to her oeuvre included the angelic “Halo,” and neo-soul demigod Raphael Saadiq, who deserves far more credit for both his production work and his own extensive catalog. Since the surprise announcement for the album labeled the collection due on July 29 “Act 1,” that could be an indication that the album will either be released in parts or will be a “multi-disc” affair, in which case the songs could be organized by similar sounds.

In British Vogue‘s cover story about the album, editor-in-chief Edward Enninful describes being “transported back to the clubs of my youth,” which suggests a possible house, ball culture-inspired sound — which would be timely, since drag is enormous right now, with all kinds of artists tapping the sound of the underground subculture. It’s also big on television thanks to competition shows like Legendary on HBO Max. In any case, this is all just speculation until the album actually drops, but one thing is for sure: The Beyhive will be going crazy ’til then and Beyonce remains one of the biggest stars on the planet.

Beyonce Fans Are (Predictably) Losing It Over Her Surprise Album Announcement

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Beyonce shared the release date for something called “Renaissance” on Wednesday night, and her fans are (predictably) losing it. While Beyonce has hinted at working on new music, her fans couldn’t help but feel totally parched at the dearth of fresh releases from the pop=R&B queen. Her last album, Lemonade, was released over six years ago and since then, the closest she’s come to putting out a full-length body of work was the soundtrack hybrid album, The Lion King: The Gift, which she later repurposed into the musical film Black Is King for Disney Plus.

So it’s understandable that the Beyhive freaked out a little bit when Beyonce rebooted her social media profiles, removing all content including bios, profile pics, and posts. It’s a move she herself pioneered, indicating that a new project could soon be on the way. However, when she also updated her official website, there were some members of the Hive who felt the star was just stringing them along. There were plenty of protesters hoping that Beyonce wasn’t just building up to another Ivy Park drop, but then Spotify and Tidal got involved and the mystery deepened.

Now, we know exactly when some new Beyonce music will be hitting those DSPs and the meme floodgates have not just opened but totally burst. As usual, the Beyhive is being as hilarious as possible while celebrating the impending end to their dreaded drought. Check out some of the best responses below.