Album Review: Beyoncé Throws Originality Out the Window on 'Renaissance'

Queen Bey is back with her seventh studio album, Renaissance. This album is a back-to-back dance record paying homage to past music movements like disco, house, and ballroom. And in the growing trend of nostalgia in music, this record could not come at a better time.

Written by Adam Cherian

Photo courtesy of Parkwood Entertainment

In an age where originality is sparse, it takes guts to proudly wear your influences on your sleeve. But no one other than Beyoncé Knowles-Carter herself can do it so thoughtfully yet effortlessly. To the shock of the public, she recently released the first of an expected trilogy of albums, Renaissance. This is the first time in a long time that Beyoncé has actually announced an album prior to its release, and for good reason as she took a different direction with this album using the concept of sampling and nostalgia on every single track to bring the listener back to older eras.

Renaissance is a record filled to the brim with different genres of dance music that are inspired by Black music movements of the past. Disco, ballroom, Afro-Caribbean, and a plethora of other musical styles are all mixed beautifully into one another as the album flows together like clockwork. That’s because Beyoncé wanted to make this album a blast from the past; a dance record that can be played like a DJ set. Despite each track being distinct in its own ways, blurring the lines of genre, they all flow together for a satisfying experience. But this album is more than a dance record, it is so meticulous in its references you need to have an encyclopedia on hand to fully grasp the meaning and inspirations behind each track.

The rollout for this album began in June of this year, when Beyoncé released the lead single, “BREAK MY SOUL.” The single took fans by surprise because though she’s created classic danceable tracks in the past, this was the first time she has intentionally made a dance record. The track is an intrepid declaration that no hardship will ever break Bey, set to bombastic house production. The chorus is mantra-like as she repeatedly sings “You won’t break my soul / You won’t break my soul,” as the infectious synth-line plays behind her vocals. Taking inspiration from ‘90s house music in the instrumentation and Bey’s powerful attitude, “BREAK MY SOUL” samples “Show me Love,” by Robin S. This song is well-known for being one of the quintessential ‘90s house tracks. Its legacy lives on as it is sampled constantly, most recently by Charli XCX on her single “Used to Know Me.”

Image courtesy of Parkwood Entertainment

The references that Beyoncé used to create this album are so detail-oriented that only a Virgo like herself could do it. In a broader sense, she has taken inspiration from different Black/African-American musical traditions of past decades. Disco is one of the biggest influences seen on the record which can be fully realized in the track “SUMMER RENAISSANCE.” It uses a sample from the iconic Donna Summer song “I Feel Love,” adding swirling production to a groove fit for the dance floor. The lyrics are raunchy in both the sexual content and the clever one-liners from Bey. She also uses the track to shade prestigious luxury brand, Hermés, and show her support for Black-owned business, Telfar, with the line: “This Telfar bag imported, Birkins, them shits in storage.”

Renaissance is unapologetically Black, but also unapologetically queer. From the range of genres she explores, ballroom seems to be a common motif heard throughout the record. Ballroom consists of barebones production that is a highly stylized version of house music. This music is meant for voguing, which is a style of dance created by Black and Brown queer people of color that is often described as a non-violent battle of elegance and beauty. Songs like “I’M THAT GIRL,” “COZY,” and “ALIEN SUPERSTAR” have elements of the hyper-stylized house production commonly associated with the genre. But the track “PURE/HONEY” fully embodies the music style, with a brilliant sample from ballroom legend Kevin Aviance’s 1999 underground hit “Cunty.” She also used “Feels Like” by Kevin JZ Prodigy, as well as the late-underground drag legend Moi Renee’s track “Miss Honey.” Renaissance’s selective plethora of queer influences is tastefully obscure, showing Bey’s appreciation and respect for Black queer culture. Her references to the communities' art illustrates her knowledge and understanding of its history, and does so in a manner that is thoughtful rather than exploitative.

Another queer icon, Grace Jones, is featured on “MOVE,” a dance track using Afro-Caribbean beats and minimal production. It gets the job of getting the crowd to move given the track’s bare-bones production. The collaboration with Jones was a shock as she has not released music since 2010. Jones has a legendary life as a performance artist, and is a muse to many. Her career spans many different forms such as performance art and music, even performing at Studio 54, the legendary studio that Beyoncé references on the cover art for Renaissance.

Beyoncé also dives into modern queer music movements, on the song “ALL UP IN YOUR MIND.” One of the most experimental songs in Bey’s entire discography, the wild production is courtesy of multiple producers, including A.G. Cook, famed head of the PC Music record label. PC Music is best known for hosting artists that create what is now called hyperpop. Hyperpop as a movement started with trans artists like the late SOPHIE, and remains a safe space for queer people to share their art. The music consists of a maximalist take on modern pop music by the use of glitchy sounds, rough production, and high pitched vocals. “ALL UP IN YOUR MIND” resembles this experimental nature in its lyrics. Beyoncé is willing to do anything to get closer to her romantic interests, even going as far as to say “It stops at a crime if I wanna make you mine.” Beyoncé pulling from this specific facet of queer music shows her strong ability to reference without copying, playing into this album’s strength: its inspirations.

Renaissance is Beyoncé displaying unoriginality at its best. For nearly a decade, popular music trends have looked backwards, appealing to nostalgia. Beyoncé decided to take this a step further and declare that we are in a renaissance era of music. Out with the old, and in with the older. But Bey does this beautifully, by including obscure references that truly honor the communities she took from. The large amount of references to ballroom, for instance, is indicative of a deeper understanding of these cultures that only a true ally can withhold. Beyoncé has created a great album that shows that borrowing from the past can make great modern music.