Twitter Erupted With Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Album Drop
Thursday, July 19, at midnight, the international superstar Beyoncé released her highly anticipated 7th full-length studio album, Renaissance. This is one of three new albums that she’s been working on since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite a leak hours before midnight, many people waited and experienced the drop together with memes, reactions, and remote listening parties (one of which was held at 1AM, in her hometown of Houston, by the Houston Chronicle.)
Since streaming services like Spotify and Apple have really changed the concept of how many listen to albums, there’s been some pushbackm like when Adele worked with Spotify to remove the default shuffle button for her latest album, 30. Bey continued in pushing back on that trend by mixing Resnessaince in such a way that the songs bleed together, the most noticeable being how “Energy” and the single “Break My Soul” meld so smoothly that if you’d never heard “Break My Soul,” you might think this was one long song called “Energy.”
For the girls
A big thank you to my Uncle Johnny. He was my godmother and the first person to expose me to a lot of the music and culture that serve as inspiration for this album. Thank you to all of the pioneers who originate culture, to all the fallen angels whose contributions have gone unrecognized for far too long. This is a celebration for you.
Online, Beyoncé thanked everyone who helped make this project possible, giving a particular shoutout to the LGBTQ+ community while thanking her uncle. Above her dedication post, there’s an image of her and her kids alongside an image of her uncle decades ago. When speaking at the 2019 GLAAD Awards, she again dedicated it to Johnny and said that “witnessing his battle with HIV was one of the most painful experiences [she’s] ever lived.”
After the release of “Break My Soul” (a House song that featured sampling from contemporary Bounce artist, based out of New Orleans, Big Freeda), many were quick to point out how younger generations have kept up the tradition of voguing and appreciating the various dance music that came from Black and brown queer communities (like disco, house music, etc.) and has continued through accounts like MoanaBih. They were even called on with the album’s release on Twitter.
It wasn’t all great talk, with understandable fears that MoanaBih’s success and Beyoncé’s stardom will attract culture vultures. I think it’ll take a little bit of time because everyone is trying to say Renaissance is unoriginal (a.k.a. making it clear they don’t know what the word renaissance means) and accusing Beyoncé of riding on the coattails of Lady Gaga’s Chromatica. If I had $5 for every time someone mentioned Gaga on Twitter or TikTok the last four days, then I’d be close to being able to pay for the infamous Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel.
(featured image: Beyoncé)
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