{"id":32139,"date":"2022-08-01T13:41:56","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T13:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/renaissance-review-the-continued-education-of-beyonce-knowles\/"},"modified":"2022-08-01T13:41:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T13:41:56","slug":"renaissance-review-the-continued-education-of-beyonce-knowles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/renaissance-review-the-continued-education-of-beyonce-knowles\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Renaissance’ Review: The Continued Education of Beyonc\u00e9 Knowles"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Beyonc\u00e9 Knowles has never been an artist to let the public know her next move, let alone share details of her personal life. But in August of 2021, the musician broke both those rules, delivering a longform interview to Harper’s Bazaar<\/em> where she not only discussed her creative and personal inspirations, but also gave a hint to the guiding themes of her next project. \u201cWith all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again,\u201d said Knowles. \u201cI feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

one year later, Renaissance<\/em>, Beyonc\u00e9’s seventh studio album, has arrived. The Oxford Dictionary defines \u201crenaissance\u201d as \u201ca revival of or renewed interest in something,\u201d though the exact French translation would be \u201crebirth.\u201d By the artist’s own admission, the record is meant to document a period of reprieve and joy after two years of pandemics, protests, and all-around grief. However, it would be easy to interpret the album’s title as a reference to the artist herself, as Renaissance <\/em>marks her first full-length project since her 2016 masterpiece, lemonade<\/em>. Renaissance<\/em>‘s title raises several questions: What does it mean for an artist like Beyonc\u00e9, who is never far from the center of cultural conversation even when she is not actively putting out music, to have a renaissance? What does it look like when a musician who in many ways set the modern industry standard is reborn? Front Renaissance<\/em>Beyonc\u00e9 demonstrates a commitment to continued artistic growth, refusing to rest on her laurels no matter how big her star has become.<\/p>\n

Renaissance<\/em> marks a new method of storytelling from Beyonc\u00e9: If lemonade<\/em> was an exercise in building a longform musical narrative, her latest record clips together individual scenes as part of a larger world-building project. The universe Beyonc\u00e9 has created on Renaissance <\/em>is one of joy, pleasure, hedonism, regained confidence, and assured power. Though she’s previously explored these themes, they feel recontextualized given the social and political climate in which she is releasing the record. This new mindset is perhaps most evident in her takes on feminism and power, which has shifted dramatically since the beginning of her discography. On the breakout single \u201cBreak My Soul,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9 sings joyously about quitting her job in order to focus on love and pleasure, while a Big Freedia sample encourages listeners to \u201crelease\u201d their work and stress. \u201cThey work me so damn hard, work by nine, then off past five,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9 laments. Her sentiment comes in direct opposition to her 2011 hit \u201cRun the World (Girls),\u201d wherein the artist celebrated the working woman: \u201cI work my nine to five, better cut my check.\u201d Other tracks, like opener \u201cI’m That Girl\u201d reify the artist’s colossal confidence and swagger while separating her from the opulence often associated with her stardom: \u201cIt’s not the diamonds, it’s not the pearls, I’m that girl.\u201d ten Renaissance<\/em>, power is derived not from money, work, or status, but rather the \u201crelease\u201d of all of these things that previously defined Beyonc\u00e9’s artistry and persona. The record finds the artist at her most free-spirited, which, in a sense, puts her at her most powerful in turn.<\/p>\n