[Pitchfork] Beyoncé - Renaissance (9.0)

[PartySick 147,822]

46 minutes ago, NATAH said:

every song is just her singing about how hot, rich and big her ass is

it's boring, especially compared to something as interesting as lemonade

Oh, and this too. I was expecting a statement, especially on America Has a Problem, but it was just more "Imma Bad Bitch" vibes

For some reason that kind of music works great with artists like Gaga or Lizzo. It sounds uplighting and empowering. For someone like Beyonce though? It just sounds like she was stroking her ego for an hour over overproduced chaos

/Everything I'll ever say about this album

[RAMROD 105,789]

8 hours ago, Jose P said:

 

Beyoncé’s seventh album is not just a pop star’s immaculate dance record, but a rich celebration of club music and its sweaty, emancipatory spirit.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/beyonce-renaissance/amp/

 

Past Beyoncé scores:

B’Day (7.2)

I Am… Sasha Fierce (5.7)

4 (8.0)

BEYONCÉ (8.8)

Lemonade (8.5)

The way Sasha Fierce the lowest, no wonder she don't make pop albums anymore

[Chlorine 47,975]

Deserved and accurate 

[Mister G 10,162]

8 hours ago, ALGAYDO said:

I guess I’m the only person on this planet that thought the album was boring af huh 

Nope. I only cared for maybe 3 songs total.

[Space Cowboy 11,670]

8 hours ago, ALGAYDO said:

I guess I’m the only person on this planet that thought the album was boring af huh 

It’s a snooze for me too

 

[DavidLuis198 862]

3 hours ago, NATAH said:

every song is just her singing about how hot, rich and big her ass is

it's boring, especially compared to something as interesting as lemonade

I know that because is Beyoncé (who's one of - if not the - richest singers of the world) is doesn't translate very well, but I think that a lot of the lyric content comes from the ballroom inspiration of the album, it gives a lot of "fake til you make it, I own everything" vibes, at least for me.

[Edonis 28,829]

2 minutes ago, DavidLuis198 said:

I know that because is Beyoncé (who's one of - if not the - richest singers of the world) is doesn't translate very well, but I think that a lot of the lyric content comes from the ballroom inspiration of the album, it gives a lot of "fake til you make it, I own everything" vibes, at least for me.

It’s this and I’m surprised more people on this site aren’t getting this  I understand that it may not translate well, but that’s what I’m getting from the lyrics. You convince yourself that you are that girl until it finally clicks. 
 

The other thing is that a lot of these tracks are inspired by B*tch tracks, which were a popular staple in a lot of the underground gay bars and ballrooms of the early and mid 90s. That style of dance tracks was pervasive with innuendo and bravado, and you can see the influence on some of the tracks as well. Probably one of the more underappreciated bitch tracks, Miss Honey,  was sampled at the end of Pure/Honey. 

[SpadesToStart 2,849]

4 hours ago, filsns said:

I love that she did a dance record, but to me it just sounds too repetitive, and missing some amazing hooks and melodies. No clear standout singles either... I'll give it a few more listens though. 

I agree. I think my expectations were skewed because Gaga makes dance music that still has great pop melodies, so that’s kind of what I was hoping for here.
(Also I feel like Break My Soul is the black sheep on this album…I wish there were more like it)

[alsemanche 92,189]

Pitchfork are caca but Renaissance deserves a 9 for sure. My initial score was an 8 but the album grew on me.

[jimmytimestep 2,489]

I could care less about what snooty Pitchfork thinks, but I do agree that it deserves a VERY high score. It's becoming one of my favorite dance albums ever honestly. I can't stop listening!

As far as their rankings of her other albums, I'm still not ready to say if it's objectively "better" than Lemonade or self-titled, but I'm certainly having more fun listening to Renaissance than I did listening to those.

And I agree with their ranking of I Am Sasha Fierce; it has some great singles, but there is a LOT of filler on Sasha Fierce. 

[HIM820 1,770]

3 hours ago, RAMROD said:

The way Sasha Fierce the lowest, no wonder she don't make pop albums anymore

Because it’s actually not a good album and critics had a problem with it being split in two parts at the time. However, it has great singles. They’re not rating those. 

[Mister G 10,162]

22 minutes ago, HIM820 said:

Because it’s actually not a good album and critics had a problem with it being split in two parts at the time. However, it has great singles. They’re not rating those. 

I think the fact that it involved the concept of an alter ego was also something a lot of folks weren’t really buying at the time. 

[OysterBaby 450]

Well that score is definitely paid for  I mean it’s a good album and an interesting angle for B to take but not better than self titled in my opinion

[CaliforniaDreamin 788]

3 hours ago, Mister G said:

Nope. I only cared for maybe 3 songs total.

I think it “might grow” on me but a lot of the songs I know can’t/ won’t.      Lorded new album I thought was trash for 2 months now I can’t stop.  So we’ll see 

[Epione 10,896]

I wonder how much it cost.