Beyoncé - Renaissance

anytime RA posts a Beyoncé story you get a lot of purists going off, nary a pro-Beyoncé sentiment to be found.

― omar little, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 22:16 (yesterday)

tut tut tut why wont people give this billionaire pop star the reverence she so clearly deserves

4
Lemonade
Renaissance
Dangerously in Love
Beyonce
B’Day
Sasha Fierce

Beyoncé
B’Day
4
Dangerously In Love
Sasha Fierce
Renaissance
Lemonade

But I’m a weirdo on this board

I admit that I don't really cue up Lemonade almost ever, compared to the few I ranked directly below it. But it's obv great, et al

Ooh! Why the last two so low? xpost

I think it’s just a “I like the OLD Kanye” scenario.

Not sure about which of the top 2 to rank first. 4 is my favorite to listen to but I think Lemonade is the more significant, fully realized artistic statement.

Lemonade
4
Renaissance
ST
B'Day

Lemonade = Renaissance = Beyoncé
4
everything else

I think that’s probably right but i have to check my notes

Renaissance
Beyonce
Lemonade
4 (i'm one of a dozen or so people on the planet who thinks "Party" owns iirc)

nah, "Party" is great, if it's derided, that's news to me

Just about the only 4 track I don't rate is the one that makes me, by ILX definition, clinically insane

I heard "Party" on the local R&B station and it felt less obnoxious finally.

you lemonade people live in a different world than me

To revisit the “what has changed about touring” convo momentarily, I think another factor is that at a very general level “we” privilege ephemeral experiences - in the sense of being prepared to invest in them more heavily including financially - than we used to. Seeing an artist perform live has a different social value in a context where you can share (a snapshot of) that experience on social media such that it becomes, however unconsciously, a marker of social status and part of one’s personal brand.

One upshot of that is that a greater proportion of the population is prepared to spend a greater proportion of their disposable income on what is by definition a fleeting (and often a partly inconvenient or even frustrating) experience, because it has a longer term asset value beyond just their memory of it.

(The above is less true of boomers and so on, but I think a key factor here is how prepared even young people are to spend what is an obscene amount of money, in particular compared to their income levels)

See also: the way that social media has transformed the social function of art galleries.

you lemonade people live in a different world than me

― J0rdan S

a sourer one

Ranking Sasha Fierce above Renaissance and Lemonade...I've truly seen it all

In the order of composition, except Renaissance between 4 and the self titled.

I’m gonna pretend that means you like the debut most and lemonade least

Correct.

I would modify my list to replace Beyoncé with Beyoncé (Deluxe Edition).

I’m going to be on former ILX poster Fluffy Bear’s radio show again today at 8 PM Eastern, this time playing music sampled by or referenced in the songs from Renaissance, sourced partially by Matos’ NY Times article about the album. Tune into https://uncertain.fm tonight if you’re interested.

just shockingly got standard admission tix for the opening night show here in Toronto

absolutely shitty seats but still a miracle that there are standard admission tix left

Right now, you are on the waitlist for RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR Verified Fan Onsale.

If tickets remain available to sell after the initially selected fans have shopped, we will use a lottery-style selection to invite Verified Fans from the waitlist to shop.

Stay tuned, if you’re selected to move off the waitlist, you will receive a text with a unique access code and link to join the Onsale.

Only Verified Fans with unique access codes will be able to join the Onsale. Do not attempt to join unless you receive a code.

If you’re on the waitlist, you’re not alone. Because registration demand was 8X over ticket inventory, most people are on the waitlist.

Usually, not everyone that gets an access code shows up to the sale, and some that show up don’t buy. We expect to lean into the waitlist to send more access codes out tomorrow. There likely won’t be enough tickets to go around, but you still have a shot.

If you registered for other onsales, you still have a chance to be selected based on the lottery-style process.

I honestly prefer the old everyone everywhere all at once system but I also prefer the Ticketmaster heads being chopped off by a guillotine system too

Because registration demand was 8X over ticket inventory

The system is bonkers, but if this is what it takes to combat the scalper bots…..

I know I'm old when I'm at the Beyoncé show and having fun and all, amazing show (visuals are stunning despite the Jim Morrison quote lol)

AND

I'm noticing her business acumen - correct me if other artists do this bc I've only started going to bigger shows again in the past few years - she had merch on sale outside of the venue beside the lineups to get in and on the floor of the stadium (in addition to the usual spots), I've never seen artists do this before

also, I do know other artists do this but how long have bigger touring acts been putting out city/stop-exclusive shirts/merch?

Feels like for a few years at least, for pop stars. Often there is a pop-up shop a day or so beforehand, which actually makes a certain amount of sense. You get to hang out with other fans, and you get to buy your stuff early and not have to carry it around with you for the duration of the show. Merch wise, the differences from date to date seem to be modest. But certainly some rock bands have been putting out city exclusive merch for a while now, people like Pearl Jam and the like. Wilco, Jason Isbell, jam bands ... for silkscreen artists and designers, it has been a real boon and safety net.

oh yeah, she also had a pop-up store/exhibition of her more notable looks here as well

Jenna Wortham on Bey and the tour.

concert film on Dec. 1st

digging Taylor and now her bypassing the streamers yessssss

new song played during the credits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuBdV0BIIMw

film itself is great, teared up a few times, etc. nothing you don't expect at this point from her

Act II coming out March 29, the clip of the new single suggests a country album??? I AM SEATED

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3Ot8xfRIaA/?igsh=YmRsanc0MnhxNmly

first two songs are wonderful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g92AYBlNOi0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fV37wdHG8U

oh god yes

“16 Carriages” is astonishing

yeah it is

Oh damn I am very into this

Digging both songs a lot. Apparently Rhiannon Giddens plays on “Texas Hold ‘Em”.

oh awesome

I think my favourite part across the two songs is the whistling coda to "Texas Hold 'Em". "16 Carriages" reminds me of Kelis' "Floyd" a bit?

Did not think a new Beyoncé song could be…refreshing?

Her voice is so well suited to this! Guess "16 Carriages" was written by Atia Boggs and Raphael Saadiq, with Robert Randolph on steel.

“16 carriages” sounds great. “Texas hold em” idk… but I do like the coda.

As someone who hasn’t really vibed with most beyonce since “b’day” this sounds like it has potential to be the Beyonce album that brings me back.

Reserving judgment, but Renaissance was my favorite Beyonce album and this sounds very much not like that, so

I think that for me I wasn’t really vibing with her because in her early records there was a vulnerability that made her more relatable to me and it got gradually lost as she grew up to be more of an “imperial” artist. “16 carriages” makes her sound vulnerable again, at least to my ears.

I wasn’t expecting to feel excited about a Beyonce album this late in her career.

2024 is going to be a stacked year

I like the idea of this culturally but not so into the music.

I mean, she sounds amazing, but I wish it stayed closer to the dynamics of the verses and didn't feel the need for those stadium production touches, kinda ruins it for me.

Kinda want Act III to be metal.