Beyoncé - Renaissance

That's a pretty optimistic view of its prospects! You think it's destined for that kind of success?

Not sure about broader commercial success per se, but it has a shot of being the current "Cold Heart" for whatever that is worth.

as someone who actually liked "cold heart," this isn't anywhere near as unadventurous as that was, + frankly that was basically the reason it was a success, especially in the us

"cold heart" strikes me as a good call for both potential chart position and how it doesn't seem like much at first but turns into an anthem. n.b. "anthem" in my view means you'll hear it almost every weekend all summer long if you're going out to gay clubs.

xp i loved "cold heart." honestly it's a pretty weird track? the levels of call-back, and like how can something be so nothing-y and emotionally resonant at the same time.

now Renaissance needs to release an album called Beyoncé

OTM

Both this and the Drake album feel more like workout jams than club jams, in the same way that "Work Bitch" is.

i don’t think this is that far away from “cold heart” in terms of adventurous or lack thereof … it’s not a glorified remix or a cross generational songbook standard but it uses elements of underground/club music that have already been proven to work on huge hits. even the big freedia parts are used essentially the same way drake did on “nice for what:” no shots this just seems specifically designed to be a widely appealing single… i think when it leaked out that the song had a dance sample (or interpolation, reference whatever) most ppl figured that beyonce was going to pick something more obscure/head-y than “show me love.” and since i generally assume she knows her shit — or at least surrounds herself w/ ppl who pitch her cultural tastemaker level ideas — that leads me to believe she wanted the single to be a song that clicks for ppl in a way not too unlike “cold heart”

"cold heart" strikes me as a good call for both potential chart position and how it doesn't seem like much at first but turns into an anthem. n.b. "anthem" in my view means you'll hear it almost every weekend all summer long if you're going out to gay clubs.

xp i loved "cold heart." honestly it's a pretty weird track? the levels of call-back, and like how can something be so nothing-y and emotionally resonant at the same time.

― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Wednesday, 22 June 2022 00:50 (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I was pretty underwhelmed by "Cold Heart" at first and then heard it absolutely everywhere for about six months (it was gay sydney's anthem for partying outside during and through, respectively, last year's late winter / early spring and the final stretches of delta's domination, and then immediately afterwards the first stretch of La Nina), and each time I heard it it seemed a little bit less resistible. Note - not actually always a 'club jam', but definitely a BBQ / Pool Party / Boat Party / House Party / soundtrack to random IG stories of the preceding events jam.

The nothingy-ness is perhaps key - it prevents such anthems from starting to feel obnoxious in their ubiquity. Very straightforward house production helps in this regard.

Obv "Break My Soul" has a whole "quit your job" zeitgeist angle going on which makes it seem less nothingy in principle, but you sort of have to pay attention to notice that, so there's a sense in which it will only be as dominating as it's allowed to be, and never invasive. It's an accommodating anthem.

lol @ me talking myself into liking this

i know someone mentioned that like it's hard to buy beyonce singing "quit your job" and i know i shouldn't be thrilled by that message at this point in life but i still am haha

i know she literally invokes 9 to 5 work and stuff but if you read the song a bit less directly and more as a general call to chart your own path with your labor it’s pretty easy to draw parallels back to her actual life from the s/t album forward

maybe but it doesn't land at all to me....i really liked homecoming but a lot of homecoming was about work, both her own and that of the people she was employing.

Many xxxxposts:

Don’t know if you’re joking but it’s not that Tricky. This is Cristopher “tricky” stewart.

Missed and H in there

I don’t know if taking the advice of a billionaire to quit your job and clap hands and dance in the midst of an upcoming recession is the anthem it tries to be. It feels shallow as fuck and yeah, regardless of lyrics or its intentions, it feels musically dull coming from her. Same shit as Drake, at this point people are paying attention because it comes from them. Noone would be giving this single the time of day if it came from a lesser known artist.

I’m just glad she’s finally releasing a record that isn’t a live thing or a movie soundtrack

I appreciate the need to try new things, but couldn’t get invested in recent projects. (Also I was one of three people on earth who wasn’t into most of Lemonade.)

Yeah my theory is that people are just thirsty for new beyonce, it’s been 6 years since they got Lemonade.

lol @ me talking myself into liking this

― Tim F, Tuesday, June 21, 2022 9

lol I can see this

Many xxxxposts:

Don’t know if you’re joking but it’s not that Tricky. This is Cristopher “tricky” stewart.

lol i was confused as well but moka's response was to someone commenting 'she should have worked with portishead instead'

First listen here. On the one hand it's a surprising and refreshing sound for her, on the other this beat is just too ubiquitous and mundane to be memorable. I think the song mostly works, her vocals are fine, but the chorus is nothing to cry home about. I would certainly not leave the dancefloor if it came on, but that's about it.

I guess it's a superstar temptation to try to prove that you can cover every genre, as if it mattered to your legacy.

Yeah sorry I was answering to peace,man about his Portishead comment, which I think was a joke.

I'd be more likely to shrug off her singing about her 9–5 if critic-stans weren't writing horseshit like this (pitchfork):

She opens, rather tenderly, “I just fell in love and I just quit my job/I’m gonna find new drive, damn they work me so damn hard.” Relatable: In the first verse alone, she encapsulates the Great Resignation, the Great Unionization, and quarantine insomnia. The determined chorus—“You won’t break my soul/And I’m tellin’ everybody”—is framed so that listeners can fill it with whatever we need in the moment. NOLA bounce icon Big Freedia is sampled for the intro and verse, which grounds the song in its Black queer tradition (and also provides the very good line, “Release the trade, release the stress”). She tough-loves us out of our pandemic hovels, physical and mental, rapping, “You said you outside but you ain’t that outside,” and responsibly seems to endorse continued masking; thank you, Beyoncé.

Right, the billionaire who co-hosted an Oscar party at a hotel where workers were striking in part due to the sexual harassment they experience from celebrity guests is invoking the "Great Unionization", please fuck off with this nonsense. Like I don't actually care that much about B's personal hypocrisy, but the instant mythologizing that happens with this artist borders on pathetic.

That said, map you're never to old to thrill to the prospect of quitting your job! There's nothing more alien to me than people I know continuing to work into their 70s who can easily afford to retire

That whole Pfork "review" is fairly embarrassing (to Pfork)

I think its nice that they took the time to thank Beyonce for her work. Too many reviewers forget basic manners like that.

“Thank you, Posty.”

Damn. I usually like reading Julianne.

Finally, a billionaire that understands our struggles.

So much for myth busting

All that for a song that’s 5/10 at most.

“Break My Soul” is Beyoncé as an SSRI, her attempt to assuage widespread depression and crushing stress, while acknowledging the predicament in which many of her non-zillionaire listeners find themselves. She opens, rather tenderly, “I just fell in love and I just quit my job/I’m gonna find new drive, damn they work me so damn hard.” Relatable: In the first verse alone, she encapsulates the Great Resignation, the Great Unionization, and quarantine insomnia. The determined chorus—“You won’t break my soul/And I’m tellin’ everybody”—is framed so that listeners can fill it with whatever we need in the moment. NOLA bounce icon Big Freedia is sampled for the intro and verse, which grounds the song in its Black queer tradition (and also provides the very good line, “Release the trade, release the stress”). She tough-loves us out of our pandemic hovels, physical and mental, rapping, “You said you outside but you ain’t that outside,” and responsibly seems to endorse continued masking; thank you, Beyoncé.

criticism that purports to speak for the music's entire audience like this is such irksome trash lol

the review is fine and the song does strike the zeitgeist more or less effectively, rich ilxors notwithstanding

i know that ilx loves rediscovering the cognitive dissonance of a rich person making art that voices a poor pov and all but just a reminder that this is pop music we're talking about.

Yep. Pop music has inhabited these contradictions forever, regardless of the reviews the music inspires.

well, yeah. all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts. thank you, Beyoncé!

i'll tell you what's going through a renaissance - the discourse!!!

Ryan Dombal is somewhere breathing a sigh of relief.

lol vg Murgatroid

I'm guessing those lines about "building my own foundation" are a preview for some big philanthropy program.

Maybe she's designing the Beyoncéverse version of Avengers Tower.

wow... talk about The Discourse:

https://i.imgur.com/cQ96SeN.jpg

sorry smartasses, i'm gonna be real for a second, last time and then i'm out of this thread for a while i promise, as a person who has struggled with finances his whole life and is now 40, the idea of building my own foundation means working 1.5 jobs, paying off credit card debt and escaping the abusive cult my family belongs to. it's cool that you all find it trite and are over it but i'm willing to bet this resonates with a lot of people because it feels lived in. also to "this house sound is boring" - that house sound is forever, fuck off lol.

I’m younger than you and it’s trite af. Pop argument can miss me as well, it’s crass and embarrassing, people are pointing out the contradictions for those reasons, not because contradictions are inherently alien to pop.

Like Beyoncé herself has done commentary so much better - Formation is full of clever, knowing lyrics. It literally ends with “always stay gracious, best revenge is your paper” - fuck your racism, I’ll succeed despite you - but the video is all about taking pride in blackness and also her anger about anti-blackness, and Beyoncé being rich doesn’t mean she can escape that. This? This is just basic in all senses.

i probably wouldnt even be giving it a second thought if she hadnt literally crossed a high profile picket line for a billionaire party a few months prior to this. the song is fine and im sure i will enjoy hearing it in clubs and hotel lobbies for many years to come, but i cant help but feel that context affecting the way i hear those lyrics. if others can enjoy it without that lens, that's great, but its a valid lens to look at the work through. its obv naive to call bullshit on a popstar just for being rich, but its equally naive to think that their celebrity persona isnt in dialogue with the music as its received, particularly w/someone like beyonce.

Thanks, Map - it’s good to hear how the song is working for you. (I really do think the foundation line is an Easter egg.) It makes for an interesting compliment to “Nice for What,” which was also a celebration of just getting by and staying strong.

i did find bey musing about "all these people on the planet working 9 to 5 just to stay alive" viscerally thrilling back on the self-titled

I doubt this song will have enough legs to be heard in clubs / hotel lobbies for many years to come. Regardless of how obnoxious or on point you think the lyrics are, it’s lacking that wow factor and hooks of some of her most successful singles have. I know repetitiveness is a feature on house music but it works against her. She’s trying to do too much with her vocals for it to really work for me.

We’ll see I guess… most of the pop charts have been super bland this year so far, so it might as well be the anthem lacking in lustre that 2022 deserves.