We All Feel Like “That Girl” Listening To Beyonce’s Renaissance — Album Review

Beyonce is a household name that needs no introduction. The queen is back again serving vocals like never before.

On my first listen-through of the album, I was vibing to the sick production and the smooth-as-butter transitions between songs. However not much stuck out to me. It took me a couple more listens to realize that this sound reminded me of watching queens and kings leave everything on the stage at drag shows.

Scrolling through social media, so many other queer people felt the same energy from these songs especially ones like “Break My Soul”, and “Alien Superstar”. Listening to the lyrics of these songs I instantly felt uplifted and repeating them throughout my house felt like a mantra.

You know what yeah I am “that girl”, and hell yeah I'm f*cking unique. This music has an impact and it definitely left an impact on me. Now let's get to the deeper aspects of this album.

Some of my favorites like “Cuff It”, and “Church Girl” have that high-energy bad bitch sound that I really learned to enjoy from Beyonce's new album.

Now “Plastic Off The Sofa” is a song that is slower and more thoughtful than the other songs on the album with Beyonce’s expertly smooth riffs that show off her masterful vocal agility, as well as telling the story of lyrics that make you feel like you're getting a big hug.

The theme of this song’s lyrics grabbed my attention because they lend the idea that men’s emotions are sacred and worthy. Thinking about the demographic of this album, I think this song was a wise choice to add showing queer masculine individuals that it's okay to let yourself cry and wear your heart on your sleeve.

The sound of this album is unmatched and each producer that worked on this album brought their own energy and ideas that still lead to the cohesiveness of the album. The transition that blew my mind on the first listen was from “Cozy” to “Alien Superstar”, I had chills run down my spine.

However wonderful and beautiful this music felt, I somewhat got the feeling that something was wrong with the nature of this album. Of course it felt queer and beautiful and UNIQUE! But something about it felt gimmicky, like why now at the peak of this ’80s resurgence did Beyonce come out with music like this? It felt as though this album picked the queer community as its niche and ran with it. This information is all subtextual and not at all definitive but something about it definitely felt off.

The more I thought about it, and the more I heard from queer creators across social media, I realized that it didn't matter what marketing ploy Beyonce’s team went for because this music is making people feel something. People play the album every day while they are getting ready, working out, or just need a powerful dance session. This album wasn’t meant for me, it was meant for the Queens out there who aren’t always shown love, it's for them to feel uplifted and cared for.

I’m not even sure if I’m in a place to discuss something like this, but I think that this album is important. On the surface, it sounds like just a dance club album, but it goes deeper than that. This music was meant to reach people spending their time in hiding, not showing who they are to know there is a place for them.

Music is meant to be spiritual. It is meant to give meaning to people, it's meant to send you on a higher plane of existence and foster community with those around you. Renaissance really is that album.

Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to leave a comment!