Pop superstar Beyoncé released
her long-awaited seventh studio album Renaissance on Friday, her
first solo project since 2016’s critically-lauded Lemonade. So far, the
reviews are looking great — but to make things easier on you, we’ve
rounded up some takes below:
“One could argue
that Renaissance does not feel like a career milestone in the way
that Beyoncé and Lemonade did — after all, their surprise
releases and visual components only heightened the magic,” Nicholas
Hautman wrote for Page Six, “but it is a welcome and even refreshing
progression for a superstar who consistently rewrites the rule books.”
“Touted as Act I of
a confirmed trilogy,” Tara Joshi opined for The Guardian,
“Renaissance falls short of being Beyoncé’s best full-length, but it
still fulfills her liberationist aim.”
A “rare breach of the pop
queen’s carefully choreographed release plans,” writes The New York
Times. Celebrities — they’re just like us!
“Beyoncé has long been an
otherworldly being, seemingly operating in a separate ecosystem to us mere
mortals,” Jumi Akinfenwa wrote in her review for Stereo Gum.
“But here, she has completely let loose, becoming less polished, more
curious and boundless. After all, if you go clubbing and don’t get just a
little bit messy, you’re not doing it right.”
“This is her most
relentlessly upbeat and fun record yet, one where she explores love, friendship
and relationships across 16 spellbinding tracks,” Kyann-Sian Williams
mused for NME.
“Is this an evolution
from Lemonade? Not quite,” Will Dukes added for Rolling Stone.
“But with Renaissance, Beyoncé is more relatable than ever.”
Renaissance is then
“a love letter to queer culture in many ways, from its campy lyrical braggadocio
to the obscure samples,” Guerra concluded. “There’s a slow, languid
vibe that drives several of the songs, an homage to peak-hour house and
Houston’s chopped and screwed sound.”
It’s “another remarkable
record” for Beyoncé’s repertoire, one that’s leading efforts to bring
“Black culture back to the forefront of house and dance scenes,”
Williams concluded.
