RENAISSANCE: One Year Later
Lead Editor Bianca Gregg discusses the continued admiration for Beyoncé’s seventh studio album, Renaissance, her personal dedication to an often silenced community.
I would say I became a Beyoncé stan late in the game. Although I always enjoyed her music, I never really considered myself a stan — until I heard ‘The Gift,’ which was the companion soundtrack to the ‘Lion King’ remake. It was one of the best projects I had heard in awhile from any artist. It was a beautiful Ode to Blackness, and possibly why it was criticized more than an other album in her discography.
‘The Gift’ drifted away from the sounds of popular music and dived head first into the sound of Afro-Beats. In my household we already had a love for the genre so naturally ‘The Gift’ was in heavy rotation. The visuals are a favorite for my two little girls. Anytime it’s on the TV screen, they dance around the house — singing but also in awe of the beautiful black people displayed through out ‘Black Is King.’ I actually wrote a piece about the visuals way back when, check it out here.
Beyoncé had been quiet for some time after that but rumors began to swirl that she was back in the studio — now ya’ll know our good sis keeps EVERYTHING under wraps. Speculation that this was going to be a dance album also started to bubble and when the track-list dropped — many of us were ready to hear what the Queen had been cooking up.
On July 29th, 2022 — ‘RENAISSANCE’ arrived.
From the start of the album, I knew we were in for a treat. A perfectly crafted sixteen-track album, that from start to finish would have listeners on their feet. The album was an ode to Beyoncé’s ‘Uncle Jonny’, who died from complications with HIV. In essence, a love letter to the LGBTQ+ community — a community that was often, and still, shunned by many. She wrote about Jonny and the culture in her dedication notes:
A big thank you to my Uncle Jonny. He was my godmother and the first person to expose me to a lot of the music and culture that serve as inspiration for this album.
Thank you to all of the pioneers who originate culture, to all of the fallen angels whose contributions have gone recognized for far too long. This is a celebration for you.
Beyoncé’s album was arguably the album of the year in 2022. Sadly, once again, Beyoncé was snubbed at the Grammy’s for an award she rightfully earned.
Beyoncé is currently on the North American leg of her RENAISSANCE tour. The tour is expected to profit $2 Billion by the end in September making it the highest grossing tour in history. It just seems like Beyoncé and ‘history’ are a love language at this point.
Without a single visual and barely any radio play, this album has thrived solely on Beyoncé’s stardom and sheer artistry excellence, something many artists will only be so lucky to tap into.
A year later and the experience when you listen to this project is still so fresh and captivating. RENAISSANCE has yet to lose it’s spark. It’s rumored that we will get visuals, whether in the style of ‘Black Is King’ or in a documentary format like ‘Homecoming,’ is yet to be known. Honestly I am just grateful for the music. I am grateful for the various demographics this single album has brought together. For all the happy moments it may have created for many of us coming off of the residual effects of the Pandemic year and COVID. It’s a reminder that it is okay to dance in an otherwise traumatic and turbulent time. Art can be revolutionary, it can be a movement and if nothing else an escape. RENAISSANCE gave it all.
