Seven is routinely referred to as the number of perfection and that’s exactly what Queen Bey tapped into with her seventh studio album ‘Renaissance.’
Boasting sleek slices of delicious Dance driven bops, the LP – Queen Bey’s first solo effort in six years – delivers on a seismic scale.
Expertly shaped by the famously hands-on diva, ‘Renaissance’ features contributions from a colorful collective of creatives – some known and some new to the superstar’s long-thriving musical orbit. Indeed, the likes of The-Dream, Honey Dijon, A.G Cook, Skrillex, Nile Rodgers, Nija, and Raphael Saadiq are just a few of the names in the mix.
All the while, the LP maintains a vision and a cohesiveness that defines impeccable.
The result? A blissful body of work that is kaleidoscopic. An experimental, playful, and unbridled burst of joy.
Beyond its immaculate production, the eagerly awaited set sees all the “Beyoncés” show up to the party. From the vocal acrobats that defined both her debut and ’B’Day’ to the heavenly harmonies established during her tenure with Destiny’s Child to the Pop sensibilities of ‘I Am…Sasha Fierce to the egier Hip-Hop kissed offerings of 2013’s ‘Beyonce’ and its follow-up ‘Lemonade.’
For this and so much more, ‘Renaissance’ is a triumphant victory lap for a force that shows no signs of slowing.
Join us after the jump as we share That Grape Juice’s 7 Must-Hear Songs from Beyonce’s ‘Renaissance’…
Cuff It
Evocative of the euphoria of fans cherish from revered jams such as ‘Love On Top,’ ‘Party’ and ‘Before I Let Go,’ this funkified bop borrows those elements and sprinkles in its own contemporary kick for maximum effect. The horn outro is just delicious.
Infectious and immediate, this screams surefire single at some point. Easily a career highlight, which is no small feat for an artist whose entire career is comprised of highlights.
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Alien Superstar
With such an extraterrestrial title, this track came packaged with a lot of expectation – and oh did it deliver.
Sonically, this was a seismic risk. Yet, it paid off potently.
From the opening command “do not attempt to leave the dancefloor” to the well-treaded the Right Said Fred ‘I’m Too Sexy’ sample to the song at large being unchartered territory for Bey musically. This was a whimsical ride that we don’t want to come off of.
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Church Girl
We had a sneaky suspicion that this was not going to be a Gospel track. Especially with its “explicit” tracklist tag.
Still, we were pleasantly surprised by this dynamite highlight that all at once manages to uplift, soothe, humanize, and make you move. In its own way, it’s rather spiritual, we must say.
If there’s one thing a Beyonce album is going to do, it’s gift listeners with quotables on quoteables, memes on memes, and a good ole’ call-and-repeat on the dancefloor. And when it comes to the latter, this track may be the most stacked. “Drop it like a thotty” being one of many lines we imagine will weave its way into Pop culture’s fabric.
Suffice to say, this is one track (especially) that the girls (and the gworls) will be getting down to this summer. ‘Single Ladies’ and ‘Get Mer Bodied,’ meet your new sister!
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Heated
Mrs Carter is renowned for putting her Midas touch on any track she graces. As such, this former Drake-drenched has been flipped to incorporate the best the Hip-Hop maestro’s flow with Queen Bey’s unique flair.
On an album that very much serves up 10s across the board, this scorcher stands out as a surefire hit single. A Drizzy feature on the remix would be a cherry on top.
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Summer Renaissance
No stranger to sampling Donna Summer (see: ‘Naughty Girl’), Bey’s latest homage is hypnotic.
‘I Feel Love’ serves as the foundation from which this slick dance jam springs and the ascension is never-ending.
Incredible.
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Virgo’s Groove
Audio velvet! This silky, smooth jam placks plenty of punch in its own way and may well be one of Beyonce’s most effervescent efforts yet.
Despite being the longest song on the project, it’s the track we literally can’t stop hitting replay on.
Another (yes, another) career highlight.
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Break My Soul
Here at That Grape Juice, we have a love affair with “I’m back!” bops, as such we’ve long-loved ‘Break My Soul’ ever since it was unlocked. And our feelings have only grown stronger upon hearing the track in the context of the album it resides on.
Big, bold, and booming, the track – much like the LP at large – is such a well-crafted triumph.
It has something to say, without being preachy. It’s musical, it’s medicinal, and it’s magical.
A wise era opener for an artist who continues to push the envelope and etch her name in the history books while doing so.
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Do you agree with our picks? As ever let us know…
Lies the album is 🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮
Stop kissing her àśs
Music tastes are subjective i.e shaped by personal feelings, experiences and exposures therefore theyre going to differ. Your personal experiences and exposures mean this album doesnt vibe with you and thats absolutely fine. But when you start acting like your opinion on this music is factual and some kind of universal truth and therefore any differing opinions are lies is arrogant, narcissistic and really quite naive. Develop your character. Seek self improvement. Youre currently lacking. Now thats my opinion.
💯!!! Why can’t we all just like what we like? Always some bitter ass b**** resenting anyone else’s enjoyment.
420 & chill, then get back to the comment section. I’m sorry Beyoncé’s album ate from beginning to end 🔥🔥I like Drake knew Beyoncé’s album was going to be dope, that’s why he hurried up and drop honestly nevermind album.
I feel like Drake knew*
The more I listen to the album, the more I like it. Add – All Up In Your Mind and America Has a Problem to that list as they are both 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Taste! 💅🏾 Move is a choice 💋👠 Diva predict it will sold more than 500K for the first week.
Yaaaaaaaaaaas Diva!
Oh lawd these are really bad 😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hopefully TikTok will help her, but I don’t see it
I’m not generally a huge Beyoncé fan by any means. I hated Lemonade and still do and haven’t really liked much of her music since Dangerously In Love and B’Day but this album is pure 🔥🔥🔥🔥 I have to admit that on first listen though (and it’s nothing against my gays), it sounded too “gay clubby” lmaoooooooooo 🤣 but now I’m feeling it more and more with each listen. Way to go Bey! Yaaaaaaaaaaas!!! 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽
Yessss My Queen 👑 have you received the vinyl yet? 💅🏾 Bet it’s gonna be awesome. Now we need some visuals for all songs💯 Don’t making Diva filming some s e x scenes for the songs 😂🤣😂🤣
It’s just shipped so should be with me by tomorrow. But I may sell it as I ordered the collector’s edition that they put up on the site today aswell lmaoooooooooo 🤣
Yaaaaaaaaaaas Diva! Film those s** scenes girl!!! Put these dusty höes to SHAME!!!!! Go team!!!! 👑👠
We need music videos for each song.
Beyonce songs are difficult to digest until u watch the music video. This happened with formation and my power.
So basically her music is mid like Cabellys😴
This post just reminded me of why I’ve been following you all for years. Got damn it.. this is well written. Good morning TGJ🤌🏾❤️🔥
She is the sample queen!
In no particular order my top 7 would be Heated, Church Girl, Move, Plastic Off the sofa, Energy, Summer Renaissance and Im that girl.
this is a better top 7 list 😉
I also feel like Beyonce going to drop a surprise visual album mid next week
This is personnaly not my favorite album of her. I wasn’t fan of Lemonade neither like others, but I still like the 2 first albums + 4 and Beyoncé, that’s more my jam. For now, my favorites are
– Energy
– All Up In Your Mind
and from the rest I kept this ones in mind :
– America Has A Problem
– Cozy
– Cuff It
– Church Girl
Energy is the one I listen to the most, it’s short but it gives it a replay value. That sound is dope, maybe the kind of song I would have liked to record for a personal project and it would have been a single for sure.
I felt the same about the album as you, but after repeated listens today, I’m even loving the songs that I really thought I’d always hate! The whole album flows from beginning to end. I honestly didn’t think I’d love it this much on first listen!
Yes it happens sometimes, when it’s not instant love at first listen we can get frustrated, sometimes it doesn’t change because it’s clearly not in your taste but sometimes it grows in you and it makes you change your mind which is always great. I will probably enjoy more tracks later but for now I really have a crush on Energy 😍 Church Girl is the one that actually grows in me, I start to sing the chorus without the music so I guess it’s a good sign.
I agree. And sometimes the albums you first disliked on first listen can end up becoming some of your favorites. I found that with so many albums. Especially by artists such as Björk and Tori Amos, as a lot of their work requires a lot of patience until the music suddenly opens up to you and you suddenly “get it,” so to speak.
After listening to Church Girl, I’ve been waking around just randomly saying “you baaaad”. LMAO!! That song KNOCKS HARD!!
And I do the same here outside rapping “I’ll drop it like a thottie, drop it like a thottie, I said now pop it like a thottie, pop it like a thottie” ahah imagine if I was walking next to you without knowing who you are and you would reply “you baaad!” 😂
Yeeeeessssss!!! LMAO 🤣 😂😂😂
Shayla not being a troll has me shook.
Whether you like the songs or not, the transitions make it feel like a cohesive body of work.
I agree with 2 of them. Thique is a bop, Move features Grace Jones so it’s going to get love from me. And Energy get’s me moving.
No, I dont agree.
Where is ALL UP and America?
I normally don’t listen to Beyonce but I got to give credit where it is due she ate Summer Renaissance. I am one of Donna summers biggest fans and I have no problems with sampling I feel love at all. I am going to have a great mix party playing Beyonce, madonnas and Kylie Minogue samples back to back and finishing off with the original. I feel love is just that song that keeps on giving.