Beyoncé’s highly anticipated seventh studio album, “Renaissance”, has been released. After a tumultuous few days before the album’s release due to the songs leaking 48 hours before the official release, the album has already peaked at number 22 on the iTunes World Albums Chart and reached number one in more than 60 country.
Renaissance topped the iTunes charts in the US, UK, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, and elsewhere. The 16-track LP has a runtime of just over an hour.
The latest album from the artist, recently dubbed the “greatest living artist” by Rolling Stone, was the visual novel “Lemonade”, released six years ago and exploring themes of infidelity, faith and rebuilding a relationship. While she’s released other tracks like Everything Is Love with husband Jay-Z and Lion King companion Spirit, Renaissance is the first full-length album.
The album’s lead single “Break My Soul” was released on June 20, peaking at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single made Beyonce the first female solo artist with at least 20 top 10 records, Billboard reported.
Renaissance is part of a three-part art that Beyonce has been recording over the past three years. She posted a message to her fans on her website ahead of the release. “This three-act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic. A time to be quiet, but also a time that I found most creative,” Knowles wrote. “Creating this album allowed me to dream and find escape during a scary time for the world. It made me feel free and adventurous at a time when nothing else was happening.
The artist had another message for fans after the full album leaked days before its official release. She thanked her fans for waiting for the album to officially release and calling out those streaming the album at the start of a now-viral Instagram post. “Thank you for calling anyone trying to sneak into the club early. It means the world to me,” she wrote.
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Besides ‘Break My Soul’, the album contains ‘I’m That Girl’, ‘Cozy’, ‘Alien Superstar’, ‘Cuff It’, ‘Energy’, ‘Church Girl’, ‘Plastic Off the Sofa’, ‘ Virgo’s Groove’, ‘Move’, ‘Heated’, ‘Thique’, ‘All Up in Your Mind’, ‘America Has a Problem’, ‘Pure/Honey’ and ‘Summer Renaissance’.
Beyonce is also praised for collaborating with and featuring several LGBTQ+ and black artists, including Big Freedia and Tems. She mentioned her late gay uncle Jonny who died of HIV as one of her biggest inspirations, writing in the physical booklet that accompanies the record that Uncle Jonny “was the first person to expose me to great part of the music and culture that serves as inspiration for this album.”
(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)
First post: STI
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