A track-by-track dance reference guide toB7.
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ButonRenaissance, Beyonces seventh solo album, she is no longer dabbling.
Given the roots of disco and house,Renaissancealso continues Beyonces ongoing interest in spotlighting Black culture.
Renaissanceis a rich text dauntingly so, with some songs featuring multiple samples, shifting subgenres, andEaster eggs.
Weve got you covered with a track-by-track guide to all the dance references onRenaissance.
Give it a read, then get back to grooving.
1.Im That Girl
1.
The song loops a line from late Memphis rapper Princess LokosStill Pimpin,with producer Tommy Wright III.
Then, the dance album youve been waiting forreallystarts, accented by pounding percussion and constant bass.
2.Cozy
2.
Cozy packs in layers of house references.
Theres a second sample too, of Danube Dance and Kim CoopersUnique,another 90s house cut.
3.Alien Superstar
3.
(Also known as Johnny Dangerous, Foremost Poets is a progenitor of deep house.)
But wait, theres a third new sample, too!
4.Cuff It
4.
5.Energy
5.
On top of that, the song interpolates the percussion track from Keliss party-starting hitMilkshake.
(Also in the producer credits: Skrillex, working way outside the dance style thathepioneered.)
6.Break My Soul
6.
Everything is complementary,she told Vulture of the song.)
7.Church Girl
7.
Those vocals are shortly looped into a skittering club beat.
But Bey brings the church to the club too, interpolating James Browns You bad!
(Think Church Girl sounds like Nice for What?
Its that beat, which hasits own Wikipedia page.)
8.Plastic Off the Sofa
8.
… and samples off the track.
Beyonce makes the most of her whispery upper register here, following disco greats like Donna Summer.
9.Virgos Groove
9.
The disco journey continues onto Virgos Groove, a more upbeat yet equally classic disco song.
10.Move
10.
In it, she wrote that Beyonce, among other pop stars, had copied what Jones already did.
Whats more, Jones specifically shot down a collaboration with an unnamed pop star in the book.
11.Heated
11.
Drake is back and he brought the whole crew.
With that combination, Heated sounds like an outtake from Drakes chilled-out, house- and Jersey clubinfluencedHonestly, Nevermind.
(Beam also returns here for some guest vocals.)
12.Thique
12.
13.All Up in Your Mind
13.
Things stay contemporary on All Up in Your Mind too, with a woozy bass line and laserlike synths.
The tracks producers includeA.G.
The track doesnt quite dive into Cooks proto-hyperpop, instead sticking to the bombastic, future-focused synthpop ofChromaticaand CharlisCrash.
14.America Has a Problem
14.
That synth line ends up central to the track, over a rapid, percussive club beat.
15.Pure/Honey
15.
16.Summer Renaissance
16.
Hows this for a last call?
As she boasts at the end of the track, Im in my bag.
