Beyoncé is back.
Queen Bey’s seventh album, “Renaissance,” was released last week. It’s her first studio album since 2016’s “Lemonade.”
In 16 tracks, the album takes listeners on a dance-music odyssey, paying homage to ’90s house music, bounce music, Afrobeats, and the ballroom scene. It features samples from artists like Donna Summer and Grace Jones and pays tribute to Black LGBTQ music and culture.
As Omise’eke Tinsley, professor of Black studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, said in The Washington Post:
“Beyoncé is singing on the side of a more expansive gender system and reminding Black people: This is our culture.” […] And while Beyoncé has consistently been an icon in queer spaces and championed the LGBTQ community, this album is an expansion to her advocacy, Tinsley said.
The 1A Record Club dives into Beyoncé’s “Renaissance.”
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