Packed with rousing anthems that resonate on a universal level, the modern pop classic offers an expansive listening journey
The seventh studio album from Beyoncé is
available worldwide, on all major streaming platforms. From her
own label Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records,
RENAISSANCE arrives
six years after the globally lauded LEMONADE was released in 2016 as a
complete surprise.
The originator of the visual album format, and the preeminent visual artist, decided to lead without visuals giving fans the opportunity to be limitless in their expansive listening journey. It is a chance again to be listeners and not viewers, while taking in every gem of the pristine production. While “Break My Soul,” the first single, arrived with a minimal lyric video, the release of RENAISSANCE sans visuals is another culture-shifting move from the artist who has defined an era with reinvention.
RENAISSANCE has been the
most anticipated album of the year as Beyoncé shifted gears and notified her
fans of new music on June 15 through an update in her bio on her social
handles, “act i RENAISSANCE July 29.” She continued the
unconventional rollout with the release of the album’s first single, “Break My
Soul,” which arrived at Midnight on the summer solstice. Instantly addicting
with a pulsating beat, with lyrics that urge listeners to claim joy and to
“release the wiggle.” The single, a worldwide hit, has been called the song of
the summer and an anthem for this generation.
Packed with rousing anthems that resonate with everybody, RENAISSANCE is a
culmination of freedom and escape that encourages unimaginable jubilation,
agency, and movement with abandon. The singular intent of
RENAISSANCE, a
reinvention of four on the floor, is to showcase music that stirs you from the soul and encourages your
dancing feet. It is a celebration of a
club era when anyone who felt like an outsider sought each other and formed a
community of freedom-seekers to express themselves creatively through the
rhythm, which we still celebrate today.
Welcome to CLUB RENAISSANCE.
The magic of RENAISSANCE is
also in Beyoncé’s soaring vocals, rich, soulful, at times vulnerable and laden
with passion and purpose in what could only be described as “SANGING.” And it expands over memorable lyrics that are
bold, heartened, urgent and categorically timely.
While the visuals are scheduled for a later date, the album comes with a
robust menu of formats giving music fans and collectors plenty to choose. The music store on Beyoncé’s website offers
album merch and multiple configurations of RENAISSANCE,
listing a CD, digital album, a limited-edition vinyl, launch with a bit of her
signature mystery, that is now sold out, and four box sets, Pose 1 to 4, which
include a t-shirt and CD in a special box, also all sold out, before fans were
given the descriptions of the content. The breakout single, “Break My Soul,”
comes as a digital single and is also available in a capella and instrumental
versions.
With the album release also comes a deluxe vinyl. It includes two black vinyl LPs, a 36-page
booklet, and a folded collectable (24”x 36”) poster. The full shopping experience is here.
Beyoncé recorded the album over the course of the pandemic, almost three years in the works, and states that the stillness of that time allowed her to tap into her most creative self.
“Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find
escape during a scary time for the world,” says Beyoncé. “It allowed me to feel free and adventurous
in a time when little else was moving. My intention was to create a safe place,
a place without judgment. A place to be
free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel
freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration.”
With a squad of prolific collaborators, including The-Dream, Nile Rodgers,
NOVA, NO ID, Raphael Saadiq, Mike Dean, Honey Dijon, Chris Penny, Luke Solomon,
Skrillex, Beam, Big Freedia, Grace Jones and Tems, Beyoncé set out “to reinvent
music again,” as described by The Times of London.
RENAISSANCE: A revival of or renewed interest in something. Let the renaissance begin.
RENAISSANCE TRACK LIST:
1. I’M THAT
GIRL
2. COZY
3. ALIEN
SUPERSTAR
4. CUFF IT
5. ENERGY
(FEAT. BEAM)
6. BREAK MY
SOUL
7. CHURCH
GIRL
8. PLASTIC
OFF THE SOFA
9. VIRGO’S
GROOVE
10. MOVE (FEAT. GRACE
JONES, TEMS)
11. HEATED
12. THIQUE
13. ALL UP IN YOUR MIND
14. AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM
15. PURE/HONEY
16. SUMMER RENAISSANCE
Album cover photo photographed by Carlijn Jacobs.
#RENAISSANCE
#BREAKMYSOUL
#CLUBRENAISSANCE
About Parkwood
Entertainment
Parkwood Entertainment is a film and production company, record label and management firm founded by entertainer and entrepreneur, Beyoncé in 2010. With offices in Los Angeles and New York City, the company houses departments in music, film, video, live performances and concert production, management, business development, marketing, digital, creative, philanthropy, and publicity. Under its original name, Parkwood Pictures, the company released the film Cadillac Records (2008), in which Beyoncé starred and co-produced. The company has also released the films Obsessed (2009), with Beyoncé as star and executive producer, the winner of the Peabody Award for Entertainment, Lemonade (2017), the Emmy®-nominated Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé (2019), which documents Beyoncé’s history-making performance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in 2018, and the Emmy®-winning Black Is King (2020). Parkwood Entertainment produced The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2013-2014), The Formation World Tour (2016), and the aforementioned “Homecoming” performances at Coachella (2018) and co-produced the ON THE RUN Tour (2014) and ON THE RUN II (2018).
About Sony Music Entertainment
At Sony Music Entertainment, we honor the creative journey. Our creators
shape movements, culture, communities, even history. And we’ve played a
pioneering role in music history, from establishing the first-ever music label
to inventing the flat disc record. We’ve nurtured some of music’s most iconic
artists and produced some of the most influential recordings of all time.
Today, we work in more than 100 countries, supporting a diverse and distinctive
roster of talented creators at every level and on every stage. Situated at the
intersection of music, entertainment, and technology, we bring imagination and
expertise to emerging products and platforms, embrace new business models, and
employ breakthrough tools—all to support the creative community’s experimentation,
risk-taking, and growth. And we form deep, trusted, cause-based partnerships to
uplift and empower communities around the world. Sony Music Entertainment is
part of the global Sony family. Learn more about our creators and labels here.
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