(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, 'SUMMER RENAISSANCE')īEYONCE: (Singing) It's so good. And its hypnotic hook reminds me of Lakeside's great 1980 hit 'Fantastic Voyage.' Now listen to the way Beyonce rolls it back further to the '70s and nods to Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love' on the song 'Summer Renaissance.' Its sound owes something to the Michael Jackson-Quincy Jones albums of that era. TUCKER: At 6-minutes-plus, 'Virgo's Groove' is at once very contemporary and very 1980s. The best example of this is the album's longest track called 'Virgo's Groove,' as Beyonce croons over a languid, sneaky beat.īEYONCE: (Singing) Baby, come over. TUCKER: That's 'Alien Superstar,' over whose clattering beats Beyonce applies a layer of her patented positive thinking, only half joking that she's, quote, 'too classy for this world.' 'Alien Superstar' gives you an idea of the way many songs here are constructed around rhythms and riffs that pulse and throb while Beyonce's vocal soars atop the music. I'm too classy for this world, forever, I'm that girl.

Stilettos kicking vintage crystal off the bar. No one else in this world can think like me.

Don't even waste your time trying to compete with me. Little did we know that what was to follow was a whole album about the freedom of escapism.īEYONCE: (Singing) I'm one of one. KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: That's 'Break My Soul,' the first single from Beyonce's new album, 'Renaissance.' 'Break My Soul' was released a few weeks before the album, and with its lyric about escaping the deadening drudgery of 9-5 work was widely interpreted as Beyonce's take on the pandemic-inspired great resignation. I'm telling everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody. Here's Ken's review.īEYONCE: (Singing) You won't break my soul. Our rock critic, Ken Tucker, says while the music is dense with allusions to different eras of pop music, Beyonce's performances have a lightness and agility that gives the project an often thrilling energy.

The first new Beyonce studio album in six years is here and it's called 'Renaissance.' The pop star says the 16 tracks were recorded during the pandemic.

Logo pop logo quiz on facebook