🧵 Beyoncé — Deep Cuts / Forgotten 💎s 🪡
i saw a great thread dedicated to rihanna, so i wanted to make my own for Beyoncé. so thanks for the inspiration and sorry about not remembering the @ !!
you ready?
🪩 “RENAISSANCE” — GREATEST MOMENTS 🧵
*every* song on “RENAISSANCE” have a moment that outshines every other. sometimes, even multiple, this thread will be showcasing my picks for such.
🪩 ENJOY!! 🪩
Track 5 — “Be With You”
famously interpolating “I’d Rather Be With You” by Betsy Collins, Beyoncé and Rich Harrison create an essence that is integral to the overall aura of her 2003 debut.
Track 8 — “Green Light”
if you were to ask me what were my all time favorite songs by Beyoncé, you can absolutely bet on this gem being present each and every time.
Track 6 — “Kitty Kat”
thematically feeling right at home with the rest of “B’Day”, “Kitty Kat” may be a bit on the quieter side in comparison, don’t be fooled because the end result is nothing less than fierce.
Track 9 — “Speechless”
the guitar, the backgrounds, and especially Beyoncé herself, all shine on this six minute ode to a beautiful encounter in the bedroom.
Track 8 — “Signs (feat. Missy Elliott)”
on yet another collaboration between the pair, Beyoncé invents astrology and all their accompanying characteristics.
Track 3 — “Suga Mama”
sampling “Searching for Souls” by Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers, “Suga Mama” displays the more rock-influenced side to Beyoncé w/ an explosive declaration of her power in this dynamic relationship. one of my absolute favorites.
Track 10 — “Resentment”
yet another all time high. with each passing verse, Beyoncé seemingly breaks into more pieces of herself with an emotional high and lyrical vulnerability that sell the destruction of the heart that you can hear in her voice.
In case anyone was wondering why a Rihanna song from 13 years ago is outstreaming 26 out of 27 songs from an album released two weeks ago… they’re not even trying to hide the fact that they’re already bored of it
💿 — “Flaws and All”
Beyoncé lays it bare on this Ne-Yo penned gem. no matter what boundaries separate love, insecurities or otherwise, it is bound to be broken and toppled.
oh! i didn’t know the RENAISSANCE FILM had a soundtrack album!
highest peaks for soundtrack songs by female artists this century:
independent woman pt. 1 —
#1
(11 weeks)
check on it —
#1
(5 weeks)
—HELL—
barbie world —
#7
(0 weeks in the top 5)
Track 11 — “Video Phone” / “Video Phone (feat. Lady Gaga)”
Beyoncé, as per usual, ahead of the monumental musical zeitgeist of electronic music sweeping the radio stations worldwide by 2010 and 2011. mind you, this gem was released in 2008!
Track 14 — “Gift from Virgo”
there was once a time where i was unimpressed by this sensual gem, but glad to report that it’s now one of my absolute favorites off the album, which is already filled to the brim with staple singles and outstanding deep cuts.
💿 — “Woman Like Me”
in a vast collection of soundtrack singles, there is bound to be some that get left behind. “Woman Like Me” comes from the Pink Panther 2 soundtrack yet sounds right in line with the era of “B’Day”!
💿 — “Welcome to Hollywood (feat. JAY-Z)”
Beyoncé and Jay act as a tour guide to the ups and downs of the Hollywood celebrity in this funky deluxe track.
Track 4 — “Broken-Hearted Girl”
out of all the singles from the era this one seems to be under appreciated, yet i think it’s every bit as great as the lead single, “If I Were a Boy”!
💿 — “Smash Into You”
one of the many gems that come between Beyoncé and The Dream. “Smash Into You” is one of Bey’s most soft songs yet her love is comparable to a meteorite in course with the planet earth.
Track 3 — “Disappear”
except plenty cuts from the “I AM…” side, considering y’all tend to not see Beyoncé’s vision in regards to her adult contemporary ballad gems!
BEYONCÉ sold 1M copies in just six days, Lemonade sold 650+k in the first week alone with no streaming platforms outside of tidal, ended up being the biggest album worldwide of 2016.
RENAISSANCE sold 332k in the first week.
so her last three studio albums all did!
next!
Track 10 — “End of Time”
Beyoncé’s ode to the sounds of Fela Kuti takes full form here, in the process, making for one of my favorite gems overall. rumor has it that an entire album that was inspired by this very sound was in production alongside 4 👀 👀 !
Track 3 — “I Miss You”
Beyoncé brings Frank Ocean on board for their first of multiple collaborations. there’s not a whole lot to “I Miss You” but, the magic is found in Beyonce’s unique and heavy vocal layering approach to the track.
2. “COZY”
the second verse that carefully lays out all the colors of the LGBTQ+ flag including all sectors of the community. a queer anthem through and through.
1. “I’M THAT GIRL”
the wave of sound that comes with the collapse of the production and Beyoncé’s vocals is just heavenly. then to re-enter with a elegant brag of wealth and status in her classic sing-rap style. “Queen of Rap” indeed!
Track 6 — “Rather D*e Young”
another “soaring-to-the-heavens” moment of love and infatuation from Beyoncé on this gem. it’s inclusion on the RWT was just more proof of this album perhaps being Beyoncé’s favorite in her entire catalog.
💿 — “Scared of Lonely”
Beyoncé calls out to the unknown for any type of presence to be felt. there is a heartbreaking theory that surrounds this track, but i won’t detail that here. an explosive gem that was reduced to deluxe edition status!
9. “VIRGO’S GROOVE”
never fails to make me emotional, don’t we all long for a love this passionate and omnipresent? one of the most grand moments of her entire catalogue in my opinion.
3. “ALIEN SUPERSTAR”
the iconic interpolation of Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” coupled with the futuristic production explosion of strings and synths, evokes the feeling of levitation to the Gods themselves.
“U N I Q U E” indeed.
6. “BREAK MY SOUL”
this part speaks to me personally. forever grateful to be able to exist at the same time as this song and by extension, Beyoncé herself.
total worldwide album certifications:
Beyoncé - 47.5M (74M+ if you include DC)
Rih - 42M
times topping the IFPI:
Beyoncé - 1
Rih - 0
number one albums:
Beyoncé - 8/8 (10 career wise)
Rih - 2/8
albums w/a billion streams
Beyoncé - 8/7 (CC already has 500M+)
Rih - 6/8
8
#1
albums and no one remembers any of them because, no one listen to them afterward, they disappear from the lists in less than a year, only debut sales, embarrasing streams and 0 WORLDWIDE impact. 💀
5. “ENERGY (feat. BEAM)”
you know it, i know it, and the song is way better off with the infamous interpolation of Kelis’ “La La La La La” from “Milkshake”
7. “CHURCH GIRL”
for similar reasons to “BREAK MY SOUL”, this tiny moment is the actual thesis of the track and speaks to me personally. can you believe this album exists?
Track 5 — “No Angel”
one of Beyoncé’s more down to earth efforts. the fact that Caroline Polachek is one of the accompanying writers and even lended note as to how to approach the song? genius work from all parties involved!
fun fact: before the nielson soundscan method became the definitive way to track record sales, labels would count sales to shipments! isn’t it suspicious that after the method was introduced and became the standard mariah only had two more n1 albums?
12. “THIQUE”
the “Tinashe” part as some of the Hive would dub it. not sure if we have the same ability of hearing, but nonetheless, the imagination runs wild!
15. “PURE/HONEY”
the entire “HONEY” portion lives rent free in my head. shoutout to the very influential and iconic Moi Renee for all her contributions to the queer world and being apart of this song with other generational queer icons like Kevin Aviance and Kevin JZ Prodigy.
16. “SUMMER RENAISSANCE”
sampling Donna Summer’s classic “I Feel Love” completely rebooting it from the ground up and making it her own. this moment ascends to the heavens and reminds us just how much of a effortless vocal power house Beyoncé truly is.
13. “ALL UP IN YOUR MIND”
the climax of the song lives up to it’s title with Beyoncé rummaging all through out the production and the mind of the listener by the song’s end.
💿 — “Lay Up Under Me”
the spiritual predecessor to CUFF IT! once again, such an amazing gem released as an exclusive overseas, which is STILL no where to be found on streaming platforms. why does Beyoncé hate us so? maybe for 4’s 20th anniversary? 🥲
u know i remember when Beyoncé had placed the families of victims to police brutality in the Lemonade film and the conversation around that was her profiting off the death of innocent young black people.
Enjoy Renaissance for what it is, but tryna position it as a grand political gesture while she's continuously platforming loud & proud queerphobes, and a literal lynching victim only got a website memoriam.......please just bop to the music
i mean this in the best way possible, but crediting “Chromatica” with bringing house music to the forefront of today’s house zeitgeist comes off like a form of colonialism over the genre. House music is black music first and foremost.
y’all fussy over Adele, the queen of modern day adult contemporary, favorite Beyoncé album is IASF, which has the most amount of adult contemporary ballads in her entire catalog?
Track 9 — “Mine (feat. Drake)”
Beyoncé and Drake team up for this gem, marking their first collaboration. i can’t help but to notice just how each time seems to be a nod to each other. “Mine” is Beyoncé to Drake. “HEATED” being Drake to Beyoncé.
@lmaorelaxxx
as i just proved, he did not lol. besides doing the robot and backflips there is not a singular musical attribute that is superior to THEE BEYONCÉ. cry!
not to be messy, BUT…usher’s ENTIRE TWENTY song album failed to debut on global or US spotify chart and only received 4M streams in it’s first day.
b-but i was told that he is Beyoncé’s peer?
Track 1 — “Pray You Catch Me”
the beginning of the “Lemonade” process. the infidelity of Shawn Carter coming to the light, a bombshell that leads to the collapse of her entire world. vocalized perfectly here is just how heartbreaking the entire situation is.