“Renaissance” is here.
To drum up interest, the Beehive launched a rumor that the album had been “leaked.” Poured is more like it. This was a brilliant PR move. It brought attention to the album’s release and made Beyonce seem like an injured party. But that was some leak. No one saw a drip of it.
Now comes the album, which will go straight to number 1 tonight on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, etc. But what is “Renaissance” besides a collection of sampled songs reimagined by Beyonce’s team?
First of all, there’s already a controversy. Singer songwriter Kelis is complaining that Beyonce took a sample of one of her songs without clearing it. Beyonce’s song, “Energy” samples “Get Along With You” and Kelis is calling it “theft.” She isn’t listed as one of the producers, composers, or lyricists on the sampled song.
That will only be the beginning. You can’t be the Queen of Soul with stolen material. Kelis wrote on social media: “My mind is blown too because the level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all 3 parties involved is astounding. I heard about this the same way everyone else did. Nothing is ever as it seems, some of the people in this business have no soul or integrity and they have everyone fooled.” She later wrote: “it’s not a collab it’s theft.”
I’ve already told you that every track on “Renaissance” is built on obscure, older music that Beyonce’s team has reworked to make it just for her. The first single, “Break My Soul,” is based on two disco hits. “America Has a Problem” comes from a 1990 track. And so on.
The problem is that Beyonce no longer has outside advisors and takes advice from no one. “Renaissance” will not win her a Grammy this way. And she will only have herself to blame.
