Moving past the personal and flawless execution of her acclaimed, poptimism peak one-two punch of 2013′s Beyoncé and 2016′s Lemonade, RENAISSANCE moves fully into art, quite literally at that. A celebration of Black dance music spanning across the last several decades that have permeated the culture at large, Queen Bey’s seventh studio album has made that house (and club, and disco scene) her own dance floor with an album that flows more like a mixtape meant to elicit movement, empowerment, escapism, and sex at their highest potential potency.

Though the reference points are there right down to their samples and interpolations, they gesticulate to the bounce and twerk of Beyoncé’s own rhythm where you can genuinely say she’s reinvented their energy. It demands pleasure-seeking, because of course in this kind of economy, the best way to combat a recession is to fuck the pain away, and while most multi-millionaires and billionaires are good for nothing, at least Beyoncé gives us that.

Highlights: “COZY”, “CUFF IT”, “BREAK MY SOUL”

Beyoncé’s RENAISSANCE is available now on Parkwood Entertainment / Columbia Records.

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