The New Yorker Radio Hour - Beyoncé Takes the Stage

Episode Date: July 4, 2023

This summer, the most anticipated tour (in close contest with Taylor Swift) is Beyoncé’s tour for her seventh studio album, “Renaissance,” which came out in 2022. Her previous record “was about the turbulence of [her] marriage and was in some ways a monument to marriage as an institution,” The New Yorker’s music critic Carrie Battan tells David Remnick. “Renaissance”—a homage to club music and queer culture—“is about breaking free of all of those chains. It’s about going to the club, and quitting your job and dancing and experiencing the ultimate freedom.” Battan talks through her favorite tracks on the record. New Yorker Radio Hour listeners, we want to hear from you.  We have a few questions about the show and how you listen to it. The survey takes about twenty minutes, and your feedback will help us make our podcast better.  Take the survey here.

This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. Summer has its downsides, to be sure. Mosquitoes, sunburn, humidity, picnics, if you want to know my honest opinion. But there's also many saving graces, and the best is music. Summer is when the music festivals happen all across the country in any genre you can name. joining me to talk about the main event of the summer is one of the New Yorkers music critics, Carrie Batten. Now, there are two especially huge tours this summer. Taylor Swift has taken America, of course,

and the Renaissance tour with Beyonce that's already started in Europe and opens here soon. Carrie, what are you hearing about the Beyonce tour? The main piece of news, besides the tour being very extravagant and theatrical and ornate, was that she seemed to be working through an injury. The tour was much less physical.

She did not participate in a huge amount of the choreography. So that was a big change. She hasn't spoken on whether or not she actually is injured, but right now it is speculated that she's sort of like an elite athlete playing through a rolled ankle or whatever. Before we get to some of your favorite moments and aspects of the album, what is the album overall about? Very often, Beyonce has a theme.

running through an album or she'll be paying homage to a period or a kind of music. What is Renaissance about? Yeah, so Renaissance is sort of Beyonce throwing her voice in a way. We're used to thinking of her as, you know, she's in this relationship with Jay-Z and her last record was about her, you know, the turbulence of their marriage. And it was in some ways a monument to, you know, marriage as an institution. But this record is about sort of breaking free of all of those chains. It's about going to the club and quitting your job and dancing and just, you know,

kind of experiencing the ultimate freedom. And a lot of it draws from, you know, the history of club music and dance music. And in particular, a lot of LGBTQ influences throughout those scenes that she really studied closely. What are some of your favorite moments on the album? Yeah, I loved the first. early singles in particular break my soul. And like many others, I find Cuffett to be just a great song. But today I wanted to focus a bit more on some of the more under-discussed moments.

And one of those songs is called Cozy. Cozy is a song that is a little more pure house. than the rest of the album. And part of that is because Beyonce, when she decides to draw from various genres or styles or cultures or countries, she really goes deep and does her research. And so for Cozy, she recruited a legendary New York, Chicago, Berlin DJ named Honey Dijon to be one of the co-producers of the record.

And Honey Dijon is sort of a, you know, she's a trans woman. She's a house music purist who just has played, has played house for rooms around the world for two and a half decades, and she just knows her stuff. And so when Beyonce was setting out to make this record, Honey Dijon actually provided a list of references, a playlist for her. And then together, they worked very meticulously along with some other house producers to sort of shape and mold what the house sounds of the record were going to be. And cozy is one of those records. And I just like it for so many reasons. I love the, the beat and also just this idea that Beyonce is turning the idea of being cozy into something

like worth bragging about, which is, which is, you know, not something we're used to hearing in pop music. Right. And also, the lyrics are you're cozy or comfortable in your own skin. Yes, exactly. And what else do you love in on the album? So my favorite record from the album is actually called America Has a Problem. America.

America has a problem. And I think when the album first came out and people were looking at the track list, it was very easy to just assume that was going to be the political record on the album because of the title. But in fact, that was a bait-and-switch because that track is kind of the grittiest, grimyest,

club-yest track that really just has no politics in it whatsoever. It heavily samples a 90s rap song about cocaine. And then... Yeah, you look at the lyrics here. This is not the most... No. This is not a political anthem at all. No, it's certainly not.

Beyonce compares herself to Tony Montana. Like, it's not what you think it's going to be. I think this song has become a bit of a sleeper hit. It's being performed in the tour. And Beyonce recently decided to release a remix that features Kendrick Lamar. They have a long history of working together. And I think it's sort of him at his most fun. and I really enjoy it.

What else on the album is lifting you out of your chair. Yeah, so I think perhaps the thing that I love the most about this record is the way that it is sequenced and how it is mixed. And in particular the transitions in between the songs, it really brings you through eras and styles and moods, you know, as a very savvy DJ might. And so the transition that I'm interested in listening to right now is, and that I'm really enjoying, is between plastic off the couch and Virgo's groove. And those are, this is a period point in the album where everything is very kind of gentle and funky. It's a little more of the disco oldies side of the record. And it's just, it's very smooth and, and I really enjoy the seamless transition here.

I mean, the album is so seamless that it seems to do one bad thing, which is make the DJ's job irrelevant. You just put on the album and you play it all the way through for the better part of an hour. Absolutely. I would hate this if I was a DJ. Carrie Batten is a music critic for the New Yorker. Beyonce's Renaissance tour, the U.S. leg of it, opens in Philadelphia in about a week. To close out, June, we leave you with Beyonce's nod to the colors of the pride flag. a track called Cozy. I'm David Remnick, and that's our show for today.

Thanks for listening. See you next time. The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Our theme music was composed and performed by Merrill Garbes of Tune Arts, with additional music by Louis Mitchell. This episode was produced by Max Walton, Breda Green, Adam Howard, Calla Leia, David Krasnow, Jeffrey Masters, Louis Mitchell, and Gauphin and Putibuele,

with guidance from Emily Boutin and assistance from Harrison Keithline, Michael May, David Gable, and Alejandra Decker. The New Yorker Radio Hour is supported in part by the Cherina Endowment Fund.