2 hours ago, sillycilla said:

AHAP doesn’t seem to be popular on here but it’s slaying on twitter. Always trending 

It's one of the most popular tracks on both Twitter and Tik Tok lol. 

 

The whole album is trending, but I believe AHAP might be the real dark horse. 

 

1 hour ago, giRLbye. said:

speaking of the clean version of "Cuff It"...i just discovered some additional vocals on the clean version that aren't there on the original

 

there's an added run following "We gon roll up tonight" @ 3:20

The clean version is masterfully crafted indeed. Perhaps a hint for its allegedly future radio release? 

 

Cuff It screams Urban/UAC hit. It they want to push it, it will rise organically. 

3 hours ago, sillycilla said:

AHAP doesn’t seem to be popular on here but it’s slaying on twitter. Always trending 

That's good because it's really an amazing song. The writing is excellent, that metaphor is clever, the build up in the song is incredible and the chorus is magical,  it has the weirdness that so characterizes Bey but in a lighter, most accessible way. 

It's now my fave song along with Virgo's Groove. 

8 hours ago, Blumoon said:

I cant believer her team was gonna push Church Girl.  Its not even a good song, let alone a good follow up.  Beys taste level is questionable sometimes

Beyoncé’s taste and musical ear is exceptional. You're confusing two things. It's her ability to objectively pick a single that is not. 

She always goes for the weirdest song because she is intrinsically weird musically, the best song or the one she is most attached to, someone brought up B'Day and I completely agree : DV and RTA should have never been singles. 

Another example was the recent Chloe's debacle,  instead of picking  FTN or Cheat Back that are not very good but catchy and single material, she chose the most interesting song and the only one that is actually good musically speaking : Surprise. 

9 hours ago, kimberly said:

Playlisting is done by streaming services and their editorial teams. Unless there's a clear next single being pushed, they just pick whatever they think will stick, hence the Church Girl vs. Summer Renaissance vs. Cuff It vs. Alien Superstar situation on Spotify.

Kimberly, think about it. We've all listened to the album, do you really believe an objective party would have chosen Church Girl out of all the songs as the song that will attract more listeners (in countries like Japan or Australia)  or is representative of the album? 

My point was exactly what you said, there was a clear next single pushed by the label and it was CG. 

Edited August 21, 20224 yr by BnPac

Still waving the flag of optimism, but the wait for visuals is getting slightly annoying now. Not because of impatience (much), but I'm just mindful of her not missing the window of heat with particular songs (like AS and Cuff). 

 

While I've long argued in favor of her slightly hands off approach (she's earned it, preserves the mystery, and is a wise way of playing blind to any underperformance), I'm nervous she's about to set a new precedent with the whole hands-off launch. I KNOW she's coming with ish and we'll be fed nicely. But I'm moreso thinking about future releases.  

16 minutes ago, Pepo said:

It's one of the most popular tracks on both Twitter and Tik Tok lol. 

 

The whole album is trending, but I believe AHAP might be the real dark horse. 

 

The clean version is masterfully crafted indeed. Perhaps a hint for its allegedly future radio release? 

 

Cuff It screams Urban/UAC hit. It they want to push it, it will rise organically. 

The album has such crazy smash potential IF only they (Columbia + Parkwood + Bey) play their cards right (which they wont ).

 

AS could become a #1 song.

Cuff it a top5 song.

Heated a top10 song.

AHAP a top10 song.

SR a Top20 song with stability.

 

These all have the potential to really do things on the charts and give Renaissance insane longevity.

 

8 hours ago, Blumoon said:

AS, VG, Heated, AHAP…some just suffer from corny lyrics to me. 

I'm surprised you don't find Heated's outro corny. And all those songs are weird. There was no need for the "ugh"  in VG yet they elevate the song tenfold,  so does the speech in AS etc. 

8 hours ago, Blumoon said:

I honestly think Beys musical taste kinda ruins her music.  Like can yall imagine Or Energy w a more comprehensive lyric story?  Im That Girl with lyrics that make sense. 

We always have this conversation lol.  It saddens me so that you don't see or understand the brilliance of Bey's musicality. And I mean brilliance!

I can imagine those songs being neater but they wouldn't be the 10s that they are and when I clicked play that 29th Friday morning,  I wouldn't have gotten the chills when I listened to ITG. The song is transcendent. It goes one way then pulls another, the aggressiveness in the beat and her rap grows and grows and then she gives it a little replete with sweet vocals and a "neat"  melody then "ahh (she holds her breath)... bring the beat in, now I can breathe again" and weirdness goes back up because that weirdness is literally her music oxygen.

 

It takes a genius really,  a weird twisted musical mind to do what Bey has done with Church Girl and Heated. That outro is exceptional but more than that,  the fact that she yells synchronized part of the outro all the way through the song completely changes what could have been a boring song into a 10.

The way the "fan me off"  and "uncle Johnny"  lend perfectly with the time. Ugh!  

And could you imagine just how weird and free you must be to start yelling "eat it eat it eat it eat it hum yummy.... " "yadadaddadad boumboumtcha"  at the top of your lungs in the studio!? 

 

Now it's true,  she's less accessible than her peers, but I really think when the dust settle and the people who are over her being this "Queen" are either dead or moved on, her music will shine the most.

 

 

Edited August 21, 20224 yr by BnPac

My 2 cents on the whole musicality debate regarding Bey:

We can come for Beys missed opportunities all day and you guys know how much I love to drag her for that, but what we will NOT do is come for her musicality when she is, by FAR, the most exciting Pop star of our generation - musically, visually, performance-wise.

No one can do what she does, no one has her quality nor her longevity. U dont release back to back 90 projects (Lemonade - Homecoming - Renaissance) if ur musicality wasnt on point.

 

End of that stupid convo.

Still waving the flag of optimism, but the wait for visuals is getting slightly annoying now. Not because of impatience (much), but I'm just mindful of her not missing the window of heat with particular songs (like AS and Cuff). 

 

While I've long argued in favor of her slightly hands off approach (she's earned it, preserves the mystery, and is a wise way of playing blind to any underperformance), I'm nervous she's about to set a new precedent with the whole hands-off launch. I KNOW she's coming with ish and we'll be fed nicely. But I'm moreso thinking about future releases.  

Also Bey has always been weird. Yesterday I was at this party and they played a lot of DC hits and I sat there as women in some French suburb were yelling Independant Women at the top of their lungs just appreciating how ******* weird that song is and wondering how it was such a huge hit. Soldier, SMN also came on and when Jumpin' Jumpin' played, I once again had the same thought. The song is weird as hell. 

I do think her weirdness was a bit more accessible than now though. Her music is darker now,  you can feel that in the second half of the album and ITG. Her weirdness in DC was lighter. I don't know if that makes sense lol. 

6 minutes ago, BnPac said:

Also Bey has always been weird. Yesterday I was at this party and they played a lot of DC hits and I sat there as women in some French suburb were yelling Independant Women at the top of their lungs just appreciating how ******* weird that song is and wondering how it was such a huge hit. Soldier, SMN also came on and when Jumpin' Jumpin' played, I once again had the same thought. The song is weird as hell. 

I do think her weirdness was a bit more accessible than now though. Her music is darker now,  you can feel that in the second half of the album and ITG. Her weirdness in DC was lighter. I don't know if that makes sense lol. 

Her weirdness also came out in her early solo material:

Ring the alarm, Get Me Bodied, Suga Mama, Freakum Dress, Check On It - Bday was full of Beys "weirdness", which made it feel so "Beyonce".

14 minutes ago, BnPac said:

My point was exactly what you said, there was a clear next single pushed by the label and it was CG. 

then why was Summer Renaissance the song they put on TTH, at #1, no less? and not all other countries had Church Girl on their playlists. if you go back in the thread you can see that 

 

Netherlands Spotify NMF

#1 CUFF IT

#20 PURE/HONEY 

N/A CHURCH GIRL

 

for example. not to mention playlist picks being different for Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music in the US. these playlists don't work the way stans think they do. labels don't get to "order" a song to be on any of the editorial playlists. if it is officially announced as a single, then obviously the editorial team will be more likely to playlist a song. however, in a case where there is no clear announcement, music video, or radio single picked, it is fully up to the editorial teams of different countries and streaming services to pick the song best fit for the playlist. now they can copy each other's homework, but they really are looking for songs that people won't want to skip and fit well into the playlists.

Single-wise, I only accept one development now: Alien Superstar gets anounced as the 2nd WW single alongside the release of the visuals for Renaissance. However out of all the visuals, only Alien Superstar gets put on Beys Youtube channel. Then I want its playlist reach to increase. And et voila, another Top 10 is born with the potential of going #1 once radio builds up.

 

Its so EASY @Parkwood + @Columbia + @Beyonce!

Edited August 21, 20224 yr by *-ChriZ-*

Yeah, one thing I’ll never do is come for Bey’s musical genius and her ear. 

 

Bey doesn’t have the executive producer credit there for display. You can tell she is the orchestrator and the puppet master behind the entire album, from beginning to end. Every single element of the album will have been mulled over by Bey and she’ll have experimented with loads of different sounds before she came to the final result. She is a surgeon in that studio. Her meticulousness and attention to detail is above and beyond what anyone else in the music industry is capable of right now. 

 

Don’t get me started on the production of this album. Every single album of hers has gotten better in production than the last. It’s how it should be but not how it always is. This album sounds ******* expensive and it makes for a very pleasurable listening experience to an extent I don’t think I’ve ever experienced with any album before. 

 

What makes Bey so exciting as an artist for me now is you genuinely don’t know what the hell she’s going to do from one song and album to the next. Act II could very well be far more experimental than Act I and I’m here for it. She is to music what Shakespeare is to literature We stan a musical genius, ladies and gentlemen. 

 

As for her marketing strategy skills, they are very much hit and miss. Sometimes she’ll have a stroke of genius in that regard, but I’ve yet to see her display consistency across an entire era as it relates to marketing her own music. For instance, the surprise release of ST was a stroke of genius, but the marketing for the rest of the era was pretty poor to say the least. 

Beyoncé is a musical genius. Her ear. Her vision. This whole idea that her lyrics cause one to cringe sounds like it’s coming from a Dianne Warren stan. I love every single lyric on the album. The only thing I find cringeworthy is the idea that Bey’s musical taste or lyricism hurts her music. The caucasity.

Edited August 21, 20224 yr by Space&Time

28 minutes ago, Space&Time said:

Beyoncé is a musical genius. Her ear. Her vision. This whole idea that her lyrics cause one to cringe sounds like it’s coming from a Dianne Warren stan. I love every single lyric on the album. The only thing I find cringeworthy is the idea that Bey’s musical taste or lyricism hurts her music. The caucasity.

You dont have to be white to criticize Bey.  This started w Church Girl criticism and I stand by that.  If youre a gospel fan then you know the Clark sisters are gospel royalty.  After hearing Bey cover them on Family Fued I expected more than “she might let you dive in ha water”…tf.  NO /AHAP voice

1 hour ago, BnPac said:

I'm surprised you don't find Heated's outro corny. And all those songs are weird. There was no need for the "ugh"  in VG yet they elevate the song tenfold,  so does the speech in AS etc. 

We always have this conversation lol.  It saddens me so that you don't see or understand the brilliance of Bey's musicality. And I mean brilliance!

I can imagine those songs being neater but they wouldn't be the 10s that they are and when I clicked play that 29th Friday morning,  I wouldn't have gotten the chills when I listened to ITG. The song is transcendent. It goes one way then pulls another, the aggressiveness in the beat and her rap grows and grows and then she gives it a little replete with sweet vocals and a "neat"  melody then "ahh (she holds her breath)... bring the beat in, now I can breathe again" and weirdness goes back up because that weirdness is literally her music oxygen.

 

It takes a genius really,  a weird twisted musical mind to do what Bey has done with Church Girl and Heated. That outro is exceptional but more than that,  the fact that she yells synchronized part of the outro all the way through the song completely changes what could have been a boring song into a 10.

The way the "fan me off"  and "uncle Johnny"  lend perfectly with the time. Ugh!  

And could you imagine just how weird and free you must be to start yelling "eat it eat it eat it eat it hum yummy.... " "yadadaddadad boumboumtcha"  at the top of your lungs in the studio!? 

 

Now it's true,  she's less accessible than her peers, but I really think when the dust settle and the people who are over her being this "Queen" are either dead or moved on, her music will shine the most.

 

 

The Heated outro is an example of it working.  It clicks.  It helps that its a ballroom chant and it builds up throughout the track, building the tension until the end. It doesn't always work.  I can be a fan and say that.  

 

Virgos Groove is a good example of good vocal production.  The placement of the ad libs works and adds to the song. 

1 hour ago, kimberly said:

then why was Summer Renaissance the song they put on TTH, at #1, no less? and not all other countries had Church Girl on their playlists. if you go back in the thread you can see that 

 

Netherlands Spotify NMF

#1 CUFF IT

#20 PURE/HONEY 

N/A CHURCH GIRL

 

for example. not to mention playlist picks being different for Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music in the US. these playlists don't work the way stans think they do. labels don't get to "order" a song to be on any of the editorial playlists. if it is officially announced as a single, then obviously the editorial team will be more likely to playlist a song. however, in a case where there is no clear announcement, music video, or radio single picked, it is fully up to the editorial teams of different countries and streaming services to pick the song best fit for the playlist. now they can copy each other's homework, but they really are looking for songs that people won't want to skip and fit well into the playlists.

Bey likes to be an album's artist. It wouldn't have been the same exact songs all the time. And I do not disagree that editorial come with those list but Church Girl was just too consistent of a pick to be random and like I said it had way more playlisting across the board than the three next put together. That can not be casual, for a song as inaccesible as CG. If it were AS or CI, or even SR I could believe it. 

No Japanese or Philipino guy would listen to Renaissance and put Church Girl as the #1 song on a playlist thinking : "OK,  this song definitely won't be skipped". No way. 

You are certainly right about the decision being taken by the editorial of the playlists but it can not be the only factor, all the time. I don't see why an artist like B,  who is a control freak, would let the decision of how her music should be presented its first time and pushed completely out of her hands. 

I also don't think Spotify is the one who replaced SR by Cuff It and later, deleted CI from TTH and replaced it with AS. It seems too deliberate. 

We also saw how the push for Summer Renaissance increased out of sudden and it coincided with radio release tweets. 

 

Also it was theorized in the album thread that in Germany and Netherlands, SR was more pushed because of Donna Summer's connection to both countries. 

But anyway, you might be completely right. I just felt - and very strongly -  that they were pushing CG as the next single. 

 

Edited August 21, 20224 yr by BnPac

2 minutes ago, Blumoon said:

I can be a fan and say that.  

I completely agree, I never said you couldn't. I thought I approached your comment with much respect to your opinion but maybe it didn't come across as such. That wasn't the intention because that is something I actually really hate. I think it is great that the Hive is diverse and we have different likes and opinions and the base should be a place to share them. 

1 minute ago, BnPac said:

I completely agree, I never said you couldn't. I thought I approached your comment with much respect to your opinion but maybe it didn't come across as such. That wasn't the intention because that is something I actually really hate. I think it is great that the Hive is diverse and we have different likes and opinions and the base should be a place to share them. 

I know, you were really respectful. I appreciate that. I was more responding to other comments in that one.

 

Ive been a Bey fan since TWOTW.  Shes my favorite singer and I dont mind admitting when she adds things I don't like.  Like you said, throughout her career Bey adds her “weirdness” to tracks.  I say she adds her stank to it, to use a colloquial term.  On songs like Black Parade, its chefs kiss.  All the elements come together, the ad libs, the intensity of the vocals, the story.  Music isn't music without lyrics. If the story doesn't line up, it can take you out of the song.

 

Move is a good example. All the moving pieces work; Bey singing Grace Jones like Mike Jones (who?), her aggressive delivery at the beginning blending into a soft touch when the beat switches.  Even her singing “we come through slangin them bundles” is a kiii, a yessss moment.  It fits.  
 

Im never going to bother with a ranking for Rennée. 
 

All tracks are 10000000000000000000/10
 

i just know what my fave song of the week / day is. 
 

and what I consider the overall greatest track. 

3 minutes ago, Blumoon said:

Move is a good example. All the moving pieces work; Bey singing Grace Jones like Mike Jones (who?), her aggressive delivery at the beginning blending into a soft touch when the beat switches.  Even her singing “we come through slangin them bundles” is a kiii, a yessss moment.  It fits.  

Funny, it took me a couple listens to digest and get into Move. I think it only clicked the day after. I remember talking to @Bey'Knightabout it. It was completely instant for him as well. I find that sooo interesting how not only our instant tracks and favorite tracks are so different in the Hive.

Even for non stans, there are rarely any two rankings alike in the album's thread with the exception of AS,  which seems to make it in a lot of rankings. 

 

Cuff It is also another favorite but it's my bottom track by far, it just doesn't have any Bey's extra weirdness for me, it's pleasant but nothing that transcends me and somehow it's a huge favorite.

I sometimes even resist the urge to skip it but I stick around for the transition.

 

10 minutes ago, BnPac said:

Funny, it took me a couple listens to digest and get into Move. I think it only clicked the day after. I remember talking to @Bey'Knightabout it. It was completely instant for him as well. I find that sooo interesting how not only our instant tracks and favorite tracks are so different in the Hive.

Even for non stans, there are rarely any two rankings alike in the album's thread with the exception of AS,  which seems to make it in a lot of rankings. 

 

Cuff It is also another favorite but it's my bottom track by far, it just doesn't have any Bey's extra weirdness for me, it's pleasant but nothing that transcends me and somehow it's a huge favorite.

I sometimes even resist the urge to skip it but I stick around for the transition.

 

I wouldnt consider Cuff It a fav either, its just safe and a nice, inoffensive jam that could do really well on radio.

The GP can sing along to her songs again  

 

 

 

22 minutes ago, *-ChriZ-* said:

I wouldnt consider Cuff It a fav either, its just safe and a nice, inoffensive jam that could do really well on radio.

Yeah I keep waiting for it to click and nothing. First day I couldn't click with 3 songs : CI,  Move and SR. Then the day after Move did and after that SR clicked hard, I even said it would do well as a potential 3rd single but it's been 3 weeks and CI just doesn't click. Actually I think it clicked but it's just not weird or daring or particularly interesting. I don't favor it. 

20 minutes ago, Destiny said:

The GP can sing along to her songs again  

 

 

 

 I can't wait for the tour.

BMS might also be a big moment. 

I like that she's waiting before the tour, that way the audience will be singing the songs with her. It's going to be beautiful. 

Edited August 21, 20224 yr by BnPac

2 hours ago, BnPac said:

Also Bey has always been weird. Yesterday I was at this party and they played a lot of DC hits and I sat there as women in some French suburb were yelling Independant Women at the top of their lungs just appreciating how ******* weird that song is and wondering how it was such a huge hit. Soldier, SMN also came on and when Jumpin' Jumpin' played, I once again had the same thought. The song is weird as hell. 

I do think her weirdness was a bit more accessible than now though. Her music is darker now,  you can feel that in the second half of the album and ITG. Her weirdness in DC was lighter. I don't know if that makes sense lol. 

I say this ALL THE TIME! Her songs has always been unconventional!

 

independent Women, Survivor, Bootylicous, Crazy In Love, Soldier, Dejavu, Ring The Alarm, Get and Bodied, Single Ladies - she has never been conventional in her records.

13 hours ago, Bey Admired said:

They can try to pretend that the release of the visuals has been some well thought out marketing genius and that every minute detail has been planned out months in advance. 

 

But it’s very clear to anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together that the visuals weren’t ready, that everything released so far has been done on a whim (the visualisers for example), that there is no coordinated and strategic brilliance at play, and that they have made a complete mess of what could have been a truly legendary campaign. 

While I don't agree with all aspects of this, I do think you're onto something. 

 

As iconic as the album itself is, I really feel like there is some savvy Olivia Pope-ing going on. Some retroactive "oh, we always intended for xyz to be the case" when that's not quite the case.

 

There is nothing inherently "groundbreaking" about not dropping videos (or, at the very least, "a" video) with the album. Lots of artists have done this before. Sure, Bey being a visual artist makes it "unexpected" but not in any kind of marketable or beneficial way to the campaign at large. It really gave a bit a scramble to make a minus a plus. 

 

Looking at all the variables, I simply feel like it's a case of missed deadlines and realizing at some point after announcing the album that they simply weren't going to meet a July 29th release window with the visuals. 

 

That said, where I differ from the OP is that I don't think any of the above is anything the GP even has a clue about. The music has been well received, hit #1 on the single and album charts, is dominating social media, and is bursting with options for follow-up hits. It's essentially all worked out. So, definitely not on the doom and gloom train. It's more so just a case of me feeling like they haven't pulled the wool over my eyes.