Hello! This account is new but I've been an avid reader of this forum since pre-Lemonade days. Very excited to be here

 

 

My most played Bey songs of all time are God Your Way Back and C[hrist]zy (and I was on the Cozy train before the tour, thank you very much). 

 

I have a lot of thoughts about how this era isn't going, excited to dive in soon x

 

Not to sound biased or anything but Beyonce's verse is my favorite and the best part of the song.

 

Just saying.

 

 

Clown makeup applied:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C7R-eSzpH2Z/

 

But forreal, can Bey just throw us something? Got the memo loud and clear that conventional promo ain't her thing. But a viral performance on Netflix (over YT)...in the midst of Miley's promo block is the kind of extra/odd/backwards-but-it-works promo that almost feels on-brand for Bey at this point. 

 

Because, beyond that, what is Miley even promoting atm beyond her collabs?

 

Knowing our luck she'll perform Flowers, the Pharrell collab, and the new one with Calvin, tease a new album, say how amazing it was working with Bey and that will be it. 

 

 

that third pic is new

Mess, CC predicted to leave the top 10 on the BB200 this next week

 

It'll be her shortest run in the top 10 if it doesn't return for a studio album

15 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said:

Mess, CC predicted to leave the top 10 on the BB200 this next week

 

It'll be her shortest run in the top 10 if it doesn't return for a studio album

Cécred, thats all that matters now

 

25 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said:

Mess, CC predicted to leave the top 10 on the BB200 this next week

 

It'll be her shortest run in the top 10 if it doesn't return for a studio 

Beyoncé is at the round table of Parkwood board room cheering with a gleeful Yvette and a confused new employee not understanding why everyone is clapping about this.

38 minutes ago, Kristie Kuwa said:

Cécred, thats all that matters now

 

Well if Cécred becomes a financial success for her, she will do even less. Touring can also be affected. I dont blame Bey for leaving the music industry behind because it's become even more of a trap for her, full of people wanting to humble her secretely. I mean you can see it all over, it's not subtle. However for the fans she must find a way to give them a minimum of entertainment because they still invest heavily in her. There just must be a better balance, however in the middle of this heavy palestina vs Isreal campaign, the election coming, i dont blame for sitting this one out. Things will continue to be tense and weird for the rest of the year. If she tours this fall and winter, i hope she does it in Europe and Asia, ang ignore the US for a while. I kinda dont like how many have ignored this album suddenly. I kinda want to protect her from humiliation here and it's best she stays away for a while.

How has CC aged for y'all?

 

 

7 hours ago, Cbreezy said:

Oh Lemonade...lol

 

I all at once live for how revered it is and what it "means" to her discography and career at large.

 

...All the while I don't particularly care for it in the grand scheme of her discography. It's absolutely the album I revisit least. 

 

Will say this til the wheels fall off: I will forever marvel at the irony that the "least" sounding Beyonce album is the album critically deemed her "best". Something about that is so off to me. I don't like the wider semantics of that fact either. Both in regards of what came before it and what came after it.

 

IMO, people (especially critics) struggle to tease apart the **music** on Lemonade from the wider era (the social discourse, the political climate, the movie, the tour, etc).

 

To many, IMO, it's all blended into one. So, with the "era" being monumental, so too (apparently) is the music at its center. And that's the part I fundamentally disagree with. Almost all of the music on Lemonade was missing from the RWT and not one (us included) batted an eyelid...which I think says everything that needs to be said about the true engagement with the music on the album (compared to the era at large). 

 

Make no mistake, though. I'm glad to see Bey rank so highly on lists like this. Even if only for the industry recognition and as a mass talking point. It speaks to how respected she is. 

Formation though.

 

Formation as a song alone was a massive moment and one of her best songs and is unequivocally a Beyoncé song. i think formation alone is what catapults it ahead of most of her albums. the world stopped when that song dropped even though she kept it from being bought. super bowl, music video, police boycott. she was in the news for months. and it was the only lemon song kept for RWT.

 

and that was before unveiling this SUPER personal story that was the album. she had never been that candid in her music prior to lemonade. (we got some glimpses with Jealous and songs like Ring the Alarm, but this is a culmination)

 

i do hear what you're saying as the era and visuals overshadow the album itself. but songs like dont hurt yourself and daddy lessons are some of her best genre work, which is, like i said above, something she had been building up to for ages. 

Edited May 22, 20242 yr by yonsé

1 hour ago, Joaco95 said:

 

 

that third pic is new

nah, I've definitely seen it before

11 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said:

How has CC aged for y'all?

i listened to it yesterday for the first time in a couple weeks.

 

its still very good. i found myself skipping tracks though (Texas, the smoke hour interludes, ii most wanted) so its not a no-skips album, even if the skips are still good songs. i think it's just a bit too long.

 

im not complaining though, since she has never given us this much music ever.

Edited May 22, 20242 yr by yonsé

15 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said:

How has CC aged for y'all?

 

 

 

like that

3 hours ago, alien superstore said:

Hello! This account is new but I've been an avid reader of this forum since pre-Lemonade days. Very excited to be here

 

 

My most played Bey songs of all time are God Your Way Back and C[hrist]zy (and I was on the Cozy train before the tour, thank you very much). 

 

I have a lot of thoughts about how this era isn't going, excited to dive in soon x

welcome!

We know Bey and Parkwood are definitely up to something. She has been quite quiet for a while now. She was busy with the tour until October and focused a lot of time editing and directing the Renaissance Tour Film up until December (something we can be sure about given the confusion when it was first uploaded to cinema sites--remember the varied runtimes, the Odeon website saying Nadia Lee Cohen was directing, etc etc). Then she was working on the Cowboy Carter first week rollout, which we know had a lot of up-to-the-deadline changes thanks to the botched BEYINCE vinyl's disparity with the official streaming version of the record. Since then, she's spent time in Japan for...some reason (we still don't actually know why she was there, and we all know it wasn't simply so she could charitably sign some vinyls there), and we've seen a bunch of Cowboy Carter visuals in the form of the lyric videos which confirm they're a) tied to the Renaissance film (check the Amen video for the literal backdrop of the ITG Teaser) and has confirmation from Nadia Lee Cohen that they're "coming soon". 

 

Obviously we all want stuff sooner and quicker, but if Bey changed the title and concept for Cowboy at the last minute, it means her visuals are also out of date. I don't want a visual album that includes a video for Blackbiird that doesn't star the featured girls, and I don't want a visual project anytime soon that includes Levii's Jeans but excludes God YA. 

 

It's very obvious that this entire trilogy has not gone according to plan behind the scenes, given the lack of Rennie visuals, the ITG Teaser leading to nothing, the knee injury and the last minute u-turn of a Cuff It Grammy Performance (which an insider on the Pop Pantheon podcast alluded to). That being said, I am quite frustrated at how this era is panning out. She has claimed it's her best music (and I do believe American Requiiem, Protector, Texas, Ya Ya, 16 and Tyrant are all career highlights), but she isn't pushing it. Even her current single II Most Wanted has had...zero push beyond a cover art reveal that would look more at home on Microsoft Paint than on streaming services. 

 

It's confusing, but we know there's more to come. My suspicion is that she's either gearing up for a residency or a tour of the continents she didn't get to visit with the Renaissance project (Asia, South America, and Oceania), and letting herself vibe off the fumes of the success of Texas Hold Em (which, like it or not, was an Irreplaceable level hit in terms of cultural saturation). 

 

I do wonder if this is all part of her plan to nab AOTY. Cowboy Carter came out quite early in the eligibility period. Releasing an insane visual project for the album and/or performing it on tour during the winter months would give the album a significant second wind come Grammy season. And before you claim she doesn't care about the Grammy's...she obviously does. You might not like it, but she turns up every year and gratefully accepts each gold trophy they continue to give her. 

 

Regardless, I see Billie winning AOTY (an easy way to not reward Bey, while also not continuing to fawn over Taylor) and Bey winning SOTY for Texas, which wouldn't be a horrid outcome I guess :/ 

 

Anyway, sorry this was long, I'm new so thought I'd dive right in

Edited May 22, 20242 yr by alien superstore
typo

27 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said:

How has CC aged for y'all?

 

 

I was cooking breakfast at the stove the other morning and played the whole album through on my kitchen radio. It made me realise that Cowboy Carter is perfect alongside some scrambled eggs in the morning (especially that stunning first half and II Hands II Heaven), while Rennie is perfect for the gym and the club. Most of us are young gays or girls who are still out there partying, but I think with age we'll appreciate CC more.

1 hour ago, alien superstore said:

Anyway, sorry this was long, I'm new so thought I'd dive right in

Oh and also... Echoville is obviously still on the table. Whatever that ends up being. 

 

She's trademarked Echoville just a few months ago under the following categories;

• "Glasses; sunglasses; cases for sunglasses; cases for mobile phones" (sounds like Website Merch)
• "Clocks; Watches; Jewelry; Keychains; Lapel pins and ornamental pin" (Keychains and Pins are typical Bey Merch)
• "Photographs; Stationery; Stickers; Posters; Event programs; Notepads; Blank journals; Collectible trading cards; Collectible printed trading cards; Comic books; Pen and pencil cases" (Posters are typical Bey Merch)
• "Bags, namely, tote bags, beach bags, handbags, diaper bags, baby carriers worn on the body, pouch baby carriers, luggage; small leather goods, namely, leather cases, leather bags and wallets, leather purses, leather billfolds, leather key chains, leather key" (again, Tote bags and keychains are obvious merch)
• "Household and kitchen containers; lunch boxes; wash bags; fitted vanity cases; food storage containers; drinks containers; plastic drinks containers (empty); stainless steel drinks containers (empty); sports bottles (empty); hydration packs comprising a fluid reservoir and a delivery tube" (I could see her sending out steel water bottles in PR packages/selling them on her site for Echoville once the project has launched)
• "Clothing; Headwear; Footwear" (Hats are obvious merch)
• "Bedding, namely, bed spreads, bed sheets, bed throws, bed linen, bed blankets; linens, namely, table linens, kitchen linens, household linens, bath linens; towels; textile wall hangings; blankets, namely, blanket throws, children's blankets, lap blankets, fleece blankets, blankets for household pets, blankets for outdoor use; comforters; pillow cases; duvets" (we have already seen her release blankets as part of the Renaissance merch collection)
• "Stuffed and plush toys; Collectible toys; Toy action figures and toy action figure accessories; Playing cards; Action Figures; Board games; Water toys; Radio-controlled toy vehicles and drone toys; Party games; Trading cards for games" (Branded playing cards for Echoville would make sense if Texas Hold Em--a song that riffs on Poker--is included in this visual project).

All being said, she's very obviously cooking something up.

 

Echoville was last officially referenced by Parkwood with the Cecred haircare tiktok, and previously before that on the tour in the visuals.

 

Consider the connection between Renaissance's 'Mind Control' KNTY News tour segment (playing on FOX News' aesthetic and ability to brainwash people into their echochambers) and Cowboy Carter's KNTRY Radio Texas with it's 10,000 watts of healing power (and the CGI radio waves that shoot out of the radio station during the Texas lyric video). It seems clear to me that Act III's visuals might focus more on the grungey newspaper aesthetic (the Delresto album art is clearly a still from the Echoville visual project imho, and the allusion to Betty Black confirms to me its placement in Act III), meaning ACT I is TV, ACT II is Radio and ACT III is the printed press. Put it all together and you have a visual project, Echoville, which considers the way in which the media has shaped our understanding of genre, and of the way the media has erased the Black roots of modern popular genres. 

1 hour ago, alien superstore said:

We know Bey and Parkwood are definitely up to something. She has been quite quiet for a while now. She was busy with the tour until October and focused a lot of time editing and directing the Renaissance Tour Film up until December (something we can be sure about given the confusion when it was first uploaded to cinema sites--remember the varied runtimes, the Odeon website saying Nadia Lee Cohen was directing, etc etc). Then she was working on the Cowboy Carter first week rollout, which we know had a lot of up-to-the-deadline changes thanks to the botched BEYINCE vinyl's disparity with the official streaming version of the record. Since then, she's spent time in Japan for...some reason (we still don't actually know why she was there, and we all know it wasn't simply so she could charitably sign some vinyls there), and we've seen a bunch of Cowboy Carter visuals in the form of the lyric videos which confirm they're a) tied to the Renaissance film (check the Amen video for the literal backdrop of the ITG Teaser) and has confirmation from Nadia Lee Cohen that they're "coming soon". 

 

Obviously we all want stuff sooner and quicker, but if Bey changed the title and concept for Cowboy at the last minute, it means her visuals are also out of date. I don't want a visual album that includes a video for Blackbiird that doesn't star the featured girls, and I don't want a visual project anytime soon that includes Levii's Jeans but excludes God YA. 

 

It's very obvious that this entire trilogy has not gone according to plan behind the scenes, given the lack of Rennie visuals, the ITG Teaser leading to nothing, the knee injury and the last minute u-turn of a Cuff It Grammy Performance (which an insider on the Pop Pantheon podcast alluded to). That being said, I am quite frustrated at how this era is panning out. She has claimed it's her best music (and I do believe American Requiiem, Protector, Texas, Ya Ya, 16 and Tyrant are all career highlights), but she isn't pushing it. Even her current single II Most Wanted has had...zero push beyond a cover art reveal that would look more at home on Microsoft Paint than on streaming services. 

 

It's confusing, but we know there's more to come. My suspicion is that she's either gearing up for a residency or a tour of the continents she didn't get to visit with the Renaissance project (Asia, South America, and Oceania), and letting herself vibe off the fumes of the success of Texas Hold Em (which, like it or not, was an Irreplaceable level hit in terms of cultural saturation). 

 

I do wonder if this is all part of her plan to nab AOTY. Cowboy Carter came out quite early in the eligibility period. Releasing an insane visual project for the album and/or performing it on tour during the winter months would give the album a significant second wind come Grammy season. And before you claim she doesn't care about the Grammy's...she obviously does. You might not like it, but she turns up every year and gratefully accepts each gold trophy they continue to give her. 

 

Regardless, I see Billie winning AOTY (an easy way to not reward Bey, while also not continuing to fawn over Taylor) and Bey winning SOTY for Texas, which wouldn't be a horrid outcome I guess :/ 

 

Anyway, sorry this was long, I'm new so thought I'd dive right in

From one essay-writing girl to another lol, I appreciate your insights and optimism. 

 

I'm 100% with you on the fact that the silence is indicative of... something. 

 

I'll problematically take it a step further and say Bey slimming down come album release window is characteristic of readying a live something. It wasn't for IG pics and a quick lil appearance at iHeart. 

 

She is for sure miscalculating how to keep people invested, but I just don't buy that she's sitting idle. 

 

We've been "here" before post Rennie release and came to find out she was prepping the tour. I can't "un-remember" that just cus I'm annoyed with the silence/

More clown makeup applied!
 

 

What everyone's least favorite song(s) from Cowboy Giselle Knowles?

 

 

something will happen on page 4444 i guess 

 

12 minutes ago, Chris said:

What everyone's least favorite song(s) from Cowboy Giselle Knowles?

 

 

MACARONII will always be at the bottom, It's completely unnecessary. Levi's Jeans is another that could've been kept. Her parts are cute but Post sound whiny and annoying. Desert Eagle is cute but also not needed. And controversially, Tyrant is overrated and not in my top 10 

@PrettyHurtsI got a bone to pick with you. 

 

 

 

48 minutes ago, Cbreezy said:

More clown makeup applied!
 

 

You think she's headlining?

42 minutes ago, Chris said:

What everyone's least favorite song(s) from Cowboy Giselle Knowles?

 

 

My Rose, Jolene, Spaghetti, Flamenco, the <1 minute interludes, Desert Eagle.

 

So far, I've been able to make my perfect 16 track album playlist by removing those tracks.

 

Tyrant is also on the borderline for me, but I'm trying to be open minded.