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Pitchfork: "thank you Beyoncé"


taemin

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The phrase “dancefloor liberation” has been overused to the point of becoming a trope, but its meaning is rooted in the queer Black and brown clubs in the 1970s and ’80s, spaces that were politicized by their very existence. As the New Jersey house trio Aly-Us put it in 1992, “Why don’t you follow me to a place where we can be free.” Thirty years later, that track—“Follow Me”—retains its status as a New York summer block party classic, its piano chords and plaintive vocals evoking camaraderie and spiritual exaltation.

So after more than two years of pandemic-related and politically terrifying **** circumstances, some pop stars are orchestrating a new dancefloor summer. Drake’s surprise album Honestly, Nevermind hits notes of Baltimore club and amapiano-inspired house; Charli XCX centered Crash’s dance-pop somewhere between Danceteria joints and the Tumblr matrix where she came up. But Beyoncé is a singular pop music bellwether, and “Break My Soul,” the first single from her seventh album, Renaissance, seems to hint at what’s coming, especially when taken with her cover shoot for British Vogue’s June 2022 issue, which could have been excerpted from a Rizzoli tome of photographs from Studio 54, if not for the lighting and sobriety.

”Break My Soul” is Beyoncé as an SSRI, her attempt to assuage widespread depression and crushing stress, while acknowledging the predicament in which many of her non-zillionaire listeners find themselves. She opens, rather tenderly, “I just fell in love and I just quit my job/I’m gonna find new drive, damn they work me so damn hard.” Relatable: In the first verse alone, she encapsulates the Great Resignation, the Great Unionization, and quarantine insomnia. The determined chorus—“You won’t break my soul/And I’m tellin’ everybody”—is framed so that listeners can fill it with whatever we need in the moment. NOLA bounce icon Big Freedia is sampled for the intro and verse, which grounds the song in its Black queer tradition (and also provides the very good line, “Release the trade, release the stress”). She tough-loves us out of our pandemic hovels, physical and mental, rapping, “You said you outside but you ain’t that outside” and responsibly seems to endorse continued masking, thank you Beyoncé.

In the ’80s and ’90s, U.S. vocal house music grew out of and flourished alongside the AIDS epidemic. In the absence of a national memorial for those lost to COVID-19, celebrating life with this exact oeuvre is both haunting and comes with a sense of deliverance déjà vu. “Break My Soul,” co-produced by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, is a palimpsest, its evocations and sounds layered deep in the sense memories of club heads. There is the synth organ sound reminiscent of Robin S.’ “Show Me Love,” arguably the standard-bearer of ’90s pop house (and which Charli XCX also sampled on “Used to Know Me”), but also a lyrical callback to Black Box (“Everybody Everybody”), the spiritual frisson of Ultra Naté’s “Free,” and the sensual intent of Crystal Waters’ “100% Pure Love.” Most of all, though, it positions Beyoncé as a diva entering her Whitney Greatest Hits era: Having conquered virtually every other genre, it’s high time for body music.

 

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/beyonce-break-my-soul/

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For what? Releasing a bad song? The way they keep licking her ass even when she releases bad music while they think they are cool when constantly dragging artists like Ed Sheeran :rip: This publication :rip: 

Edited by Squall
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1 minute ago, Squall said:

For what? Releasing a bad song? The way they keep licking even when she releases bad music while they think they are cool when constantly dragging artists like Ed Sheeran :rip: This publication :rip: 

FUME

 

beyonce-laughing.gif

 

And they're not the only publication to drag Ed's terrible music

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no BNT therefore incoming PAN (6.7) of 2022

very interested to see the mental gymnastics RE: the 3.5 they’re about to grant Drake’s new album and renaissance ?

Edited by Kingfisher
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Oop more acclaim for Queen it's a mild day

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7 minutes ago, Squall said:

For what? Releasing a bad song? The way they keep licking her ass even when she releases bad music while they think they are cool when constantly dragging artists like Ed Sheeran :rip: This publication :rip: 

As if Pitchfork is the only one who dragged Ed :celestial5:

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8 minutes ago, Squall said:

For what? Releasing a bad song? The way they keep licking her ass even when she releases bad music while they think they are cool when constantly dragging artists like Ed Sheeran :rip: This publication :rip: 

SHE is upset!! :gaycat6:

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1 minute ago, magazine said:

said no one ever

 

skIn72K.gif

Said all of the memes on IG/FB/Twitter currently 

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13 minutes ago, Squall said:

For what? Releasing a bad song? The way they keep licking her ass even when she releases bad music while they think they are cool when constantly dragging artists like Ed Sheeran :rip: This publication :rip: 

:clap3:The fact they overanalyzed the lyrics when in fact it is not that deep and just a trashy songwriting :bibliahh:

Edited by Donquizote
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1 minute ago, magazine said:

said no one ever

 

skIn72K.gif

Honey with that AVI and flops you stan, you have no LUXUARY to come for royalty.

 

beyonce-laughing.gif

 

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Sept said:

As if Pitchfork is the only one who dragged Ed :celestial5:

Pitchfork's review is the only red review for Equals though?

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16 minutes ago, Squall said:

For what? Releasing a bad song? The way they keep licking her ass even when she releases bad music while they think they are cool when constantly dragging artists like Ed Sheeran :rip: This publication :rip: 

 

COPE

 

thanks BEYONCÉ for saving music :clap3:

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8 minutes ago, Brikenbur said:

SHE is upset!! :gaycat6:

I am a man, quite funny you'd write your pronouns on your profile while using feminine pronouns to name people on ATRL :rip: 

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The people who get it get it 

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Julienne needs to take a step outside her block. The devotions thesis and highest heavenly praises for an nice, okay song. It's comparable to liturgy at this point.

 

  • Exhibit A: "Beyoncé as an SSRI :clown:, her attempt to assuage widespread depression and crushing stress"

 

  • Exhibit B: "In the first verse alone, she encapsulates the Great Resignation, the Great Unionization, and quarantine insomnia" UMMM....

 

  • Exhibit C: " In the absence of a national memorial for those lost to COVID-19, celebrating life with this exact oeuvre is both haunting and comes with a sense of deliverance déjà vu. [...] is a palimpsest, its evocations and sounds layered deep in the sense memories of club heads." :rip:

 

  • Exhibit D: "it positions Beyoncé as a diva entering her Whitney Greatest Hits era" :deadbanana2:

 

This is not fumes. This is calling out grandiose delusions. 

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4 minutes ago, sugarysunflower said:

Julienne needs to take a step outside her block. The devotions thesis and highest heavenly praises for an nice, okay song. It's comparable to liturgy at this point.

 

  • Exhibit A: "Beyoncé as an SSRI :clown:, her attempt to assuage widespread depression and crushing stress"

 

  • Exhibit B: "In the first verse alone, she encapsulates the Great Resignation, the Great Unionization, and quarantine insomnia" UMMM....

 

  • Exhibit C: " In the absence of a national memorial for those lost to COVID-19, celebrating life with this exact oeuvre is both haunting and comes with a sense of deliverance déjà vu. [...] is a palimpsest, its evocations and sounds layered deep in the sense memories of club heads." :rip:

 

  • Exhibit D: "it positions Beyoncé as a diva entering her Whitney Greatest Hits era" :deadbanana2:

 

This is not fumes. This is calling out grandiose delusions. 

:deadbanana4:

The ass kissing that the media gives to this woman is insane 

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it sounds like a Rupaul soundtrack

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41 minutes ago, Squall said:

For what? Releasing a bad song? The way they keep licking her ass even when she releases bad music while they think they are cool when constantly dragging artists like Ed Sheeran :rip: This publication :rip: 

 

This is rich coming from a TAYLOR SWIFT stan :bibliahh:

 

-----

 

Thank you Beyonce indeed, not everybody has the vocals, flavor or the range to do house music and its roots with black queer culture :clap3:

 

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11 minutes ago, sugarysunflower said:

Julienne needs to take a step outside her block. The devotions thesis and highest heavenly praises for an nice, okay song. It's comparable to liturgy at this point.

 

  • Exhibit A: "Beyoncé as an SSRI :clown:, her attempt to assuage widespread depression and crushing stress"

 

  • Exhibit B: "In the first verse alone, she encapsulates the Great Resignation, the Great Unionization, and quarantine insomnia" UMMM....

 

  • Exhibit C: " In the absence of a national memorial for those lost to COVID-19, celebrating life with this exact oeuvre is both haunting and comes with a sense of deliverance déjà vu. [...] is a palimpsest, its evocations and sounds layered deep in the sense memories of club heads." :rip:

 

  • Exhibit D: "it positions Beyoncé as a diva entering her Whitney Greatest Hits era" :deadbanana2:

 

This is not fumes. This is calling out grandiose delusions. 

When you put that article like that...

 

:deadbanana4:

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