The Tracks
The album starts with a bang, with “I’M THAT GIRL.” The album immediately grabs your attention, as Bey chants “these motherfuckers ain’t stopping me,” in pulsating repetition, effectively acting as the rhythm section. She right away makes a statement that she is a force to be reckoned with. The drums drop about a minute in and the shoulder swaying starts. The groove becomes king to Beyonce’s queen, as it will continue to do so throughout the record. There is an apparent afrobeat/jamaican dancehall influence in this track; an influence that will permeate a number of songs (but not all, dear reader, not all) on this album. This track goes into ”COZY”, which samples a speech, entitled “BITCH, I’M BLACK” by Ts Madison, a trans woman, setting up the groundwork that ingratiates this album with queer dance culture. This album pays its dues to queer dance culture, with many direct parallels and influences (as examined in this CNN article), as many house and dance clubs in the 90s were considered hubs that allowed queer people (in this case, specifically queer black people) to express themselves in a safe environment and have fun. Her inclusion of so many features and samples on this record proves its not an appropriation, but a joyous celebration.
The booming kicks of “ALIEN SUPERSTAR” are nearly abrasive, always groovy, and proof that Beyoncé isn’t just a pop-singer, but a fully fledged artist. I mean, this song is wild as hell. It’s not often that someone with so much mainstream attention gets carte blanche to get so experimental. This song harkens back to the draggy house music in the 90s as Beyoncé channels her innermost RuPaul. Work, bitch! “CUFF IT,” the next track, has a disco-like ethos to it, and is a bit more straightforward than the previous song, with that good ol’ four-on-the-floor drum beat and a funky bassline that never dares to deviate until about halfway through when it sores upwards. Sitting here, writing this review, it’s impossible not to sway back and forth in my office chair, or dance in a mental Soul Train line. There is a reason this album has become my go-to at the gym as of late.
“ENERGY” is one of my favorite songs on the album. The bassline from “CUFF IT” continues through the beginning of the song (it’s effectively an outro), cementing this album as being a cohesive body of work as opposed to a collection of singles. Another weird-as-hell song; Beam, a Jamaican-born American Rapper, has an unbelievable swagger with his talk-sing chorus. Seriously, it’s like a hot knife through hot butter. This track boasts a less than 2-minute run time, and it’s just a flash-in-the-pan burst of, well, energy. This track bleeds into the breakout single of the album, “BREAK MY SOUL.” A pure house banger — oft compared favorably to Drake’s latest house-inspired album “Honestly, Nevermind” — it’s easy to see why it got all the booties shaking. A powerful chorus in the form of a repeated anthem, “You won’t Break My Soul” is an amazing chant. Amidst such joyous, thumping music, we are aggressively telling the powers that be that you can’t stop us from having fun, from experiencing happiness, despite the structures you put in front of us to keep us SAD, man. We, as humans, will always find a way to party. It’s the perfect post-Covid anthem. We are back outside, and we’re going to go apeshit, and you can’t do a thing.