Consequence‘s Song of the Week series highlights the best new releases of the week. Find these new favorites and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist, and for other great songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, we’re spotlighting Beyoncé’s ongoing renaissance.
A renaissance is a reawakening; a time of rejuvenation, where the old makes way for the new. A renaissance often doesn’t have a clear beginning or end, and, though in the case of Beyoncé’s ongoing renaissance, it would appear we’re still smack in the middle. Beyoncé described 2022’s RENAISSANCE as the first installment in a three-part series. The love letter to house and ballroom culture, and particularly the Black artists in these spaces, was another demonstration of her musical intuition — if she’s taking on a genre, she’s going to embrace it to the fullest.
With the premiere of her new documentary Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, she also shared “MY HOUSE,” an all-new surprise track that accompanies the movie’s credits. While the ultra-futuristic chrome aesthetic that defined her most recent tour remains, “MY HOUSE” peels back some of the dance and house elements to incorporate the big, brassy touches that characterized Beyoncé’s earth-shaking performance at Coachella 2018. She and longtime collaborator The Dream are the only two names credited on the track.
Queen Bey has a knack for taking a truly wild beat — think the basis for “Single Ladies” — and not just making it work, but making it iconic. Such is the case again with “MY HOUSE,” which also takes some major tonal swings, from the swaggering confidence of “I’m done savin’ this money, tonight we gon’ ball out” to her appeal for self-confidence on the part of the listener. “I will always love you, but I will never expect you to love me before you love yourself,” she cries. The name of the song itself is also a clever nod to the very genre in which she has so rigorously immersed herself.
The thesis of “MY HOUSE” is two-fold: first, she’s going to throw one hell of a party, and everyone is invited — but when it’s over, it’s over on her terms. Second, she wants her renaissance to be a jumping-off point for healing, and once we leave her orbit (as she insists we do), the joy and growth doesn’t have to end. “Let’s heal the world one beautiful action at a time/ This is real love,” she promises. Eventually the lights are going to come on, but as long as this renaissance continues, we have no reason not to believe her.