Beyoncé's new album is reportedly a house-influenced record. Join us on a journey back through her catalogue of dance music
Photo: Beyoncé/YouTube Every Beyoncé song is a dance song in the right circumstances. But the queen also has a rich history of explicitly making Dance Music — that is, songs that draw on the sort of music meant to get people moving in clubs. Her new album, Renaissance, is reportedly a house-influenced record; the first single, “Break My Soul,” is evidence as much: a house-pop track built off a synth line recalling Robin S.’s instantly recognizable “Show Me Love.
“Baby Boy” Beyoncé has been engaging in cross-cultural collaborations since the start of her career, and some of her best dance songs have been rooted in non-American styles. The hypercatchy “Baby Boy” is a perfect example: Beyoncé slips right into the dancehall–meets–R&B track, trading lines with Sean Paul, who was in the process of establishing himself as one of Jamaica’s most influential crossovers.
“Beautiful Liar” Beyoncé teamed up with another dancing queen, Shakira, for this track off the deluxe B’Day. It blends a number of the Latin and Arabic dance styles in Shakira’s wheelhouse, including mariachi, flamenco, and traditional Middle Eastern music . It was all pretty far outside Beyoncé’s comfort zone at the time, but she still runs the show.
“Telephone” As for the Beyoncé song all over American clubs at the turn of the decade? That’d be “Telephone,” her collaboration with an up-and-coming dance-pop artist named Lady Gaga. The song brought Bey to the subcultural world of the New York underground, with its dirty synths and a speaker-breaking chorus. Over a decade later, it’s one of her most enduring dance hits — and that rap verse can still unite a floor like nothing else.
“Haunted” Sure, it might be difficult to dance to “Haunted.” But the song is rooted firmly in dance culture, pulling from some more left-field club styles like trance and the work of Aphex Twin — particularly on the dark first half, titled “Ghost.” At the time, Beyoncé’s spoken-word delivery reminded critics of Madonna’s “Justify My Love,” a song that marked another left turn from a dance great.
“Formation” “Formation” ups Beyoncé’s past flirtations with bounce as a full-out tribute to New Orleans culture and music, in the video as well as the track itself. The single, one of Beyoncé’s most lauded, is way more than just a dance song — it’s a stylistic melting pot that pulls from trap, includes some hard bars from Queen Bey, and features a full damn marching band.
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