Beyoncé’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated album was released today July 29, and it has created quite a buzz already.
While there’s quite a lot to be discussed following the album release, it was also noticed that the singer referenced her husband Jay-Z‘s past cheating, which were focal themes of her last album Lemonade and his project 4:44.
Bey also referenced the infamous lift incident which saw her sister, Solange physically attack Jay.
Appearing to refer to the criticism around their relationship over the past six years on Plastic Off The Sofa, Beyonce sings:
“We don’t need the world’s acceptance.
“They’re too hard on me, they’re too hard on you, boy.”
She also appears to show a softer side towards Jay, who she married in a top-secret intimate wedding on April 4, 2008 — the fourth day of the fourth month, in honour of their favourite number
Bey added;
“Boy, I know you can’t help but to be yourself around me, yourself around me.
“And I know nobody’s perfect so I’ll let you be, I’ll let you be
“It’s the way that you wear your emotions on both of your sleeves, til the face you make when I tell you that I had to leave.”
She then confidently reminded Jay that she’s the “only” one. “I’m one of one, I’m number one, I’m the only one,” she sang. “Don’t even waste your time trying to compete with me. No one else in this world can think like me. I’m twisted, contradicted, keep him addicted.”
Protecting her husband, who she met when she was 18 and in girl band Destiny’s Child, she sings:
“I’ll always be your secret weapon in your arsenal.
“And I know you had it rough growing up, but that’s OK, I like it rough. Baby when you let your feelings get in the way. I still like it, baby, oh I like it, baby.”
Referring to the 2014 fight between her sister Solange and Jay-Z in a New York hotel lift, she sings;
“Jay and Solange have apologised to each other and we have moved forward as a united family.
“They both acknowledge their role in this private matter that has played out in public.”
In the album’s second song, Cozy, Beyonce appears to hint at the incident, singing: “She’s a god, she’s a hero, she survived, all she been through, confident and she lethal.
“Might I suggest you don’t f*** with my sis, because she comfortable. Comfortable in my skin, cozy with who I am.”
Security camera footage at the time, showed Solange throwing punches at her brother-in-law before a bodyguard dragged her off the rapper.
In the 58-second clip Beyonce was seen frozen in the corner of the lift.
Renaissance marks Beyoncé’s first solo studio album since 2016’s Lemonade. Since then, she released Everything Is Love, a 2018 joint album with her husband, Jay-Z. In 2019, she put out Homecoming, essential the live album of her 2018 headlining Coachella performance, before releasing The Lion King: The Gift, a companion album to the live-action movie. The Gift featured several new Beyoncé songs, but none of these projects had the same weight as a solo album.
While Lemonade currently stands at certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA, Everything Is Love has only reached Gold status, and the other projects haven’t crossed that threshold. Lemonade remains one of Beyoncé’s best-selling albums, matching 2006’s B’Day in Platinum status (3x). Only her 2003 album, Dangerously In Love, has sold more.
