Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé

Not to be outdone by Taylor Swift’s concert film theatrical release next week, Beyoncé is set to deliver her own in time for the holiday season. Queen Bey is no stranger to film, though it’s been four years since her last concert doc—and now, there’s the promise of a fuller concert experience by going for a theatrical release.

The trailer opens with ambient sound that sounds a bit like an open-air amphitheatre; Beyoncé’s monologue is the clear focus, threaded atop a montage of different backstage and offstage moments, including some recorded from what appears to be her phone and those of fans. Mixing candid and staged moments along with the reactions of fans is a key theme here, tapping into the relationship—whether real or perceived—that fans undoubtedly have with the artist.

This being said, the most remarkable quote from the trailer may not even belong to Beyoncé—at 0:34 we hear the voice of LGBT activist and reality television personality Ts Madison, who also features on Beyoncé’s latest album. She ruminates about all kinds of skin tones, and Beyoncé’s voice picks up this thread, suggesting the Renaissance album and tour are meant in part to “create the new.” In-crowd shots at 0:55 are accompanied, of course, by the adoring roar of said audience, and we get a taste of how it might feel to anticipate the star’s entrance on the stage.

As we get to a brief musical segment at 1:06, it is accompanied by a montage of on-stage moments as well as some clips, such as at 1:15 and 1:22, which suggest reaching towards some kind of universality of experience—as one reviewer for the tour put it, an “Afro-futuristic queer utopia”. “I feel liberated,” Beyoncé notes in response to an offscreen interviewer, as we see dancers on stage raise their fists in a Black Power salute. At 1:46 we hear a few measures of an instrumental beat which leads us out to the main title card.

Throughout the trailer, it’s fairly clear that there isn’t an overriding need to present or remind viewers of Beyoncé’s hit songs, present or past. Rather, though there are of course a few musical elements, the trailer and its liminality defer to and clearly centre Black queer and trans people and culture.

Some twenty years in, Beyoncé could certainly just play the hits—but that’s never been her style. Not only does Beyoncé look towards the future with this album and concert film, but she successfully brings in the past and present. This is true whether in hearing the disco and house leanings that pay homage to these genres’ queer innovators, or in collaborations with contemporary figures such as Ts Madison.

Renaissance hits theatres December 1st.

— Curtis Perry