A lot can be said, when an artist can present something so artistically effective, that it can literally stop time or in this case with Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s new joint album, Everything is Love—they’ve stop the world; on a Saturday no less. Providing singular proof of what can be possible with skill, extreme creative tenacity and undefeated precision can do. Beyoncé has taught us this time and time again especially, with her last project Lemonade while Jay-Z’s previous project in 4:44 leveled their powerful coupling playing field.
You know when you watch a movie that’s so good you have the urge to watch it again in the same sitting? To not only indulge in the same thrills but, also see if you can catch things you didn’t see the first time. I totally did that recently with Wakanda earlier this year and now I find that I am applying that same sentiment to music; in this regard solely through The Carters new album Everything Is Love. It’s pleasantly peculiar. I haven’t been able to re-run a full album in years, unfortunately music today has made me quite cynical about where it’s headed. Though, ever so often there are leaks of light that provide glimmers of hope that our music in the contemporary space of pop music will survive and continue to evolve in better spaces than I’ve seen and heard.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a handful of artist (this year alone) that have made my list for albums of the year (so far); where I can listen to their albums and perhaps on skip two or three songs at the most. From Chloe and Halle, Janelle Monae, Kali Ulchis, Nas and … to name a few. The difference for this case is that I have not skipped any song while playing the entire album. Believe me, I even checked my bias at the door because I do buzz around the beyhive as a non-official member. The album has hi-fi mixture of tracks that deliver pure humble opulence, an oxymoron yes, yet I cannot describe it in other way. It’s actually truly refreshing to listen to both Beyoncé and Jay-Z speak, sing and rap so candidly, without any fucks to give. Perhaps, it took them to getting to this stratospheric status to realize that none of the “BS” that comes with success matters if you cannot be true to yourself as an artists for yourself and for your fans.
Especially for artist of color, both Beyoncé and Jay-Z have on been separate journeys in finding their footing in the new era of civil rights in world we live in. How can they be of service to us through their music successfully? Beyoncé began her full 180 towards a more righteously focused artistry with Lemonade, with a hardline approach to the story of Black Womanhood. Her sister Solange continued the torch with A Seat at The Table, then Jay-Z dropped 4:44 an ode to his journey of forgiveness, reckoning and the Black Manhood. It was only proper that when the speculation of the audacious couple dropping a joint album, it be in the form of Everything Is Love.
It would only be right that their first visual be an entire takeover of the famous Louvre in Paris, filling the spaces dedicated to the history of Europeans be cast in the shadows of mostly living black beautiful bodies, those bodies include Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
