How Beyoncé resurrected house music

Uncorked in time to celebrate the arrival of summer, Beyoncé's long-awaited return solidifies something that was already in the air: the resurrection of the

music that triumphed in the eighties and nineties, born in the homosexual clubs of Chicago and then exported with great success. success to Europe.

The singer's will would be, in her own words, to bring an iota of lightness to this gloomy era.

"With all the isolation and injustice of the past year, I think we're ready to escape, travel, love and laugh again," she told

in 2021. "I feel like there's a renaissance coming and I want to help fuel that escape for all of us." possible ways."

The passport to that place is called

, the first advance from his seventh studio album, duly titled

, which will arrive on July 29.

The song can be understood as a

of a 90s

classic ,

, from which it borrows the same rhythmic base (and cites its two composers, Allen George and Fred McFarlane, as co-authors in the credits).

And even as an unofficial sequel: if Robin S., interpreter of the original, was desperately looking for a lover who was equal to her ("I'm sick of giving my love / and getting nowhere"), Beyoncé picks up the story where she he left her.

"I just fell in love," she intones herself in the first verse.

“We go around in circles / looking for love / up and down, lost and found / looking for love,” she adds in the same slurred consonants that Robin S. sported in the original.

It is impossible for Beyoncé, who in recent years has displayed an insistent political vindication dissolvable in

culture , to ignore the cultural weight of this musical style, which began being danced by black gays in clubs on the South Side of Chicago.

At those parties everyone was welcome, unlike what happened in the select nightclubs of Manhattan in disco days.

Actually,

was born from the ashes of the latter in venues that were open from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon.

For example, The Warehouse, which is said to have given its name to the genre and where the godfather of

, Frankie Knuckles, officiated as resident DJ from 1982 until it closed in 1987. Opposite Detroit's synthetic techno, the

was distinguished by a warmer and more sensual profile, with its lewd bass lines and its

of soul or funk themes, on which the voices of black divas such as Crystal Waters (

), Barbara Tucker (

), shone.

CeCe Peniston (

) or Ultra Naté (

, which the singer has just updated with Icona Pop), with which Beyoncé's song also seems related.

For some time now,

has infiltrated current culture to the point of starring in something similar to a rehabilitation.

Drake's uneven new album,

, celebrates that same legacy.

It's produced by names linked to the genre, from South Africa's Black Coffee to America's Gordo, who made a name for himself within Baltimore's club culture, something akin to a miniature Chicago during the 90s.

The heritage of dance music in that depressed urban core of the East Coast is also claimed by singers like Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B.

, the successful duo that performed the last two in 2020, winked at

, a 1992 classic from the clubs around town by John Waters and

.

Before Beyoncé, Jason Derulo, Clean Bandit or Charli XCX paid homage to the same house anthem.

What does it mean that, after so many years at the forefront, music's biggest star prefers to relocate to a relative rearguard?

classic

today is still

, which in recent years has been the subject of countless tributes in recent years.

, in 2011)

already sampled their base —which followed the obligatory

pattern , as the 4/4 beat that set the tracks on fire every night— was called .

, Kind Ink with Chris Brown (

, in 2013) and Charli XCX (

, from just a couple of months ago, which became one of the themes of the season).

In 2014, Clean Bandit and Sam Feldt each recorded versions of the classic, while Kiesza hit it big in the UK with

, which wavered between reverence for the original and outright plagiarism.

Perhaps that's why Beyoncé's comeback is very notable, but not exceptional.

What does it say about the biggest pop star on the planet, the one who has shown the most ambition and flair, that she decides to come back after so long with an idea that so many others have already had?

What does it mean that Beyoncé has stopped innovating and now she prefers to go with the flow?

After so many years in the forefront, why does she decide to relocate now to a relative rearguard?

This new track may be more pleasing to the ear than some of his recent experiments, but it hints at a somewhat disconcerting change of direction.

After revolutionizing the pop of the eighties, Madonna opened the second chapter of her trajectory on the absorption of pre-existing musical phenomena, from

to Abba, passing through British

, urban rhythms or even

.

That endless succession of reinventions was extraordinarily applauded, but over time she ended up drawing a downward curve in her career.

Waiting for Beyoncé's new album to arrive, which could contain surprises that invalidate hasty analyses, a drill as explosive and well executed as

, emblem of a

already stripped of any

overtones , could be the first sign of its

.

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