Beyoncé’s Renaissance

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Black People Love Paramore

Episode: Beyoncé’s Renaissance

Release Date: July 23, 2026

Hosts: Sequoia Holmes, Jewel Wicker, Ryann Graham
Theme: In-depth, humorous discussion and debate about Beyoncé’s Renaissance album—personal favorites, cultural impact, genre-bending, and how it fits into Beyoncé’s discography and musical legacy.

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Main Theme

This episode dives deep into Beyoncé’s Renaissance album, exploring its musical significance, critics' and fans' reactions, personal rankings of each track, and Beyoncé’s ongoing influence on music culture and Black artistry. The conversation blends humor, sharp observations, and personal anecdotes, aimed at both ardent Beyhive members and general pop culture enthusiasts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Are We Beyhive? (00:19–02:14)

• Questioning Fandom: The hosts debate what makes someone part of the Beyhive, especially when passionate but still open to critique.
• Comparisons with Taylor Swift: Discussion about debates in pop music fandoms, specifically relating to Beyoncé vs. Taylor Swift, and disliking forced comparisons.
  • "You are forcing me to say bad things about Taylor Swift by trying to compare her to Beyoncé. They are different and they do different things, and they are great at the things that they do. But if you really want to talk about someone performing or vocals, you simply cannot put those two people in the same category." — Mallory (01:23)

2. Genre Evolution and Renaissance’s Place (04:10–06:59)

• Renaissance Is Not R&B: The album should not be boxed into R&B, as it leans into house, pop, and other genres, reflecting trends away from traditional R&B.
• Homage to Black Queer Culture: The album uses house music roots, a genre originated by Black queer communities, as a vehicle for themes of joy, pleasure, and confidence.
  • "Renaissance is an album by cultural phenom and generational talent Beyoncé Giselle Knowles Carter, where Beyoncé explores themes of joy, pleasure, and confidence while paying homage to house music, a genre originated and popularized by the Black queer community." — Ryan (06:01)
• Cultural Timing: Renaissance was released during the pandemic “because people deserve to dance.” (07:05)

3. Rollout and First Reactions (08:14–09:41)

• Discussion of Beyoncé’s Renaissance rollout versus surprise drops of previous albums.
• Initial skepticism about “Break My Soul” as a single; both hosts agree it's much stronger in the context of the album than alone.
  • "When I heard Break My Soul, I initially thought, oh, this doesn’t feel good... Now in context, when you listen to Break My Soul in the run of the songs, I’m like, oh, it fits perfectly. It is fun. Standalone, without the context... it just feels whack." — Mallory (09:17)
  • "In the context of the album, it’s pretty good. In the context of the album, it’s pretty good." — Ryan (09:38)

4. Favorite Song Rankings (09:49–18:20)

• Each host gives their live, evolving ranking of every track on Renaissance.
• Key divergences and agreements:
  • Mallory’s #1: "Pure/Honey" ("This is a Prince song").
  • Ryan’s #1: "Alien Superstar" ("Afrofuturist, alien energy.").
  • Both dislike “Cozy” and agree “Break My Soul” is overplayed solo.
• Memorable Commentary:
  • Cuff It: “Perfect for any scenario—a wedding, a birthday party, a funeral. It’s perfect.” — Mallory (10:46)
  • On “Move”: “I really like the portion of Move where it gets to ‘this is how we move’... but before that, I’m kind of out, you know?” — Ryan (18:20)
  • “If you really want to talk about greatest performer, I’m willing to hear who’s better. And I cannot think of another pop star who does what she does. A lot do good things... but it’s just very different.” — Mallory (37:49)
• Both hosts note their rankings change every listen.

5. The Beyoncé Effect, Streaming Stats, and Legacy (28:15–38:41)

• Viral Moments: The "Mute Challenge" at the Renaissance Tour set a new standard for viral moments at concerts, influencing other pop tours.
• Underrated, Not Niche: Despite Beyoncé's huge touring and critical acclaim, she is often ranked surprisingly low on Spotify, suggesting an odd gap between cultural capital and streaming stats.
  • “Beyoncé is always, like, lower than she should be... For who she is, to have the 7th highest-grossing tour in history, and to never be top 10? Beyoncé is niche. I know, but it’s crazy.” — Ryan (30:13)
  • Discussion on how Beyoncé’s wins and chart history don’t always match her cultural impact: “She is underrated for her ability level.” — Ryan (37:38)
• Comparison to Other Stars: Beyoncé’s streaming numbers, despite her accolades, often trail artists with less critical or cultural cachet (e.g., Post Malone, Bruno Mars).

6. Visuals, Teasers, and Unfulfilled Promises (39:16–44:35)

• Visuals Still Missing: Despite dropping teasers for music videos/visuals for Renaissance (even with reports of drag queens and Barbie Ferreira involved), the full visuals never materialized.
  • "She actually pissed me off. Like, I actually felt personally assaulted. And like, we had beef. Because on top of that, she never gave us a goddamn visual." — Ryan (39:16)
  • Beyoncé’s joke: “You are the visuals.”
• Speculation: The hosts speculate Beyoncé might be waiting for all three acts to tie visuals together—while also admitting she might just change her mind.

7. Collaborators and Fun Facts (46:02–62:39)

• Jay-Z and Other Credits: Jay-Z co-wrote “Alien Superstar.” Sid from The Internet wrote “Plastic Off the Sofa” (Beyoncé does not have a writing credit on that track).
• Long Development: “Thique” dates to Beyoncé's I Am Sasha Fierce era (2014), which is why it may sound a bit dated.
• Grace Jones Collab: Grace Jones (on “Move”) agreed to collaborate only because of a church connection and insisted her vocals not be altered.

8. Beyoncé’s Place in Music History (62:03–end)

• Most Grammy Awards: Renaissance made Beyoncé the most decorated artist in Grammy history (35 wins, 99 nominations as of 2026).
• Enduring Legacy: Hendrix-level genre innovator, compared to Michael Jackson and The Beatles for sheer showmanship and impact.
  • “There is not a performer on this planet that is giving Beyoncé right now. Her comparable person is Michael Jackson.” — Ryan (38:12)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

On Underrated Excellence (37:49)

“If you really want to talk about greatest performer, I’m willing to hear who’s better... I cannot think of another pop star who does what she does. A lot do good things... but it’s just very different.” — Mallory

On Streaming Stats vs. Reality (30:13)

“Beyoncé is always, like, lower than she should be... For who she is, to have the 7th highest-grossing tour in history, and to never be top 10? Beyoncé is niche. I know, but it’s crazy.” — Ryan

On the Missing Visuals (39:16)

“She actually pissed me off. Like, I actually felt personally assaulted. And like, we had beef. Because on top of that, she never gave us a goddamn visual.”
— Ryan

On "Break My Soul" as a Single (09:17)

"When I heard Break My Soul, I initially thought, oh, this doesn’t feel good... Now in context... it fits perfectly. It is fun. Standalone, without the context... it just feels whack." — Mallory

Compliment Sandwich (10:46)

“Cuff It is just so fun, so light. Perfect for any scenario—a wedding, a birthday party, a funeral. It’s perfect.” — Mallory

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:19–02:14 — Are we Beyhive? Debating the meaning of Beyoncé fandom, Taylor Swift comparisons.
• 04:12–06:32 — Not an R&B album: Defining Renaissance and Beyoncé’s genre experimentation.
• 06:59–07:14 — Context for the album release in the pandemic.
• 09:17–09:41 — Initial reactions to “Break My Soul.”
• 09:49–18:20 — Song rankings and rationale; discussion of song qualities and album pacing.
• 28:15–38:41 — On viral concert moments, Beyoncé’s place in streaming/legacy, and what “niche” and “underrated” mean for her.
• 39:16–44:35 — The missing visuals: Drama and speculation about why they never materialized.
• 46:02–62:39 — Collaborator credits and backstories for major tracks; details on Grammy history.
• 62:39–end — Final remarks, discography rankings, episode wrap-up.

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Tone and Vibe

Conversational, fun, often irreverent, and fiercely passionate. The hosts balance music geekery with pop culture snark, roasting streaming stats, laughing about fan drama, and weaving in references to “scene” culture, Black artistry, and queer influences.

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Renaissance is not just another Beyoncé album; it’s a layered, genre-smashing homage to Black queer house music and a testament to her evolution as a performer and trendsetter.
• The hosts’ personal song rankings underscore the album’s depth and replay value—every track is strong, though tastes may differ.
• Beyoncé’s cultural and musical impact far exceeds her streaming numbers, and her influence across pop culture continues to shape the industry—even in viral moments and fan engagement.
• The ongoing absence of visuals/Act 3 only adds to Beyoncé’s mystique (and sometimes, fan frustration).
• Beyoncé remains an underrated GOAT, comparable only to icons like Michael Jackson, and her artistry stands as a blueprint for present and future generations.

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For more hot takes and hilarious pop culture analysis, follow Black People Love Paramore on socials @BPLPPod.

Transcript

[Mallory]

With the. We always keep the five tiers. So look, that's how, you know, I don't consider myself beehive. I don't think either of us do.

[Ryan]

I don't.

[Mallory]

But it's stuff like that that makes me go, am I. Because I.

[Ryan]

When I sometimes a level of passion, that feel, I start to be like, I'm crazy. You're actually starting to get. Yeah, you're starting to calm down, bring it down.

[Mallory]

Especially when people try to, like, pretend that Beyonce's not. I'm willing to allow critique of Beyonce, but obviously, obviously, she's a human and blah, blah. But I'm like, when people start saying things that are just wholly false, like, I remember I am someone who does not even dislike Taylor Swift. I enjoy quite a few of Taylor Swift's album. There was a guy that I was arguing with about Taylor Swift's Life of a Showgirl and how he was like, yeah, whatever. But he said, it's still better than. And he. I think he said Cowboy Carter, which is just wholly false. And I'm like, I. I understand that I'm in the minority of liking Cowboy Carter more than most people. I'm like. But to even try. I hate when people try to compare those two. They do. They do different things.

[Ryan]

Right?

[Mallory]

Let them do different things. And to try to say, you are forcing me to say bad things about Taylor Swift by trying to compare her to Beyonce. They are different and they do different things, and they are great at the things that they do. But if you really want to talk about, like, someone performing or vocals, you simply cannot put those two people in the same category. And then you are forcing me to say Taylor Swift is a fine singer, but she's not. She's not doing anything near. This is even about Taylor Swift.

[Ryan]

I'm gonna let it.

[Mallory]

But I got into an argument about him because he was really trying to fight with me about how he was

[Ryan]

a showgirl, mind you.

[Mallory]

Not even, like, not even. You could have given me 1989, and you're still wrong. I'm willing to. I'll, like, you know, I'll hear that out. That's a really, really good album. Like, all right. But, like, are you kidding? He was actively arguing that Beyonce was bad, and he would argue that Taylor Swift is good. I'm like, you can say you don't like it, but you say she is bad.

[Ryan]

I didn't like Cowboy Carter like that. And I can objectively know that it is a good album. It is not my taste.

[Mallory]

Correct. Correct.

[Ryan]

Because I generally don't like country music. Sure. Overall, but it's not that. I skip daddy license as well.

[Mallory]

That's awesome. Like, whatever. But we're not even talking about Cowboy Carter or Taylor Swift today. We are talking about Rena. Rena. Rena. Rena. Renaissance. Renaissance.

[Ryan]

Hello. Welcome to Black People Love Paramore, a pop culture podcast. Not about the band Paramore, but a show about the common as well as the uncommon interest of black people in order to help us feel a little bit more seen. If you would like to help us promote the show, you know what you can do. You can tell a friend about. It can be like, if you and your friends like Paramore, like Green Day, like Beyonce, like Ariana Grande, like Gilmore Girls, like Gossip Girl, like legally. But we haven't done.

[Mallory]

Well, we will get. No, but we are.

[Ryan]

We will. Eventually we will. That's if you like, you know, I mean, if you like that type of stuff. You like pop culture, nostalgic. Pop culture specifically, and sometimes trinic. Tell your friends about it. I really appreciate that. And you can talk to us on YouTube in the comments. You can talk to us on Spotify in the comments. You can talk to us on social medias in the comments, Instagram, wherever you like.

[Bria]

Talk to us.

[Ryan]

We're everywhere. But most importantly, tell a friend about it. Thank you very much. Today we are talking about one of Beyonce's best albums, in everyone's opinion. I know that there's not going to be a single human on the planet that disagrees.

[Mallory]

I agree. I think if. No, I. This is where I do think is true. I was gonna argue so many people

[Ryan]

would not like this album. Right.

[Mallory]

I don't think that's true. Again, this is the Beyonce effect. This is the Beyonce effect where, like, I just listened to it again for it.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

And in my thinking, not only did I A be like, oh, is this my favorite Beyonce album? I thought, B, this is one of her better. I think one of her best works.

[Ryan]

This. I. I fully agree.

[Mallory]

Personally, I don't even think that's an argument. I would agree.

[Ryan]

I think most people do not think that traditional R B fans. I can't tell you how many times I've had people rank their albums and this one is in the back half because there are traditional R B people. You know what I mean? I'm like, yeah, this is not like an R B album by any means.

[Mallory]

So certainly not. But I don't even know what does that even mean anymore. I understand, like, being a traditionally traditional R and B fan.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

But I don't think that that Muse. What I want to say is that music doesn't exist anymore. And the way that, like, when I'm thinking of early 2000s Beyonce, like, that genre of artist kind of has gone away. Like in R and B, what we think of is 2026, R&B has kind of leaned hip hop in the same way that, like, I think country 2026 leans hip hop. Like, I think a lot of those things have leaned pop, hip hop ways.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

And I feel like that specifically, Neil, she wasn't even doing Neo.

[Ryan]

She wasn't doing.

[Mallory]

But like, that kind of like top 40 R B. Yeah. It's just gone. Like, even Olivia Dean. I wouldn't call that. That's R B. But, like, that's like, even poppy.

[Ryan]

I wouldn't even call Olivia Dean R and B. Tbh.

[Mallory]

But I'm saying what. What is any. That doesn't exist.

[Ryan]

Sullivan. You know, like, there are people who are doing it. They're just not popular. I don't. Or it's not. It's not. It's not a popular genre right at this second.

[Mallory]

And the way that Coco Jones there as well. Yes. I would even put Coco. Like, I think even that, because I know Jasmine Sullivan, obviously, but I'm thinking more older music, like mid 2010s. I can't think of what she's doing right now, but I think of like a Coco Jones who does similar things to what Beyonce was doing. You might be able to argue Chloe falls there sometimes.

[Ryan]

Maybe I would say Chloe's pop.

[Mallory]

She leans more of what Beyonce does now. But I think. You know what I mean. I guess my thought is, even it doesn't sound that the sound is just gone. I don't know.

[Ryan]

I think Coco Jones is probably the best example. Like, that's R and B to me. Yeah, Like. Like explicitly R and B to me.

[Mallory]

So we're doing Renaissance.

[Ryan]

We're doing Renaissance. I'm gonna give you my summary of Renaissance.

[Mallory]

Please do.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

Of course you'll good at this one.

[Ryan]

Renaissance is an album by cultural phenom and generational talent Beyonce Giselle Knowles Carter, where Beyonce explores themes of joy, pleasure, and confidence while playing, while paying homage to house music, a genre originated and popularized by the black queer community.

[Mallory]

Amen. Yeah. Did you read. Did you write the one for Wikipedia? That sounds like straight up, like, in a good way. I mean that, like, it was close.

[Ryan]

It's not.

[Mallory]

You put it through chat and said, change it a little bit.

[Ryan]

I don't do that. I don't do that. Okay, I have a sub stack.

[Mallory]

Correct. That's right. She's a writer, baby.

[Ryan]

Sequoia Holmes.

[Mallory]

So writer as well as Beyonce. Beyonce's also a writer. You have something in common.

[Ryan]

She is. No, she is. And you guys. This is Beyonce's seventh consecutive album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, and it was certified two times platinum by the Recording Industry association of America.

[Mallory]

Wow.

[Ryan]

Crazy. Did you know that she originally intended Cowboy Carter to serve as the first installment of this three act installment?

[Bria]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Yes. And she later explained that quote, with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world prompting her to release a Renaissance first. Because people deserve to dance.

[Mallory]

I love that.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

And honestly, I. This did come at a time. It's what, 20, 22 when this dropped. So we're like four years out from it. And I do think anniversary, huh?

[Ryan]

Happy anniversary.

[Mallory]

Happy anniversary.

[Ryan]

Not on the anniversary or near it.

[Mallory]

Yeah. Because it was July 26th. So, like, it is like we are hitting four year mark of renaissance. It was 29th, I think.

[Ryan]

So let me check.

[Mallory]

It was 29 because I remember he also dropped Cowboy Carter on the 29th or something. So that's why they were. When they were thinking about Act 3, they thought it would be in May because It's the only 29th of 2020. Yeah.

[Ryan]

The only Friday Beyonce would have to adhere to the Friday rule at.

[Mallory]

You know what? Because the reason we have the Friday rule is Beyonce. She might be like, I'm gonna make it Saturday now.

[Ryan]

And she would.

[Mallory]

I'm gonna make it Wednesday.

[Ryan]

And she quite literally would.

[Mallory]

Cause why not very much. Because I can. Do you remember where you were? Well, I guess Renaissance was also Beyonce going back to true to form. As in, like, there was a level of a rollout where usually with Beyonce, we didn't really like or not usually like with Beyonce self titled. And then also lemonade, it was kind of like, this is happening here. It is go.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

And this kind of got us back to. All right, I'm gonna give you a thing. It's coming out this date. I'm giving you a single. Like it was not a surprise. Surprise drop.

[Ryan]

Yep.

[Mallory]

I will admit when I first heard Break my Soul.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

I think I text you and I was like, is Beyonce slipping?

[Ryan]

Yeah. I said, oh, a stinker. When I first heard it, I was like, yeah, this is. I was nervous for the album because I was like, if this is what she is doing, I want no parts. It reminds me of. It reminded me of early Ariana Grande and I wasn't a big. You know, I wasn't a big. When she was in her, like, focus

[Mallory]

on me, the Anna focus on me, you know, I was like, ariana Grande hates those songs. Like, she actually does not like them. But she's like, those are the ones

[Ryan]

that they want objectively bad.

[Mallory]

Have you seen that video of her? She was like making a joke about how she. This isn't about Ariana Grande, but I'm going there. She was like. I was in the booth and they were like. She sang it in a way she was being annoyed about it. So she was doing it to be annoying. And they go, perfect. And she goes, great. The way she hated it was the way they loved it.

[Ryan]

Oh my God. Imagine hating your own creations. I would hate that.

[Mallory]

But yes, when I heard Break My Soul, I initially thought, oh, this doesn't feel good. It felt. I don't even. I don't know why I didn't like it. Because now in context, when you listen to Break My Soul in the run of the songs, I'm like, oh, it fits perfectly. It is fun. It's a good vibe. Standalone, without the context of the rest of the album. I was like, this just feels whack.

[Ryan]

It's pretty bad.

[Mallory]

Yeah, it felt whack.

[Ryan]

Standalone is pretty bad. Yeah, yeah. In the context of the album, it's pretty good. You know, so we know where we're coming from. Can I have your ranking of songs on this album?

[Mallory]

Okay, I can.

[Ryan]

I can go or you can go. Ready?

[Mallory]

I am ready. I'm just going to do it live because I was starting and it's hard. I will again. I'm going to just reiterate. All of these songs are a material.

[Ryan]

Okay. Like 4.0.

[Mallory]

They're all 4.0Amaterial. What I'm doing is splitting hairs. Like this is like some of her three nines. Some of them there might be like, I think as low as a 35 for me.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

But on a 4.0 scale, these are all pretty close to having a 4.0. My number one song is pure Honey. I love Pure Honey. But I. We don't. We disagree on this. Cuz you are not a Prince fan in the way that I am. I think you appreciate Prince. But like, I like love Prince and this is a Prince song. Like when it does that, break the switch. Like switch that. Like, it's so.

[Ryan]

It is very French.

[Mallory]

Pretty girls two floor into it. That's my number.

[Ryan]

That half I do like better than the first half.

[Mallory]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ryan]

By a Lot by a long shot.

[Mallory]

It's. It's certainly much more fun.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

So from there, I am going to put cuff it at number two.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

Cuff it is just so fun, so light. Perfect for any scenario. A wedding, a birthday party.

[Ryan]

That's on my play at my wedding list.

[Mallory]

But yeah, a funeral. It's perfect. That's my number two is cuff it. Number three, I'm gonna put church girl. Because when I hear that, it gets me going.

[Ryan]

I have different tastes.

[Mallory]

I'm doing this live, so I see them say it might be hard.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

I have church girl. Number four, I have America has a problem.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

Number five, Summer Renaissance. Because I love Donna Summer.

[Ryan]

So I'm really confused. Okay.

[Mallory]

Okay, I know. Number six. I'm putting Alien Superstar. The reason that it is there is because it. It. It got played out. Everyone ran it to hell and then cuff it. No cup. It makes me feel so joyous, so light, so happy.

[Ryan]

Alien Superstar got played.

[Mallory]

I think I'm at number six. You threw me off. Oh, six was a list Superstar. Seven is I'm that girl. It's just a great opener. It's very fun. Seven, I'm gonna put heated. I like it, but it, to me, it was fine. Like, it's one of those where I'm like, I don't think it hits me as much as it did.

[Ryan]

You're really not an Aubrey Graham fan?

[Mallory]

I'm not an Aubrey Graham fan fan. Eight, I'm gonna put Burgos groove.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

Nine. I'm going to put plastic off the sofa.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

Six or nine? Ten. I'm going to put energy.

[Ryan]

I'm surprised that's that low for you. I feel like you really like that song.

[Mallory]

I do. Honestly. This is all over the place.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

10. 11. I'm going to do. Wait, I missed it. Oh, that's what I'm going to put thick. And we. Are we going to go song by song later?

[Ryan]

Yes.

[Mallory]

Okay. So that's what I'm going to put thick is 11.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

12. I'm putting all up in your mind. I do like it. I like it, but I want someone else to sing it. I think. Sorry, that's not even the song that I think someone else should sing. All up in your mind is good, but it's too slow for me. It is like a. A downbeat in the album. Don't do this to me. You're going to throw me off again. You're throw me off again. I'm on 12. 12. I'm going to put cozy. I actually do not like cozy. 13. I'm going to put cozy. I don't like cozy. Felt fun at the time. I think it aged. It feels too. Too on the nose. Too whack for me. You know what I mean?

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

14, I am going to put break my soul.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

And then 15 is whatever's left. What am I. Oh, move. Which is also low for me. I love Grace Jones. And this is no disrespect to Grace Jones. You are an icon of legend and you deserve. I do love you, Grace Jones.

[Ryan]

That's fair.

[Mallory]

I think that's going to be your last one as well.

[Ryan]

This is so.

[Mallory]

It is hard.

[Ryan]

I'm moving something in real time because I'm. I'm having a hard time.

[Mallory]

And I will add by the end of this conversation, that ranking will change.

[Ryan]

I'm telling you, 100%. In fact, this ranking barely makes sense. It's more so for me. My ranking is more so like top third and then all middle third. Bottom third, rather than. It is these. This specific order.

[Mallory]

Right.

[Ryan]

Anything within the rest. Those thirds can swap.

[Mallory]

Sure.

[Ryan]

You know. Okay. So number one, Alien Supersonic.

[Mallory]

Of course it is for you.

[Ryan]

I listen to that in the car.

[Mallory]

Do you?

[Ryan]

I just listened to it in the car on the way here. It just does so much for me. My God.

[Mallory]

You know what that feeling is for me is. I'm that girl. I don't know. I'm that girl. They are similar thesis songs.

[Ryan]

Yes. Themed.

[Mallory]

Something about the slowness of it.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

I love I'm that girl. But Superstar and the edits of Sailor Moon over it. Chef's Kiss.

[Ryan]

I do love them. So, like.

[Mallory]

Yeah, it's great.

[Ryan]

Afro futurists. Yeah. Like, there's just some. It's so alien. Like, I'm like, wow. I really, really with this. Number two, America has a problem.

[Mallory]

So good. I love it. I. I prefer the original. I don't need Kendrick. I was.

[Ryan]

That was one of the questions I had.

[Mallory]

Oh, don't need Kendrick.

[Ryan]

Number three. Same. I don't ever need to hear that version. I love Kendrick Lamar. Also down. Literally. I don't need them. Number three, all up in your mind.

[Mallory]

Oh, it's really hot.

[Ryan]

That, like, that one all over your mind is for the 6 inch girls. If 6 inches is up there for you. All over your mind.

[Mallory]

6 inch was in my top.

[Ryan]

Really?

[Mallory]

I do.

[Ryan]

I.

[Mallory]

And I love 6 inch. I do not like it.

[Ryan]

That's the same girl.

[Mallory]

It is the same energy.

[Ryan]

That's the same girls. That's the rock girlies. Yeah. Those are sisters. For sure. Number four. He did. For sure. He did. Does so much for me. Number five, cuff it. I definitely thought cuff it was going to be lower on my list. And then it came on and I started singing to my cat. I started doing choreography around the room and singing to my cat. I was having a great time. Wow.

[Mallory]

It came up. We were. During the drive, we had to drive to one of the haunted houses that we went to. And that's what made me think, oh, I love this song. Like, it's so happy we gonna fuck up tonight.

[Ryan]

Like, it's just so good. It's so perfect. Number six. I have energy, which I thought was gonna be lower, but I heard it and I said, can't be that low. Can't be that low. Number seven, Virgo's Groove. Number eight, Plastic off the Sofa.

[Mallory]

I also. I've put those back to back because I don't remember which one's which.

[Ryan]

Oh, I just listened to them. So I definitely know that Virgo's Groove is better than Plastic off the Sofa. Plastic off the sofa is the one where it's like, Yes. Yeah, baby. Love me.

[Mallory]

Love me, love me. Which one you. No, go up. Don't take it down. Oh, yeah. Come on.

[Ryan]

That was not bad. I couldn't if my life depended on it, but that was not bad.

[Mallory]

Okay. And the other one, which is the one. I think I like the other one.

[Ryan]

More, baby, come up.

[Mallory]

No, I like the.

[Ryan]

That it. Hold on. We're resting in Virgo's group whole time. That's classic. Office over.

[Mallory]

That's the one. I actually like that one more.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

Am I right? Whichever one I put above, that's the one like, more. Okay.

[Ryan]

Virgo's groove is the longer one. The one that's long Ass Thesis.

[Mallory]

Groovy.

[Ryan]

Yes, exactly.

[Mallory]

Exactly.

[Ryan]

Exactly. Wow. I was. I was singing the wrong song. Yeah, no, I was. Virgos Groove is number seven. Plastic off is number eight. Church girls number nine. I Church Girl is definitely a mid one for me. I liked it a lot at first and I didn't play it out by any means. It's just one where it started to. I feel like you have to have a specific tie to that that I simply don't have. You know? Like, I'm like. I was never a church girl. So, like, I don't have. I don't any.

[Mallory]

I don't consider myself a church girl, but I think just the. The thesis of it, like being free just like. And also the beat drop is so fun to me.

[Ryan]

I also don't like that

[Mallory]

we gonna get sounds early 2000s.

[Ryan]

It's also not pitch matched to the rest of the song. And so it sounds like it is just there floating on top of it. Like someone added.

[Mallory]

It sounds like DJ is mixing live.

[Ryan]

Sounds like a DJ is mixing live. And did not consider the two different pitches of these songs. And I don't like that. So that always takes me out. Number 10, pure honey crazy work. Which is crazy.

[Bria]

It's.

[Ryan]

You know what? I have a hard time when the song switches midway because I almost always like that second half more, but I can never get to it because I don't like the first half, you know what I mean, that much. And so I always forget. And then when I get to that second half, I'm like, wait, this is great. Which one is this? And it's the same song. And I'm like, how do we get it? Wow, that's crazy.

[Mallory]

And, you know, I realized Beyonce does that, or. I don't want to say a lot, but the first time I remember her doing it and me notably remembering it is, are you happy to be in Partition? And I same with partition. I prefer the second part of partition. Yeah, Actually, no, I like the first part. The first part is like, it's the see you up in a club with 50 levels. I prefer that part for sure.

[Ryan]

I know, right?

[Mallory]

And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Ryan]

I prefer that a lot. Yes.

[Mallory]

And I do like partition, but I'm like, I want that to be a song.

[Ryan]

Yes.

[Mallory]

Keep that going.

[Ryan]

Agree.

[Mallory]

Agree.

[Ryan]

I feel the exact same way about that. Number 11, I'm that girl. Which was hard because I really love a talking anthem. I really do. And so I'm like, that. That was difficult. Number 12, move. This is hard too, because I really like the portion of Move where it gets to. This is how we move. This is how we move. But before that, I'm like. I'm kind of out, you know? Yeah. You know? And I'm like, okay. Like the first. I'm like, cool. And then it gets into that. I'm like, I love that.

[Mallory]

I remember we talked about this or we've talked about this. Personally, I don't know if it's that it sounds like afrobeats or if it's that it's the. The gift. That album, the only.

[Ryan]

It does sound like.

[Mallory]

Yeah. I remember you saying it sounds like a leftover from the gift.

[Ryan]

Sound like a lift over from the gift. And I. I didn't the gift at all. It wasn't for me. Number 13 Summer Renaissance, which, like, it's

[Mallory]

a Donna Summer song.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I like. I like this one. It's pleasant.

[Mallory]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Like a very. I never go seek it out, but it is pleasant. Number 14. Cozy. Actively dislike Cozy.

[Bria]

It.

[Ryan]

I'm like, I don't like cozy.

[Mallory]

It feels the way I felt about Break My Soul.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

I think is where I land actively today with cozy.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

Like, it feels cheesy.

[Ryan]

Like, it's, like.

[Mallory]

It's not bad. It's just, like, very cheesy.

[Ryan]

I agree. Yeah. I don't like cozy.

[Mallory]

It's just so cheesy.

[Ryan]

Yeah. I don't like cozy at all. I don't like cozy. Now, this one, I should have put thick above cozy because there's something I like about thick that I do not like cozy at all. Thick. I really love that Tinashe portion that. That sounds like Tinashe.

[Mallory]

This.

[Ryan]

That summer. This. That just dropped out of college. I don't do this usually. I don't know what you do.

[Mallory]

To me, I love that maybe you were the reason. I thought that Maybe you've told me that before. Because that is a song where I was like, oh, listening to it today. It would be better if Tinasha did the whole. Even the first part. Even the first one. Oh, this.

[Ryan]

I would actually would like it.

[Mallory]

It would be so much better even. Because, like, Beyonce has, like, a. It's similar to, like, REM That Ariana Grande cover where I'm like, oh, it fits better for Ariana Grande.

[Ryan]

Yes.

[Mallory]

It's lighter. And I think something about Beyonce's register is too low for what I want the song to have because it's so much higher and it's unlike Beyonce, I think. I wish the rest of the song also had that.

[Ryan]

I agree.

[Mallory]

That's squarely. Tanasha.

[Ryan]

That ended Kill it. Yeah, this is. This is.

[Mallory]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

If the first part was like that, too, I would like Thick a lot better.

[Mallory]

It is a Tinashe song, and I do agree that I want her to sing it.

[Ryan]

And then number 16 is break my Soul.

[Mallory]

Yeah. Okay.

[Ryan]

Because it's just, you know, played out, like, if I never heard it again, it would be fine.

[Mallory]

I had not heard it in years. And it was fun to hear again. Again, in context of the album, I think there was a meme where it was like, break My Soul on its own, and it was just like a regular bottle of the Sprite. And then it was like, Break My Soul in the album. And it was the McDonald's sprite that did feel like is one that is

[Ryan]

exactly how it feels because they played in my gym all the time. And so. Yes. And so it's in the current rotation. I don't know why that.

[Mallory]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

But I'll be like, stop. I'm really trying to lift heavy. Like, I can't. I can't lift heavy to this. Like, please stop.

[Bria]

Hi, my name is Bria Grant, and I host Reading Glasses and Reading Smut. And I'm here with Max Fun member of the month, Nick Roy.

[Mallory]

Thank you so much.

[Bria]

What episode would you recommend to a new listener who's just jumping in for the first time?

[Mallory]

Definitely the one where it's like, let's talk about reading lessons. Because as someone who started listening, what, seven years? And even I was like, oh, that's why we say that.

[Bria]

Oh, my God, Mallory's going to love that you said that. Because she really was like, we got to. We got to tell people more about ourselves. I'm like, we just talk about ourselves every week. What would you say to other people who are considering supporting Maximum Fun shows?

[Mallory]

I would say if you want to keep listening to content that you enjoy and you want to support the creators, I don't know. I just won't get a Starbucks once a week and I give you guys 10 bucks a month. Sounds good to me.

[Bria]

I love that. And listen to Nick. Nick's a librarian. He knows what he's talking about.

[Mallory]

So support the shows you love, including this one.

[Ryan]

Check the show notes for a link or go to maximumfun.org join.

[Bria]

Hi there. Sorry to interrupt your podcast listening time. I know you're doing the dishes right now. That's okay. Don't worry about it. You might not know me, but I'm Brenda, and I'm here to tell you about the podcast I host with my good friend Austin. It's called Secret Histories of Nerd Mystery Stories, and we cover all kinds of pop culture topics. Like, did you know that there was a real life replica of the Simpsons house in Las Vegas, Nevada? Or that Flint, Michigan, was once home to an indoor amusement park themed around the automobile. If those things sound interesting, you should definitely check us out every Tuesday on Maximum Fun or wherever you get podcasts.

[Ryan]

Goodbye.

[Bria]

You can get back to your dishes now. It's fine.

[Mallory]

Your ranking, and I guess our rankings are very different.

[Ryan]

They are very different.

[Mallory]

I appreciate this album a lot more on this. This, like a renewed listen just because, like, I think there's, like, production that I hear that is much more fun. And I just. I wonder if Beyonce goes in and edits.

[Ryan]

Like, I'VE heard that. I've heard people recently be like, something's different about Renaissance now. People have said, like, she's tink. She's in there tinkering.

[Mallory]

It does feel weird. There was. I forget what song it might have been Virgo's groove, but right here, right now, something about that. It sounded different this time. I listened through Remember the Daft Punk work It make it.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

There is a second layer of vocals on the end of that. Of that song where I'm like. It has that, like, layered vocal that I do not remember before it sounds. It reminds me of that work.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

There's something to the way that they are editing it that I'm like, this doesn't sound like what it used to sound like. Similarly, Lady Gaga dropped what was the chromatic. And I listened to it recently. And also she changed the song. Like, there's a breakdown in whether I'm like, wait a minute. This is not the same.

[Ryan]

No, that's been happening lately. The first time, I want to say the first time or the first time that I remember happening was Life of Pablo 2016. Kanye, he was changing it after it had already been released, and people were like, oh, this is weird. I remember last year, clips on the Clips album. Their first album in decades, I think.

[Mallory]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Stuff was being tinkered with in the background. It's like a thing now. Interesting.

[Bria]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Where people will continue producing the album after it's live. I'm like, why?

[Mallory]

Wondering how I feel about that. I do think that there's something. It's a beautiful and scary thing where, like, media is being lost, like, edited and to do whatever you want it to be. But also there is something cool to, like, an album, like a living document, where it's like, oh, yeah. As things eb and flow and change, I update it and like, I wish

[Ryan]

it got each version, like I wish in Spotify. Yeah. We would, like, have, like, a history, like a timeline from 2022 to 2026. Here are the changes to Renaissance. You don't even have to tell us what the changes are necessarily. Just have 2022 version, 2023, third version, June 2023 version.

[Mallory]

You know, like you like, like a version history.

[Ryan]

Exactly. A version history. Just so I know what. Yeah. I'm like, something's different. Am I tripping?

[Mallory]

Yeah. Yeah. Am I crazy?

[Ryan]

If you go on Reddit, Reddit will catch it.

[Mallory]

Of course. Well, speaking of different, I remember this also was the album that. I don't think I listened to it fast enough. Or maybe I Didn't. I just didn't notice it. There was the milkshake interlude that they had at the end of the energy into.

[Ryan]

Was it not.

[Mallory]

No, Cuff it into energy. Oh, I think it was at the end of cuff it going into energy. There was, like, something about milkshake, I think, like, the. Some. Some part of it that then Khalees got upset about and caused a stink about it. And then Beyonce said, okay, yeah.

[Ryan]

She's like, I didn't get paid for that. Like, I didn't even get asked permission. Something. You know what?

[Mallory]

And the thing is, because, like, Khalees did get screwed over by Pharrell. Like, that is a thing. So I think it was rooted in that. And Kalisha spoke up about it, and then Beyonce was like, you know what?

[Ryan]

Take her off.

[Mallory]

I'll just cut it off. And she had given her writers credit her. That little interlude. And then she's like, fine, take it all the way off. And now it is removed from the album.

[Ryan]

Hope it was worth it.

[Mallory]

I mean, to be fair, I didn't know. I didn't notice.

[Ryan]

I didn't notice either. I don't know if I didn't listen to it quick enough or if I just did not notice because it was so new that I was just taking everything in same. And then once it changed, I was. You know, I didn't know the difference

[Mallory]

because I'm pretty sure that was, like the opening weekend of Renaissance.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

Drama went down, and then it was gone by Monday. So, like, you really probably. You'd have to buy the vinyl or the CD and. Or listen to it that way, but it was gone very quick.

[Ryan]

Exactly.

[Bria]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

That was kind of crazy.

[Ryan]

Exactly.

[Mallory]

We went to the tour together.

[Ryan]

We did go to the tour together. Yeah. That was a great.

[Mallory]

It was me, your. Your mom and Garrick.

[Ryan]

Yeah, Me, you. Yeah, my mom and Garrick.

[Mallory]

So fun. I think. Renaissance tour. Every time I see Beyonce, I feel this way. And I love when she ran it back during Cowboy Carter, because, again, people don't like Cowboy Carter like that.

[Ryan]

I didn't know that she was doing that. I really might have gone. No, I didn't go to Cowboy Carter. I really might have gone. Had it occurred to me that it was going to be. Yes. Renaissance Heavy.

[Mallory]

I don't. I guess it's hard to feel like heavy.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

But she definitely runs back the. Like that opening coming out of the. Like, the. The clamshell, the. Yeah. The machine. And then, like, doing the cozy. Like, she does quite a bit of it.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

But it's not like, in my brain. It didn't feel heavy. Maybe it was just even.

[Ryan]

I actually lost my mind because, like, even seeing Yaya live, like, you know, like, some Cowboy Carter stuff live would have also gone hard, crazy. Yeah.

[Mallory]

I saw Cowboy Carter three times, I think. Yeah, I know. I saw it three times. I'm trying to remember if I think they might have all been free. I'm not gonna lie. I'm almost certain I went three times for free.

[Bria]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

My cousins, like, they, like, they ended up just, like, having an extra ticket. They're like, do you want to come? I was like, sure. Destiny's mom bought me one.

[Ryan]

Get.

[Mallory]

The third time I went. I think also someone was just like, hey, here's the tickets. You want to go? And I was like, okay. So I loved it.

[Ryan]

Nobody invited me for free. So to be fair, I did get invited to Renaissance for free. See?

[Mallory]

And why did you.

[Ryan]

I did not go, because that's just gone.

[Mallory]

Why would you run?

[Ryan]

I'm not a c. I'm not a. I'm not that person.

[Mallory]

I never quite understood that I. Beyonce is the only one that I've actually.

[Ryan]

Okay, I've seen.

[Mallory]

God, I saw Mayhem twice, but by accident. I saw Mayhem at Coachella and then bought Mayhem tickets. I didn't mean to see me twice. I did see it twice. Yeah. But, yeah, Beyonce was the only one, and I was. I was happy to go every time. It was so good. But Renaissance, I just remember they started that challenge, and I don't remember the Mute challenge. Yeah.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

I don't remember concerts have. I feel like that was what made concerts have to have viral moments.

[Ryan]

That is.

[Mallory]

I never really remember that being a thing. And then that happened. I can't think of a thing where, like, there was almost like, a manufactured viral moment. And granted, I don't know. The Beyonce manufactured it because she started the tour in Europe. And I remember the first couple of stops, they didn't. Obviously, they just didn't do it. Like, I think it was, like, Amsterdam. Let me look up where she started the tour.

[Ryan]

When did. When did Sabrina start doing that outro for?

[Mallory]

Oh, okay.

[Ryan]

What was that? I don't know what year that was.

[Mallory]

The. The nonsense.

[Ryan]

Yeah, the nonsense outro. Yeah. That definitely had to be post. I think Renaissance was 2023. Renaissance tour was 2023.

[Mallory]

Nonsense. What? Yeah, that was, like, 2024.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

So, yeah, it was after Renaissance.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

I really. And I'm. It makes sense. I don't know. The Beyonce manufactured it or, like, the. Who started it? It seems like, something her team would be smart enough to do and manufacture in a way that feel. But, like, that was the first time I remember being like, oh. And now it seems like every tour, especially for the pop girlies, they all have a manufactured. This is a thing we're gonna go viral for. So Sabrina started doing those outros, and then she also started arresting people. Rosalia right now does the confessionals where she brings a celebrity in. Ariana's doing a mute challenge.

[Ryan]

Effectively, I'll say, because I just went to a concert where there was a mute challenge. I couldn't remember what concert was. It was Ariana. What? What?

[Mallory]

Me and my truth, we sit in silence.

[Ryan]

Mm.

[Mallory]

Come on.

[Ryan]

We know the counts.

[Mallory]

Okay.

[Ryan]

The beats.

[Mallory]

But yeah. So she's doing a mute challenge. Cardi B did a mute challenge during 5B. A song is gonna point it to my head, and then she gets the audience to shut up, which is crazy.

[Ryan]

Oh, crazy.

[Mallory]

But it's like, I love. That is a really crazy word. I love that Beyonce consistently finds ways to change music in, like, big and little ways. And even something like that. Like, you have to have a viral moment. And I feel like if I were a concert director or if I were a manager on a team and I'm coming to people, I'm like, what is our viral moment in this tour?

[Ryan]

And you know what? She's still niche.

[Mallory]

Yes.

[Ryan]

Even though she is the originator of so many things. The Friday drop.

[Mallory]

You think Beyonce's niche. That feels crazy. I don't.

[Ryan]

Whoa, what's that? I mean, niche for who she is. Like, when you go look at the top 10 most listened to artists on Spotify, Beyonce is always, like, lower than. She should be, like, number 18 or, like, number 21 or something right now. And I'd be like, da, da, da. Why would she be there in Post Malone? Malone is number one. You know what I mean? Like, don't piss me off.

[Mallory]

You know what's crazy? You know, it's never Post Malone, but that is funny.

[Ryan]

You know what I mean? It'd be Post Malone.

[Mallory]

Post Malone is often top 10, and I'm like. Or Bruno Mars is top 10, and

[Ryan]

I'm like, Bruno Mars be number one. Post Malone be number one.

[Mallory]

Bad Bunny. Makes sense.

[Ryan]

That's fine. That is the first one that buddy be number one.

[Mallory]

Post Malone is never number one. And Bruno Marsh is never number one.

[Ryan]

He is.

[Mallory]

No, they're not.

[Ryan]

Yes, he is, Ryan.

[Mallory]

They're not. They are.

[Ryan]

Is number one often. And post number one often too. You are on.

[Mallory]

You are Wrong.

[Ryan]

No, I'm not.

[Mallory]

Post Malone and Bruno Mars are top five. They oscillate in the top five, but they have. I don't think they're ever number one.

[Ryan]

They are.

[Mallory]

You were thinking of the Weeknd and you were thinking of Bad Bunny.

[Ryan]

The weekend. The weekend. Number one. Justin Bieber be number one. Bruno Mars be number one.

[Mallory]

Also. I'm not trying to be a hater. Bieber.

[Ryan]

Bieber was number one following Coachella.

[Mallory]

And that makes.

[Ryan]

That makes sense because there's, like a thing that's happening, but I think Bieber

[Mallory]

is often higher than I. Maybe it's just that I don't know anyone who still believes and that. You know what I mean? I'm like, it is crazy to me that he is still top 20. I. I'm like, not. And that's not a knock at Justin Bieber.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

I just am like, who is actively going out and seeking Justin Bieber's music in a way? Like, I don't know anyone who does. Even when you give me a Selena Gomez, I hear the mood.

[Ryan]

I'll go.

[Mallory]

That's what I'm saying. I hear you in the mood. Selena Gomez in my brain. I mean, I get that.

[Ryan]

Yeah. I also like Beyonce's number 36, and

[Mallory]

that's crazy to me.

[Ryan]

Like, excuse me. Now let me look to see where Posty is. He's gonna.

[Mallory]

He's probably top 25. He is not. I don't even think he's top 10 right now. There's no. He's never number one. I'm right, though. Your face tells me I'm.

[Ryan]

I'm looking still.

[Mallory]

Yeah, you're looking not number one. Right. That's what I'm saying. Plus one is not. You're. You're just wrong. Bruno Mars is probably top five, unfortunately. He's.

[Bria]

Huh?

[Ryan]

Huh?

[Mallory]

He's who? He's number 35. Okay, great. And you know what?

[Ryan]

He's near Beyonce. Yeah.

[Mallory]

That's what I'm saying. Post one is never. He's not that high.

[Ryan]

He do be. He used to.

[Mallory]

Bruno Mars is probably shockingly high. He's probably top five right now. And I don't understand why.

[Ryan]

Why? I did just get tickets to his concert, so.

[Mallory]

Hey, I'm. And again, I am not knocking Bruno Mars. Bruno Mars is a talented little man, and I enjoy his show.

[Ryan]

Bruno Mars is number one in the world right at this second.

[Mallory]

You're lying.

[Ryan]

Bruno Mars is number one at this second. Listening.

[Mallory]

I'm telling you, those are bots.

[Ryan]

I'm telling you, cuz.

[Mallory]

That's just like that Die with a Smile song. And I'm like, how? I've never in my life heard someone cut that song. I promise you, I've never heard someone cut it.

[Ryan]

It's actually insane.

[Mallory]

And I hang out with gay days. We love Gaga, never. Do you, do we love Gaga?

[Ryan]

Do you hang out with gay.

[Mallory]

No, you know what? That's fair. I, I, that's, yeah, that's fair.

[Ryan]

I don't.

[Mallory]

I, I'm just saying. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars's Die with a Smile. Who's picking it up?

[Ryan]

Nobody was listening. It was bad. Sorry.

[Mallory]

It was bad.

[Ryan]

I don't even know anybody who liked it. And it was so much less like listening to it, you know? How is it number one?

[Mallory]

I'm like, who? Who's putting it on? I don't believe it.

[Ryan]

Where Michael Jackson is.

[Mallory]

Michael Jackson's probably top 75.

[Ryan]

Five.

[Mallory]

Number five. Oh, the movie.

[Ryan]

The movie.

[Mallory]

I forgot. Bruno Mars being number one blows.

[Ryan]

So this is what I mean when I say Beyonce is niche. Beyonce is always in that area.

[Mallory]

I really need you to never. That's.

[Ryan]

I know, but it's crazy for who she is to have the number 7 highest grossing tour in history.

[Mallory]

Sure.

[Ryan]

To always be like, she's always up there. Never be top 10.

[Mallory]

And also when she drops, even when she drops, she's still pretty high and it blows.

[Ryan]

Exactly. She's like, when she, Even when she has a new album out, she'll get to like 20. Maybe, maybe 19.

[Mallory]

Nah, I think she probably dips into the top 10 for a week and then probably pops back.

[Ryan]

Right. And I'm just like, why?

[Mallory]

And it's weird because also because again, she's like the most awarded and nominated Grammy artist in history. She always debuts at number one, like, as a solo project. She's never not debuted at number one. She's never not done that. She often has. She's had, like number one singles, I believe, from each album. Maybe not Lemonade. Maybe not Lemonade, but I think everything else had a number one single. I could see BDAY not having a number one either. Run the World. Never. Sorry, when I said B day, I meant four.

[Ryan]

Absolutely had number one singles. Probably is probably one where multiple came from.

[Mallory]

I don't know about that. Bday had. I was thinking of number. I was thinking of the album 4, and I forget Run the World was a huge hit. And so there's no way that that didn't. I shouldn't say, no way did that go number one. Let's look. I'll be surprised if it didn't

[Bria]

see

[Ryan]

even the way that Google treats Beyonce pisses me off. If I type in Renaissance, Beyonce should come up. Okay. I don't give a about the Renaissance. The Ren Fair. I don't give a about the historic. The period in history. About the Harlem Renaissance. Beyonce needs to pop up.

[Mallory]

Here's the thing. The Renaissance period. I don't it was much longer.

[Ryan]

I don't give a. I'm just about the Renaissance.

[Mallory]

If you are googling Renaissance. I would assume so anyways that the hundred year period would work. Harlem Renaissance also makes Sense.

[Ryan]

Irreplaceable. Spent 10 weeks at number one from Bday.

[Mallory]

That's B Day.

[Ryan]

Yes.

[Mallory]

I don't think I realized that.

[Ryan]

That's it.

[Mallory]

No other number ones?

[Ryan]

No. Oh Deja vu Pleased at number four. Beautiful Liar peaked at number three.

[Mallory]

Right. That makes sense. I'm saying I don't think bday would have that many her. I am is probably the one that had all the hits.

[Ryan]

Hits.

[Mallory]

And I agree. But I think those were the hits.

[Ryan]

Definitely. Anyways, Beyonce is niche. Yeah.

[Mallory]

Because even saying that like I'm like the fact that I have to think about her albums. Even though the songs were big, they heard number one. She usually has one or two from each album. But like she doesn't have hits like that.

[Ryan]

And this is what makes me never feel bad about not necessarily translating to virality. If that makes sense. You know what I mean? I'm like, yeah, Beyonce. The way y'. All. Like Beyonce needs to be number one artist. And every the way that every one of Taylor Swift songs charts.

[Mallory]

Right.

[Ryan]

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. When she comes out. Beyonce needs to have that all the time. And she doesn't. And I'm like, y' all will never make me feel bad about it. That is the artist of a generation.

[Mallory]

Correct.

[Ryan]

People.

[Mallory]

I mean, I guess maybe it's the people we hang out with. Maybe we're in a silo. I don't know. I don't think we are. Beyonce literally performs at a level that is generational like Michael Jackson and gets that comparison quite a bit all the time. And you're right, she is not. She's often not even in the top 10. And it is weird when you consider who is and like Travis Scott. Probably not right now, but for a while was up there and I'm like who's ever comparing Travis Scott to a

[Ryan]

Michael Jackson People and people died.

[Mallory]

People died.

[Ryan]

Astroworld.

[Mallory]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

It is weird.

[Ryan]

He needs to be jailed. But he in the top 10. Like don't, don't. And this is coming from somebody who used to be a fan.

[Bria]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Don't piss me off.

[Mallory]

Yeah. It's weird. I still. I feel like niche isn't the word, but you're.

[Ryan]

You know what I mean? I'm being dramatic. I'm being dramatic. No, no.

[Mallory]

But also, I don't know what else the word even is.

[Ryan]

She just isn't as popular as she should.

[Mallory]

She should be.

[Ryan]

And that's why when I. Underrated is the word.

[Mallory]

And that's why I get mad when people, like, try to. When we say that, it is because if you actually look at the stats, she is underrated comparatively to, like, to those around her and to people who are. Or when we say something like a Taylor Swift is overrated is. Because when you look at her contemporaries, it is overrated.

[Ryan]

I quite literally mean overrated. I am not saying bad. I am not saying bad. I am saying overrated for ability level. Correct. And Beyonce is underrated for ability level.

[Mallory]

And even when you argue, like, greatest performer, I'm like, all right, I'm willing to hear who's better. And I cannot think of another pop star who does what she does. There are lots who do a lot of good things. Even Gaga. I love Gaga. Great. Yeah. And also great. Good performer. Great performer. But I'm like, it's just very different.

[Ryan]

Fantastic.

[Bria]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

She's a theater kid, and that's really what it is.

[Ryan]

I love. I love the voice. I love. I love Gaga. I love Gaga.

[Mallory]

What the hell does she know about.

[Ryan]

There is not a performer on this planet that is giving Beyonce right now. No, there isn't.

[Mallory]

No.

[Ryan]

Her content. Her comparable person is Michael Jackson.

[Mallory]

Correct.

[Ryan]

Someone who people consider the best performer of all time. Of history.

[Mallory]

Correct.

[Ryan]

She is in the league with the Beatles, with the Michael Jacksons, with the Princes. Beyonce is up there. There is literally no other person alive right now who is doing that Right. And it annoys me. That actually annoys me.

[Mallory]

It's stuff like that.

[Ryan]

She is underrated.

[Mallory]

Maybe I am high because I will. I will fight and argue there where I'm like, you guys are just wrong. And it's not even a knock against, like, the others. It is just that, like, hey, when you actually look at the work ethic and the things that are produced, I'm like, hey, that is very, very good.

[Ryan]

I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it.

[Mallory]

But, yeah, I do think Renaissance is just another continuation. And the fact that it was Act One and we started to get those visuals. We got a teaser, a little sample. We got the. Everything everywhere all at once. Clips, the visuals, like, the faces. And then she gave us all these random, I guess, clues. Went nowhere. We are six years later, we've got a whole nother album. Neither have visuals.

[Ryan]

She actually pissed me off. Yeah. Like, I actually felt personally assaulted. And like, we had beef. Because on the top of that, that she never gave us a goddamn visual.

[Mallory]

Not one.

[Ryan]

She put out that concert film in theaters. Never released it to a single streamer. Never put it out on dvd. No. Because I said, I'm going to watch it at home. Why? I don't know.

[Mallory]

That was silly.

[Ryan]

That was. That was really silly.

[Mallory]

Very foolish.

[Ryan]

She loves to do that to me.

[Mallory]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

It's like we have personal beef. Like, honestly, you know how. Oh, God. You remember how that girl. I'm taking this far, okay? The girl who thought she had personal beef with Rihanna and pulled up to Rihanna's house.

[Mallory]

I don't think you mean that.

[Ryan]

Don't mean it that way. What I'm saying is how that girl thinks Rihanna knows that she exists. It's starting to give that Beyonce. You know what I mean? It's starting to give that she has a problem with me.

[Mallory]

She's like, oh. She's like, I'm gonna do something fun just because. Also, I remember you didn't go to Be Chella.

[Ryan]

I didn't go to Be Chella because I bought tickets to Renaissance. I bought tickets to Coachella the year before because Beyonce was supposed to be headlining that year. And then she got pregnant with the twins. And I said, oh, you think this is cute? You think this is a joke? You think this is fun? Because she promised at that time she was gonna come back next year as the.

[Mallory]

I'll be there.

[Bria]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

And I said, I'm not going next year because you don't take your job seriously because you decided to have children.

[Mallory]

And you know what she did? Gave one of the greatest performances.

[Ryan]

And I sat at home, gun inside mount. Sorry. Crazy. Really contemplating.

[Mallory]

Not going to cry.

[Ryan]

Quite literally, really contemplating.

[Mallory]

Yeah, no, it was great. And I was there. It was fantastic. I would never miss.

[Ryan]

Shut up.

[Mallory]

I also.

[Ryan]

Shut up.

[Mallory]

I also went to the Renaissance when

[Ryan]

it was go to hell.

[Mallory]

I'm sorry that I show up and

[Ryan]

you didn't invite me to either.

[Mallory]

You know I didn't.

[Ryan]

No.

[Mallory]

Why did I not invite you to. Oh, I went with the gays. I didn't think you would want to go. I did. It was fun. I wanted to go just so I could sing it and relive it live. It was very fun. The. I do wonder why she didn't put it out. I'm assuming she's gonna put it on Netflix or whatever.

[Ryan]

I thought so too. That came out in 2023 and it's not coming. It's three years later.

[Mallory]

Here we are. And I'm assuming she filmed Cowboy Carter. Who knows if we'll see.

[Ryan]

Like, where are you? Maybe we're gonna get a compilation. I feel like we have to.

[Mallory]

It's one of those things where I. I assume that it has to be a three act thing that we will get. I fear that we have maybe put too much pressure on Beyonce. Not we, like we. The. The royal.

[Ryan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mallory]

And maybe she's putting pressure on herself. She is a perfectionist. But it's one of those things where, like, if the visuals didn't really work for Renaissance, she's like, I'll just, we're scrapping it. We can make this work later. And then, like, Cowboy Carter came and like, now it's like, oh, we're trying to piece this together. And then, like, now we're two years removed from that. And so, like, in theory, Act 3 has to come out. And I think at that point she has to tie it together. And I think that might be also why it's delayed. Because it's like, the longer you wait to do a thing, the more people are like, well. And then I wonder if she's just like, it's a lot.

[Ryan]

I would be inclined to agree with you if that lady had not looked us dead in our face and said, you are the visuals, and laughed because you really think shit is sweet. Like, you think this is a joke. Like, you think, like you think you're being cute. Like you think you're being funny. I'm really upset.

[Mallory]

I'm almost certain that that was in the Renaissance concert movie where, like, there's a point where she's like, reading the sign. She goes, huh?

[Ryan]

Where are the visuals?

[Mallory]

You are the visuals. And she. I. Do you think she meant it?

[Ryan]

I do.

[Mallory]

Oh, you think it's dumb?

[Ryan]

I do. I genuinely don't think we're getting a visual out of that lady.

[Mallory]

I don't ever.

[Ryan]

I don't. Because, you know, she's funny acting. She was also supposed to release the visuals for Formation World Tour. Never came out. Or was it the other one? No, I'm pretty sure it was.

[Mallory]

No, it was Formation World Tour.

[Ryan]

There is a genre came out and I'm like, wow, what's up with you? What's good with you?

[Mallory]

Maybe she.

[Ryan]

Are we beefed out? Like I really want to know if we're beefed out. Cause it's so weird.

[Mallory]

You and this one sided beef with Beyonce.

[Ryan]

Clearly it's giving two sided at this point. It is very much giving that she knows.

[Mallory]

I hope, I do hope we get visuals. But also the music slaps without. I think that's the one thing is that like.

[Ryan]

And that's people claim that she did not give us visuals on purpose so that we could focus on how layered the music and deep the production and the lyrics and the vocals are on the album. I'm like, I can multitask.

[Mallory]

And also we're years removed. We're four years out. So I'm like, I, you know, the

[Ryan]

storyline has run stale actually.

[Mallory]

Yeah, I, I hope we get visuals. But I. The clips I remember seeing because like there were like ads she did around this too where you saw like little things and they were cute and they were fun. There was like one of her in a greens. She's like on a motorcycle and pumping her face and people thought it was the break. My. Have you seen these videos?

[Ryan]

I don't remember that.

[Mallory]

It was like someone in Brooklyn was filming, like she was just on the street. It was allegedly Beyonce. She's in like a full body green suit, so you can't really tell if it's her. But they have Break My Soul playing and she's like recording and so like there are people who have said they worked on it. Remember Barbie Ferreira came out, was like we were all in this thick music video. Yeah. I don't know what happened. Like so people consistently. I remember that during that era a lot of drag queens, they said they worked with Beyonce. So like, like something happened.

[Bria]

Wow.

[Mallory]

That's my whole thing, which I'm like, I don't. Maybe she's never putting it out, but I feel like we know that something happened. Too many people are speaking on it for there to be nothing.

[Ryan]

We're gonna get it. I think we'll get it. I think we'll get it eventually.

[Mallory]

I. I hope. I don't know.

[Ryan]

I really do hope. I really do hope.

[Mallory]

I just don't know what Act 3 will be. I hope we get Act 3 and

[Ryan]

I'm sad that it really doesn't look like we're getting Act 3 this year. I don't think we're getting it this year.

[Mallory]

Is there not enough? I mean, when are the other 29s this year?

[Ryan]

I don't think we're Getting it this year because it is the 30th anniversary of reasonable doubt and the 25th anniversary of the Blueprint and is on this run right now.

[Mallory]

So she's.

[Ryan]

I don't imagine that she will.

[Mallory]

Who gonna watch them kids?

[Ryan]

Capital. You know what I mean? Who gonna. Who gonna watch them kids? And, you know, that's Take. That's gonna dominate it. Yeah, act three will dominate whatever he's doing. Whatever little shows. I'm going to the show, by the

[Mallory]

way, to be Jay Z's.

[Ryan]

Yes. I'm to la. I'm going to Hollywood Bowl. I'm going. I. As I. I had deep FOMO watching Jay Z at. I really like rap. I don't know if you guys know this.

[Mallory]

He wasn't. No, that was. That's an arena. He was at a stadium.

[Ryan]

He must have been at msg. Oh, he was at Yankee. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I felt a deep, deep level of FOMO that I was like, oh, yeah, I am gonna have to go.

[Mallory]

So I imagine she's coming out here too. She came out both two of the three nights he was there.

[Ryan]

Okay, that sounds right. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, no.

[Mallory]

Oh, she's definitely coming.

[Ryan]

She's definitely coming out.

[Mallory]

Perhaps dropping a new song.

[Ryan]

Oh, no.

[Mallory]

Because again, that overshadows and because, you know, if nothing else, she loved that man. Oh, God. But what. He wasn't on the album. He wasn't on Renaissance. He wasn't on Cowboy. Has he always been.

[Ryan]

Now he. You know what he did? He did write.

[Mallory]

No, he did.

[Ryan]

He co wrote. No, that's. That's Drake that co wrote.

[Mallory]

He did all up in your mind.

[Ryan]

He co wrote Alien Superstar.

[Mallory]

What? Sing the lyrics.

[Ryan]

I'm too classy for this world Too classy for this world yeah, I'm that girl oh, baby I Too classy to be touched. He does sound like a lamb.

[Bria]

Just like that.

[Ryan]

He does, absolutely. Yeah.

[Mallory]

Uniform you put on. That does sound like you put on. How did you. That's her.

[Ryan]

When I actually started thinking about, like, the flow that she employs on there, because it's like a little. It's like staccato, you know, Uniform is the. You know, eyes on you when you perform. Eyes on I. When I put on.

[Mallory]

Oh, wait, no, there it is. Uniform is the unicorn you put on. Eyes on you when I put on. Yeah, I'm bad at Jay Z accent. Yeah, it's lower than.

[Ryan]

It wasn't bad. It wasn't bad. Barely lower than that. He does have a high voice.

[Mallory]

It's high I think I was higher than him. I'm looking. I can't find the actual lyric where she says that. Where did she put that unicorn? Unicorn. Unicorn is the uniform you put on. Eyes on you when you perform.

[Ryan]

Eyes on I. When I put on Mastermind.

[Mallory]

Hawk Couture. Later Whore Clocks. I'm so obscure, you know?

[Ryan]

Yes.

[Mallory]

I also remember the unique. The spongebob meme is like Squidward sleeping.

[Bria]

Unique.

[Ryan]

Unique lives in my Lives in my head. Rent free. The. The dream wrote. Co wrote nine of the 16 songs on. Oh wow. So that's a frequent collaborator. Apparently they've been collaborating Since Sasha Fierce 2008. He's written on every album since Sasha Fierce.

[Mallory]

That makes sense. And. And again, I. If I were her, I also would keep him around. Cause Sasha Fierce, while it's not one of my favorite Beyonce albums, is the album mainstream?

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory]

Yes. So that makes sense.

[Ryan]

So yeah, I've been working there. Four singles supported the album Break My Soul, which topped the US Billboard Hot 100.

[Bria]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

Give her a number one.

[Ryan]

Cuff it. Longest charting song in US history. Her longest.

[Mallory]

Sorry, I'm gonna say that is impossible.

[Ryan]

Cuff it is her longest charting song in the United States.

[Mallory]

And I think that makes sense because again, it is such a. I think not her most. Maybe her most family friendly song. It is. So I mean before that it was tell. Oh well, you know.

[Ryan]

Hey, you know. And that spent 33 weeks at the top of the chart. Telephone and cuff it 34. Yes. And then Virgo's Groove was released as a single exclusively in Europe. Which I think is really funny because I'm like, that's a eight minute song. Like, what. How did they. I don't know.

[Mallory]

And they probably have.

[Ryan]

But I'm like, they definitely have a radio. But I'm like, how long? Like what is it? What does it sound like? What is the radio version?

[Mallory]

It's six minutes and I'm like, I wonder where they cut it.

[Ryan]

Yeah, right. Cuz I do want all the runs. So. Baby, love me, love me, love me, love you Squeeze me.

[Mallory]

What is the. There was. People were doing that as a challenge too. Is it that part? What part is the. The challenge?

[Ryan]

It's like you're the love of my life.

[Mallory]

Hold on, I'm going to Let me. It's. Virgo was great. That part I hear once.

[Ryan]

You are.

[Mallory]

Okay. I just need to hear one more time.

[Ryan]

You gonna try it?

[Mallory]

I am.

[Ryan]

Is this your Jay Z impression?

[Mallory]

I see a little water.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Yeah. That's all. You just need a little bit of Water.

[Mallory]

You do it. You try.

[Ryan]

I'm going to do the Dubai run.

[Mallory]

Okay, I can do that one.

[Ryan]

How did that one go? What did. What song is it even?

[Mallory]

It's. It's Drunk In Love Dubai Run. I forget. But it's different.

[Ryan]

It.

[Mallory]

In Love Dubai. I'll play it.

[Ryan]

I know it. I don't even know.

[Mallory]

Oh, hey. Why is it so. Why are you down here.

[Ryan]

Now? That was pretty good.

[Bria]

Thank you.

[Ryan]

That was pretty good.

[Mallory]

You should have taken it up.

[Ryan]

You were.

[Mallory]

Why were you. Why?

[Ryan]

Do it. Do it higher. I'm a baritone.

[Mallory]

Do it higher. You can do it higher.

[Ryan]

I don't feel like it.

[Mallory]

I'll do it with you.

[Ryan]

Come on. No, I don't feel like it. Okay, fine. I don't feel like that.

[Mallory]

High note is the fun part. Yeah, that was great.

[Ryan]

What else? Oh, and then. Yes. The other. The last single.

[Mallory]

What was it? Wait, what were the. It was Renaissance.

[Ryan]

Break My Soul. Virgo's Groove.

[Mallory]

Okay.

[Ryan]

Exclusively. Exclusively in Europe. The last single is America has a Problem remix with Kendrick Lamar ghosting it up. Ghosting it up.

[Mallory]

And that's all I don't want.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Once he starts to get into the. Hey, boo boo, I'm out. I don't want it. I don't want that.

[Mallory]

Also, What a crazy America.

[Ryan]

America has a problem.

[Mallory]

It's such a fun opening. Also, the way she did that.

[Ryan]

And she's in that beat.

[Mallory]

Yeah, the little B. Like, so fun. The tour is really fun.

[Ryan]

The tour was insane. If you weren't there. Sorry for you.

[Mallory]

Yeah. I mean, yeah. Because you're never. Is that what you want?

[Ryan]

Right? You're never going to get in. You know what's so funny to me? The fact that both Drake and Kendrick appear on this album somewhere. Kendrick on the remix. Drake wrote.

[Mallory]

He did.

[Ryan]

They cannot get away from each other. It's like when. It's like when you're in high school and you have a foe, you know, you have like a. You are my. You are my enemy. Yeah. And y' all just are in the same friend group. So you always end up at the same parties. Like, all the exclusive invites, you look up, you'd be like, why is he here? Damn, I thought I was doing something cool. Like, why is he here?

[Mallory]

I wonder if Kendrick did it to spite Drake. I'm kidding. I doubt him. Beyonce also loves Beyonce.

[Ryan]

Don't give a damn.

[Mallory]

No, she doesn't. Yeah, she had him on Lemonade as well. Yeah, I could do without him on that. I don't need it.

[Ryan]

Certainly.

[Mallory]

I also Love doi's. She did a rap over and hers.

[Ryan]

Her rap is really good. I would have preferred that over to Kendra. Yeah.

[Mallory]

She was still, like, in her bedroom at that point.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

But yeah, this also. The Renaissance movie. The Renaissance tour movie also gave us My House, which is the bonus track from it. I love it. It is so.

[Ryan]

I like that one, too. I like that.

[Mallory]

It's a very, very fun track.

[Ryan]

Now, where does Renaissance fall in your Beyonce ranking? You just said you think it might be your favorite.

[Mallory]

Yeah, it's back in number one for now.

[Ryan]

And where's Cowboy Carter?

[Mallory]

Number two for now?

[Ryan]

Lemonade.

[Mallory]

Lemonade was always lower for me. I. And I actually did go back and listen to Lemonade, and when we did the Lemonade thing, and it wasn't that high. Me for.

[Ryan]

For me. Yes, it was.

[Mallory]

Was it? Was it?

[Ryan]

Yes, you. Oh, my God.

[Mallory]

Where was it for me?

[Ryan]

You did you.

[Mallory]

You have my rank.

[Ryan]

Go back and listen to the damn episode.

[Bria]

I.

[Ryan]

You know what? Matter of fact, yes, I do. Ryan was on there talking about, wow, I was wrong. I listened to Lemonade and it is her best work. He literally says that in the episode. I think this might be her best.

[Mallory]

Look at his face, because I'm trying to find it. Where. I don't know where I put it. Did I say that?

[Ryan]

You did. Damn.

[Mallory]

That's crazy.

[Ryan]

That's why people don't like Geminis, because

[Mallory]

I don't remember what I said. Oh, yeah.

[Ryan]

That's what people be talking about, because

[Mallory]

I meant that at the time. Maybe her best work. I said that.

[Ryan]

Look at that.

[Mallory]

Lemonade is her best work.

[Ryan]

It is her best work.

[Mallory]

You know what it is? I think I need? That's my number one in front of me.

[Ryan]

And. No, you need to listen to it, because even with the track list, it's

[Mallory]

not going to do it.

[Ryan]

Lemonade is my number one. Renaissance is my number two.

[Mallory]

After this.

[Ryan]

Huh?

[Mallory]

After this.

[Ryan]

Listen, no, in general, I.

[Mallory]

There's no way I said that eliminate was her best work, because I do think Cowboy Carter.

[Ryan]

You said some of her best work.

[Mallory]

Oh, I would agree.

[Ryan]

Yeah. You said. You said. You might have even said. I don't remember that. You might have said, is this her best work? Question mark. You might.

[Mallory]

I might have questioned it.

[Ryan]

You might have said that. You really might have.

[Mallory]

Look at this track list. Pray you catch me. Hold up. Don't hurt. I do love. Don't hurt yourself. I like. We're not going back. I'm not doing this again.

[Ryan]

But, yes, this is my number two. This falls this falls squarely in number two place.

[Mallory]

Eliminate your number one. I. This is this. Listening to it again really did bump it back up the list wherever it fell. Remind me in the comments where I put it before because I don't know, but it's. It's definitely up there now. I would put it at number one right now.

[Ryan]

Beyonce's top half of her album discography. Like my favorite top. You know my top four. I'm like, these are all fantastic. Like it's, it's. I do have distinct favorites. Like Lemonade is always going to be my number one. Renaissance is always going to be my number two. B day and four.

[Mallory]

Flip flop.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Either of them could be crazy. Number two or. Or number three or four.

[Mallory]

At any point I also consistently will be like, I didn't like that. And then later I'll be singing it. So like, yeah, I. I'm screwed. I finally came around to hate that I made you love me. I don't like it, but I do. I hated it when it first dropped.

[Ryan]

Oh, this Ariana Grande song that you swore to God that you was never gonna like.

[Mallory]

It's all right. It's okay. It's okay.

[Ryan]

This is why people don't like Gemini. He'd be giving us a bad name. Look, this home don't like Gemini. I told you you was gonna like that damn song.

[Mallory]

This is crazy.

[Ryan]

You ain't want to hear it. I have Cowboy Carter is number 273. You have Eliminate Cowboy Carter, Renaissance4Bday, Self Titled. I am Sasha fierce, dangerously in love. That was your list.

[Mallory]

Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. So Lemonade was number one for me. Oh, and then Cowboy Card, then Renaissance. That's what it said.

[Ryan]

Okay, I remember. Whatever.

[Mallory]

And I would bump this. I think it's because we listen to Lemonade. This. To be honest.

[Ryan]

That's what I'm saying.

[Mallory]

Whenever I listen to anything, whenever I listen to a Beyonce album, it becomes my number one.

[Ryan]

Yes, that's.

[Mallory]

But the thing is, the top three of the top, the last. This is the last three Beyonce albums. That's what it is. I just literally.

[Ryan]

Is that my top three? That's not my top three.

[Mallory]

What I'm saying is my top three was Lemonade, Cowboy Carter, Renaissance. Cuz that was the order I had listened to the albums. And so right now, if you ask me, I'm going to say Renaissance, Lemonade, Cowboy Carter, because that is the order. I just listened to these.

[Ryan]

There we go. There we go. Yeah, no, I have lemonade for you.

[Mallory]

And that's Talent. Talent.

[Ryan]

You know, I'm telling you.

[Mallory]

And that's talent.

[Ryan]

The last thing you listen to is her best thing.

[Mallory]

Yeah. I'm like whatever. The whatever she just put out is because she's that good.

[Ryan]

Insane. Yeah. What other little fun facts do we have here? The intro to Alien Superstar interpolates, right? Said Fred's 1991 single, I'm too Sexy. I'm too sexy for my shirt.

[Mallory]

Sing her he the intro to heated Alien Superstar. Oh, I'm too classy for this world.

[Ryan]

Exactly. So forever I'm that girl.

[Mallory]

I said this earlier too. I love the Sailor Moon edit when she's transforming.

[Ryan]

You know, it doesn't mean anything to

[Mallory]

me, but yes, Sailor Moon was. I love that distinctly little girl.

[Ryan]

I didn't anime at all. It was too close.

[Mallory]

You should. You shouldn't watch it. I don't think you would like it.

[Ryan]

I watched it. My little cousin was obsessed with it was always on. I did not like it.

[Mallory]

You didn't not like it.

[Ryan]

I did not like it.

[Mallory]

Okay. She might have been too boy crazy. Her whole thing was. Was maybe.

[Ryan]

Yeah. I didn't know what the problem was,

[Mallory]

but I was like, I already barely animated.

[Ryan]

Animated.

[Mallory]

Yeah. Right.

[Ryan]

Any cartoon in general. And then it was anime, you know, I said, all right, we too far out. My death now.

[Mallory]

And I mean. I mean, to be fair, Usagi is annoying. That's her name.

[Ryan]

Her.

[Mallory]

Her name, when she is not Sailor Moon is Usagi. And she.

[Ryan]

I had no clue.

[Mallory]

I didn't sense. Why would you.

[Ryan]

I know she had a name. I thought her name was Sailor Moon.

[Mallory]

You thought she walked around public being called Sailor Moon? That was her alter ego. That was her alias is. Oh, you thought her mom called her Sailor Moon?

[Ryan]

Do you know, when I was a kid, I would dissociate when watching stuff that I did not want to be watching. I would just go internal. That's why I can say that I've never seen any of the Disney princess stuff. I have sat in the room with it and gone inside my brain and started thinking about other with my eyes on it.

[Mallory]

I guess that's a gift.

[Ryan]

This what people be talking about when they say that I disengage when I'm disinterested, that is.

[Mallory]

Yeah, maybe you just be like, I'm not listening.

[Ryan]

No, literally, I'm looking at you. You know that I'm looking because I did be fully in my head doing something entirely different looking at it. That's how. That's how I was with Sailor Moon.

[Mallory]

I'd be like, that's crazy. I re. Watched it as an adult, and it's fun, but I get it.

[Ryan]

She's.

[Bria]

She was.

[Ryan]

She might.

[Mallory]

You wouldn't have. I don't think you would have agreed with the character. Like, you probably wouldn't like her, especially not as an adult. Maybe even as a kid. You didn't appreciate it.

[Ryan]

I couldn't get into it. Couldn't get into it. Cuff it. Okay. We did. We discussed. That cover became her longest charting solo entry. Okay. We have. Oh, Plastic on the Sofa was written by Sid the kid.

[Mallory]

I did know that.

[Bria]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Of the Internet fame. And Sabrina Claudio, I don't think.

[Mallory]

Why do I know that name? What else did she write?

[Ryan]

She's a singer.

[Mallory]

Okay.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

I didn't know Sid wrote on.

[Ryan]

She wrote it.

[Mallory]

Oh, oh, oh.

[Ryan]

Beyonce does not appear as a writer on Plastic. On. Off the Sofa. Sid wrote that song and gave it to Beyonce.

[Mallory]

Wow.

[Ryan]

Yeah. And Sabrina. I think Sid and Sabrina Claudio wrote the song and gave it to Beyonce. Beyonce.

[Mallory]

That's crazy.

[Ryan]

Yeah. I think it's only one of two. Now, this is. Don't quote me, because I did not fact check this one. I think it's only. That's one of two songs that Beyonce does not appear.

[Mallory]

I was gonna say that as a writer on. For this album, she typically is at least a writer on everything.

[Ryan]

No, she did not write that one.

[Mallory]

Wow.

[Ryan]

That's crazy.

[Mallory]

I do. I like that song.

[Ryan]

Congrats to Sid. I'm like, what a big get.

[Mallory]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

My God.

[Bria]

Wow.

[Mallory]

Crazy.

[Ryan]

Sid said I would just listen to a podcast with her on it. Podcast, you know, podcast. And Sid was saying that she was part of, like, a writers camp for Beyonce, and she was, like, writing, right? And writing. And, like, nothing came of it. A couple years later, she was like, whatever happened? You know, she hits up Beyonce, she's like, what's up? Like, you know, I wrote these songs. Y' all doing anything with them. They're like, we're still at square one. Tbh. Like, we don't. We don't know what we're doing yet. And then she's like, okay, can I send you guys some more stuff? And she sent over Plastic off the Sofa, and it ended up on Renaissance. Wow. Grace Jones was a good get. Because Grace Jones had been quoted saying that she doesn't like middle of the road pop stars. Or like, she doesn't like collaborating with middle of the road pop stars. That's why she's like, she doesn't do that shit. That's why she doesn't do it bomb brand for her.

[Mallory]

Grace Jones is also very like an artiste, like a real 100%.

[Ryan]

So that is, again, a testament to Beyonce.

[Mallory]

Also, I. Let me fact check this, but I remember hearing a rumor that they go to the same church and that is how they ended up.

[Ryan]

I can believe that. Yeah. I can believe that the church be bringing the blacks together, if nothing else else. And then last thing. Thick. Beyonce started working on thick in 2014 during the I Am Sasha Fierce era.

[Mallory]

Oh, wait, sorry, say this again.

[Ryan]

Beyonce had been working on thick since 2014 during the I Am Sasha Fierce era. That was. That's when she began working on Thick. And it sounds like that.

[Mallory]

That is the thing about Thick is that it doesn't age well.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

Because it sounds even dated for Renaissance. And it does sound like early 2000s.

[Ryan]

Right.

[Mallory]

Like, even that. It just is like, I feel like even hip hop is not like in that space really anymore. And it feels that.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

So I believe it.

[Ryan]

It's a little too dissonant for my personal taste. I'm like thick. Yeah. Yeah.

[Mallory]

I do like, when the beat kicks in, it's fun, but it's just like. Yeah, yeah. It sounds early 2000s and it shows, but it's not pretty.

[Ryan]

It's not a pretty song until the end.

[Mallory]

Yes. It says Grace Jones and Beyonce connected through church long before they collaborated in 2022. Jones revealed that they met several times at her brother's church. I'm assuming Grace Jones's brother's church in la. When Beyonce and Joe. When Beyonce asked Jones to lend her vocals to the song, Jones agreed because they have a shared faith. And though she stipulated that her vocals could not be. I love that. Jones stipulated that her vocals could not be altered in any way.

[Ryan]

That's just what she sounds like. I like that. Yeah, I like that.

[Mallory]

Wow.

[Ryan]

That's great.

[Mallory]

This is what I sound like.

[Ryan]

That's great. Yeah. And then last, after winning her four of her nine nominations at the 65th annual Grammy Awards, that's when she became the most Grammy nominal renaissance. Including best dance Electronic album. Beyonce became the most awarded individual in Grammy history. She then went on for Cowboy Carter to continue to rack him up. Yes.

[Mallory]

So, Yeah, I like 99, I think is what she has her total somewhere like that sounds right. Many Grammy wins. Does Beyonce. I think it's 99. Nope. 35. 30. 99 nominations, 99 nominations, 35 wins.

[Bria]

Yes.

[Mallory]

The most awarded artist in history.

[Ryan]

And yet she's so grand.

[Bria]

Yeah.

[Mallory]

Yet still not number one on Spotify. And that should tell you like you said that. Tell you everything.

[Ryan]

Everything you need to know and.

[Mallory]

And all the things that, like, popularity isn't always.

[Ryan]

I've seen what makes y' all cheer. I don't care about your booze.

[Mallory]

Wow. Where's that? I know that quote. What is that?

[Ryan]

That's a Rick and Morty quote.

[Mallory]

Oh, I've seen what makes you cheer. I don't care about your boo. Fair enough. Fair enough. But yeah, I love that renaissance. Great album.

[Ryan]

Like, literally again, her top two. And it is too for me.

[Mallory]

Yeah, it's number one for me right now. We'll check back in at the Cowboy

[Ryan]

Carter Carter episode and. Or we won't be doing because I don't like that one but

[Mallory]

actually hurts my heart to hear you.

[Ryan]

You and Jewel could do it by yourselves or you and Nadir can do it by your. Yourselves. I would.

[Mallory]

I love it. Yeah, I'll do.

[Ryan]

If you guys want a Cowboy Carter episode. You wouldn't join us without me? I would. I would join, of course.

[Mallory]

Yeah, I would do by myself. I just listen to the tracks quite literally.

[Ryan]

We can do that as bonus content. We can do that as Voco. That's it for this episode. If you would like to connect with us, you can email us at black people up here more gmail dot com. You can send us hate mail. You can tell us that our rankings are incorrect, or you can applaud me and, like, give me all of the words of affirmation for how correct that I always am. I don't think I get that enough.

[Mallory]

So I wonder if you don't get it enough because, like.

[Ryan]

Because what?

[Mallory]

You don't like to lie?

[Ryan]

People do like to lie. One but

[Mallory]

she totally there.

[Ryan]

Yeah, you guys wouldn't lie to me. I know you wouldn't lie to me. And yeah, you can connect with us on socials at BPLP pod across all of the platforms and that is see you next time. Bye.