ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Beyoncé Renaissance Columbia, Out Now ★★★★★

horsepower: Queen Bey

Beyoncé sits all but naked astride a glass horse on the cover of her seventh album.

Over 16 songs, she lays bare the influences on her 25-year career and what it is to be Queen Bey in 2022. She describes herself as ‘Comfortable in my skin’ on the club-ready Cozy and ‘building my own foundation’ on Break My Soul. You get Prince-ish funk on the Right Said Fred-sampling Alien Superstar and dreampop meets nu-soul on Plastic Off The Sofa. Then there is the Seventies discoindebted Cuff It which naturally has Nile Rodgers on guitar. From the same era she interpolates Donna Summer’s I Feel Love on closer Summer Renaissance.

But before that Grace Jones intones admonishments and affirmations on the cracking Mov. Drake, Jay-Z and others flit in and out but quickly as this is the Knowles Show. The songs merge seamlessly into each other (yes even on streaming services) and it is literally a heady, irresistible mix. God save the Queen.