Hey y'all, you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR. I'm Anna Sale.

This is a public service, Anna. She's back.

She is of course fiance. And this week the Queen Bee dropped her new album, Renaissance.

So if you have a Beyoncé fan in your life, you may want to heed TikTok user,

Kaelin Allen's advice.

It's already thought by me, so don't call me. Don't text me. She's going to change the world.

Lucky.

I hope you're ready to dance. If the pandemic was marked by music that made you want to cozy up

in a card again and chill out alone, Beyoncé is declaring it's time to sweat it out with your

lovers and friends. The whole album, built as Renaissance Act 1, is a tribute to music that

makes you want to move, from house to funk to techno to ballroom.

There are a few musicians who can make the world stop when they drop new music,

but Beyoncé for decades has had her grip on the zeitgeist. This week she's what everyone

was talking about, the unexpected album leak two days ago, the dedication of the album to her

late gay uncle and its invitation for all of us to find some release on the dance floor.

To break all this down, I spoke with Joey Gera, a music critic at the Houston Chronicle,

Beyoncé's hometown, of course, and Dan Runcy, the founder of the hip hop business site,

Trapidl. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you so much. I want to just just capture that first

feeling you had when listening to the tracks. Dan, what did you feel? I felt a release. I felt

like I could have the freedom to be able to go express myself, but I think Beyoncé was able to

have an album that can make you say, finally, yes, here's a song like this that I haven't heard

in a little while from someone that you respect so much. This album and these songs I know will

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