(Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia)
The new song, which appears on the end credits of concert documentary Renaissance, is thrilling for its change in tempo and anti-commercial stance
Last night, Taylor Swift unexpectedly turned up at the London premiere of Renaissance: a Film by Beyoncé, a documentary concert movie centred on the singer’s 2023 stadium tour. Swift apparently flew by private jet from Arizona to be there, a reciprocation for Beyoncé showing up at the premiere of Swift’s own concert movie, when her presence led Swift to post an adulatory note on social media: “She’s taught me and every artist out here to break rules and defy industry norms.”
You could dismiss it as back-scratching celebrity gush, but amid the superlatives, Swift has a point. Beyoncé’s recent career is suggestive of an artist who’s clocked that she occupies an unassailable position within pop culture, where whatever she releases is greeted with a critical reception that borders on hysteria, then sells in vast quantities (“I have nothing to prove to anyone at this point,” she notes during the Renaissance movie) and views that as space to do whatever she wants.