“Summer Renaissance” by Beyoncé

There are parts of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” album, disses if you will, which many analysts, in some instances hastily, attributed as being aimed at Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z. Well if such is the case, then the same has to be said for “Summer Renaissance”. 

On this particular piece, Beyoncé is biggin’ up her lover, and there is at least one solid clue that the addressee is in fact Jigga-inspired. And indeed for those of us who are familiar with the background of their union, well in this song Beyoncé is singing about more or less unexpectedly falling in love with a “gangster motherf—er”. And Carter was very much into his ‘hood persona around the time he and Knowles first started dating circa 2001. 

With that in mind, it can be postulated that the “renaissance” mentioned in the title is, at least in part, a harping back to the period when they first got together.

“Summer Renaissance” is a Love Song?

It should be noted that the lyrics of this track aren’t NSFW but are very much filled with sexual innuendos. Most generally put, this piece can be classified as a love song. But more specifically, it’s obvious that what the vocalist is truly celebrating is the physical side of her romance with the addressee.

Meaning of Song’s Title (“Summer Renaissance”)

That said, it has also been noted that Beyoncé is using the overall occasion as a form of tribute to the club artists of yesteryear and more particularly, as far as this track is concerned, the late Donna Summer. And as you can see, the word “Summer” is also found in the title (and, like “renaissance”, does not appear in actual lyrics). 

And of course the “Renaissance” album itself was dropped during the summer season of 2022 and has been noted by some listeners as being heavily influenced by the disco era, i.e. the era in American music history when Donna Summer flourished.

So the title of this track can be interpreted in a number of different ways. But as for its lyrical content, most simply explained this is a love song with a strong sexual undertone.

Release of “Summer Renaissance”

“Summer Renaissance” is the closing track on the playlist of Beyoncé’s album which itself is titled “Renaissance”. And this is a project which officially made its way onto store shelves, via Columbia Records, on 29 July 2022.

Credits

Singers who are as great as Beyoncé tend to employ a number of composers, past and present, when putting songs together – so once again, brace yourself. On the production side of “Summer Renaissance” not only do we have the Queen B herself but also the following big names:

• The-Dream
• Mike Dean
• Sol Was
• Leven Kali
• Nova Wav (Brittany Coney & Blu June)

And the lot of them, with the exception of Sol Was, are also credited as co-writers alongside:

• Ricky Dawson
• Sal Dali
• Ink
• Pete Bellotte
• Giorgio Moroder
• Donna Summer (1948-2012)

And the last three names on that list are acknowledged because “Summer Renaissance” samples Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” (1977), which they co-wrote.