Lil Nas X heaps praise on Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’: “So much intention was put into this”

Lil Nas X has nothing but love for Beyoncé’s just-released seventh album, ‘Renaissance’, the rapper has made clear in a new post shared on social media.

READ MORE: Lil Nas X – ‘Montero’ review: ‘Old Town Road’ prankster makes his case as a Serious Artist

Taking to his Instagram Story overnight, the artist also known as Montero Hill “unironically” declared that Bey’s latest is “kinda changing my life somehow”.

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Since the album was released last Friday (July 29), Bey has received an outpouring of acclaim for its tight lyrics, radiant energy, emphasis on fun and musical experimentation. In NME’s own four-star review, for example, Kyann-Sian Williams described ‘Renaissance’ as “the sound of an artist refreshed” and Bey’s “most relentlessly upbeat and fun record yet”.

Hill seems to agree with these notions, gushing in his Story that “so much intention was put into this [album]”, and affirming that Bey “really deserves every single flower thrown at her”. Of course, before fans jumped to accuse him of being overly fanatical with his review, Hill stressed that he was “not even dikriding [sic]”.

Though ‘Renaissance’ has been well-received by critics and members of the Bey Hive, the album has faced a rocky first week on the market, with Beyoncé forced to edit two songs in the wake of controversies over their content.

Similar to a recent controversy with Lizzo’s song ‘Grrrls’ (which was also amended shortly thereafter), Beyoncé caught flak earlier this week for using the ableist slur “spaz” in one of the lyrics on ‘Heated’. Following the backlash, Bey’s publicist confirmed that the offensive lyric in ‘Heated’ would indeed be altered. Now, when streaming the song on Apple Music, all uses of the slur have been replaced with the word “blast”.

Soon thereafter, it was confirmed that Bey had altered the track ‘Energy’ to remove an interpolation of Kelis’ 2003 hit ‘Milkshake’. Within days of the album dropping, Kelis took to social media to claim that Beyoncé used elements of ‘Milkshake’ without her express permission. The song has now been updated on Tidal and Apple Music to remove the interpolation, however it still appears to be intact on other platforms.

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In more positive news, it’s been revealed that ‘Renaissance’ is part of a forthcoming trilogy. A fan who received a vinyl copy of the album shared an image from its accompanying booklet, wherein Beyoncé describes ‘Renaissance’ as the first of a “three act project” that was recorded “over three years during the pandemic”.