joyous

It may seem odd that Calvin Harris has made this belated sequel to 2017’s Funk Wav Bounces Vol 1, but actually all his albums have come in pairs. The first two were dance-pop sets featuring the young Scot as a singing frontman; the next couple were epic collaboration compilations from someone who’d somehow become the world’s highest-paid DJ slash Armani model. As annoyingly ubiquitous as Harris may seem sometimes, his quality control has rarely dipped. Bounces Vol 1 was a magical surprise featuring blissed-out beach club…

It has been six years since the last proper Beyoncé solo release. After 2016’s astonishing visual album, Lemonade, the pop behemoth put out a solid but canonically forgettable collaborative full-length with husband Jay-Z (as the Carters), plus 2019’s The Gift, her vibrant soundtrack for Disney’s remake of The Lion King. The protracted wait for her seventh album gives its title, Renaissance, a multiplicity of meanings, nodding to Beyoncé’s return and also society’s post-pandemic rejuvenation. As she told Harper’s Bazaar in…