“Who run the world?” Beyoncé asked rhetorically on 2011’s “Run the World (Girls).”
And in 2023, there’s no doubt that it has been Bey and Tay — Taylor Swift, of course — who not only have had blockbuster summer tours but have followed that up with theatrical film releases this fall that have been bigger events than any Marvel movie.
But while “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” which opened to boffo box office in October, is more of a straight-up concert flick, “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” which hit cinemas on Friday, doubles as a documentary that gives you a behind-the-curtain look at the notoriously private pop diva.
For a superstar who basically stopped doing interviews years ago, this is a rare glimpse at how the “Break My Soul” singer makes the magic — and motherhood — happen. Even if, as the film’s director, she’s controlling her own narrative.
And if you came for a cozy-in-my-seat close-up of all the costumes and choreography, there’s plenty of that too over the nearly three-hour Beypic.
Here, we break down the seven fiercest “Renaissance” moments — in order of appearance — both on and off the stage.
1. “This bitch will not give up!”
Beyoncé gets real about “the mental strength and the mental stability required to survive” as a black female boss operating at the highest of levels in the game.
“I feel like, being a black woman, the way people communicate with me is different,” she says. “Everything is a fight. It’s almost like a battle against [your] will. It’s like, ’Can I keep bulls – – tting you and bulls – – tting you until you finally give up?’ … Eventually, they realize, ‘This bitch will not give up!’ ”
2. Blue Ivy proves she’s her mother’s daughter.
After Bey and Jay’s 11-year-old firstborn told her mom that she was ready to perform, the superstar wasn’t having it at first. “I told her no,” she reveals. “I did not think it was an appropriate place for an 11-year-old on a stadium stage.”
Then, after Beyoncé made a deal with Blue for her to dance in one show, the preteen’s performance drew some dragging on social media. “She read some comments that were not great, which I was pretty disappointed that she had access to,” she says.
But instead of backing down from the haters, a “fearless” Blue practiced harder to prove them wrong, discovering “My Power” while dancing to that tribal track from 2019’s “The Lion King: The Gift.” “I can see that the more that I do it, the better I become,” she says. “And on the last show, I’m going to be dancing as hard as I possibly can.”
3. Beyoncé is “not responsible” for Beyoncé onstage.
“Anything that’s repressed or in my subconscious, I allow to come out when I’m on the stage,” she reveals. “And, you know, I’m not really responsible for that person. But I do come back. I always come back.”
And it’s not just the Beyhive that is buzzing when her hair-whipping work is done — the queen has trouble coming down herself. “It takes hours for me to calm down after a show,” she says. “But finally, I’m alone, and I’m able to cherish my few little moments of stillness.”
4. When queen meets queen.
Although Megan Thee Stallion and Kendrick Lamar make cameos — on the “Savage” and “America Has a Problem” remixes, respectively — Diana Ross reigns supreme among the guest stars. Paving the way for Beyoncé, the 79-year-old Motown icon also found solo superstardom after fronting a girl group. So it’s all the feels and chills when Miss Ross leads a “Happy Birthday” singalong to Beyoncé on Sept. 4 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
“This is the legendary Diana Ross!” a beaming B exclaims. “Thank you so much for all of your sacrifice and your beauty and your grace. Thank you for opening the doors for me.”
5. She brings the heat — and the heart — for Uncle Jonny.
The “Renaissance” album was inspired by Beyoncé’s late Uncle Jonny, a gay man who shared his love of house music with the singer and helped create Destiny’s Child’s early costumes. But he died from AIDS-related complications as her career was just beginning, which is why Beyoncé chose to release the “Renaissance” movie on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day. “Uncle Jonny exposed me to decadence — and to creating your own reality,” she says in the film.
Then Beyoncé crouches down and crushes the “Heated” rap, as if possessed by her Uncle Jonny’s spirit. The special moment culminates with fans rapping along to the now-legendary line “Uncle Jonny made my dress/That cheap spandex, she looks a mess.”
6. Beyoncé declares that she’s in her IDGAF era.
Before the “Summer Renaissance” finale — with Bey riding atop her silver holographic horse Reneigh — the diva reveals that she’s done proving herself to anyone.
“I am who I am, and you take me or you don’t,” she says. “It’s a really beautiful, liberating place to be as a woman … I spent so much of my life a serial people-pleaser. And finally, I don’t give a f – – k. And I’m able to not give a f – – k about things … I have nothing to prove to anyone at this point, and I’ve allowed myself to just be free.”
7. And for her encore … the surprise single drop.
Beyoncé pretty much invented the surprise drop with her 2013 self-titled album. So it should come as no big shocker that, in tandem with the Friday opening of “Renaissance,” she released a surprise new single, “My House,” which plays over the closing credits of the film.
After throwing it back to “Homecoming” with some horned-up hip-hop, allowing Beyoncé to flex her rap skills, the track goes to the club underground with Bey dropping the F bomb over the techno house beat. And it ends with a message (“Pick me up even if I fall/Let love heal us all”) that makes clear that the “Renaissance” is not over.
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