Renaissance is the first act in Beyoncé’s three-act project that began in 2022.
Beyoncé released Renaissance on July 29, 2022, presenting it as “Act I.” The album draws heavily on house, disco, dance, funk, and electronic music, and its credits connect it to a broad history of Black and queer dance-music culture.
The lead single, “Break My Soul,” became Beyoncé’s first solo number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 since “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” in 2008. Renaissance won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album at the 65th Grammy Awards.
The project’s later acts were not simply alternate editions of Renaissance. Act II was Cowboy Carter, released in 2024, and Beyoncé described it as a country-influenced exploration of American musical history. The act numbering is why Renaissance is more precisely identified as Act I.