In addition to Beyoncé, the ‘Renaissance’ film chronicles the ascension of another star in her orbit: Blue Ivy Carter.
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is, undoubtedly, the brightest star in our musical galaxy, and she once again proved it with the release of her concert film “Renaissance.” The 3-hour film combines spellbinding footage from stops on her record-breaking “Renaissance” tour with intimate, behind-the-scenes snippets that contextualize how the tour came to be, the nonstop work needed to make her excellence look effortless, and the hope and joy Beyoncé aims to imprint on every concert attendee. The film offers a rare peek into the superstar’s ultraprivate world, where she is the maestro — responsible for every element of a stadium tour — and a student learning alongside the people she’s brought along the “Renaissance” journey.
The film also chronicles the ascension of another star in Beyoncé’s orbit: Blue Ivy Carter, the 11-year-old daughter she shares with rap titan Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter. We’ve been witnesses to Blue Ivy’s journey, from the moment Beyoncé announced her pregnancy on a stage at MTV’s VMA Awards, but this film spotlights her stepping into her own, defining herself for herself and learning herself along the way. At first, her megastar parents were hesitant about allowing their daughter to perform. “I did not think it was an appropriate place for an 11-year-old on the stadium stage,” Beyoncé says in the film. “All of the things I’ve had to go through, the obstacles I’ve had to overcome, prepared me. She hasn’t had that struggle.”
However, Beyoncé eventually relented, cutting a deal with Blue Ivy that if she rehearsed diligently with the tour’s other dancers, then she’d allow her to perform — once. When Blue Ivy rose from the stage’s lift in Paris on May 26 to dance alongside her mother to a medley of “My Power,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” and “Black Parade,” it stunned the world. The child the Beyhive has jokingly called “the next Supreme” and “Beyoncé’s manager” was taking her rightful place on the world stage, declaring herself as the next heir to the Knowles-Carter musical kingdom.
