Beyoncé’s Sequined Revolution

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( album review [Beyoncé’s Sequined Revolution]( Renaissance, a love letter to Black queer innovators, comes at a precarious moment in history. Photo: Mason Poole Nile Rodgers got a million-dollar inkling in 1979 when he stepped into the bathroom at the Gilded Grape, the legendary [mob-owned drag bar]( on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan beloved by a colorful cast of regulars that included Andy Warhol. The bathroom, Rodgers would later recall in his 2011 autobiography Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny, was packed with Diana Ross impersonators. “Suddenly it dawned on me that Diana was an iconic figure in the gay community,” wrote Rodgers, who had just agreed to write and produce Ross’s next album. He met with his Chic bandmate Bernard Edwards and hatched a plan “to have Diana talk to her gay fans in a slightly coded language.” Nearly a decade into her solo career, the ex-Supreme was searching for a team to tailor songs to her lived experiences after years of vocalizing her songwriters’ stories. Calling Rodgers and Edwards yielded [“Upside Down,”]( her first No. 1 hit in four years, and [“I’m Coming Out,”]( the jam where Ross signals artistic rebirth while blessing the Gilded Grape girls with a message of pride and power that girded the community through death and disenfranchisement, as the AIDS crisis claimed gay men, the U.S. government dragged its feet, and far too many Americans wondered whether this was divine retribution for going against Biblical wisdom. [Read The Story »]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now](for unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • Evil: [Pregnancy Problems]( • Paper Girls: [That’s Not a Cat]( (Ep. 7), [Let’s Do the Time Warp Again]( (Ep. 8) • The Real Housewives of Atlanta: [Throwing Rocks and Collecting Bones]( • Becoming Elizabeth: [England Will Burn]( • 90 Day Fiancé: [Say Yes to a Lifetime of Pranks]( • P-Valley: [Back to Black]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like 1. [‘I’m Fully Prepared’: Inside J-Hope’s Lollapalooza Performance Speaking with fans — and Hobi himself — ahead of his first solo festival gig.]( 2. [Lil Durk Taking a Break From Performing After Lollapalooza Injury He managed to finish out his set, though.]( By Bethy Squires 3. [How Sexy Is Sampling Right Said Fred’s ‘I’m Too Sexy’? Beyoncé is the latest star to take a turn on the duo’s catwalk.]( 4. [Consider the Pepper One fleeting moment in The Rehearsal explains the entire Nathan Fielder project, the entire entertainment industry, and the entire world.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( 5. [Pat Carroll, The Little Mermaid’s Ursula, Dead at 95 Carroll voiced the Sea Witch in the spinoff cartoon as well as in the Kingdom Hearts video game.]( By Bethy Squires 6. [Trailblazing Star Trek Actor Nichelle Nichols Dead at 89 Nichols was one of the first Black female leads on television.]( By Charu Sinha [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Today’s Crossword]( 23-Down, Four Letters: Jane Austen character played by Gwyneth and Anya. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos by Lucasfilm, Jonathan Daniel/Allsport/Getty Images and Jason Merritt/Getty Images Vulture Recommends We consume it all so you don’t have to. Just finished The Bear? [Read a kitchen book]( (e.g., Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart). Get a taste of restaurant life without the stress of actually being there. [Read more from Vulture]( Introducing Dinner Party, a lively new evening newsletter about everything that just happened. [Sign up]( to get it every weeknight. [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=vulture-daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2022, All rights reserved