Pure/Honey

"Pure / Honey" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé. It is the fifteenth track on her seventh studio album, Renaissance (2022), which was released on July 29, 2022, through Parkwood and Columbia.

Composition
"It is a love letter. It's a love letter to my community, the Black gay community. And the gay community too, but I'm not going to be pussyfooting. I'm trying not to call people out or anything like that. All I'm saying is that it's a bit different [being] Black and gay in America. When someone like Beyoncé [sees you] ... it's incredible. There's so many kids that have a hard time. I'm very lucky. I have a beautiful mom, a beautiful dad, and they love me, I love them. But there are a lot of kids who don't have that and are kicked out of their homes. So if someone like Beyoncé can make their day better because she is embracing all of that and a bag of chips, Miss Thing, and just carrying and looking ovuh and amazing, very confident about it and not wish-washing, then that's beautiful."

Similar to many songs in Beyoncé's career, the song consists of two parts, "Pure", a "steely and sexy" ballroom track, and "Honey", a "paisley and passionate" disco track.

"Pure" samples "Feels Like" by MikeQ & Kevin Jz Prodigy and "Cunty (Wave Mix)" by Kevin Aviance and features sharp synth-bass-led instrumentation with Beyoncé rapping in the same vein as a ballroom emcee.

"Honey" samples "Miss Honey" by Moi Renee and features Beyoncé singing over a "soulful", funk-influenced brass production, done by Raphael Saadiq. This part of the song was compared to Beyoncé's 2013 track "Blow".

"I had a tube in the 251 mic going bad during recording. It was noisy, and at first I was like: '[...] I'm gonna have to use noise reduction software and hope it still sounds right.' Then I realised that in the context of the song it was kinda cool, so I made it work. [...] I added compression, and this brought up the room sound, and I also added some McDSP FutzBox saturation, and it became part of the effect."

Critical reception
In a ranking made by Billboard, Kyle Denis ranked the song at number six, calling the second half of the song an "overall highlight" in Beyonce's career and praising her versatility of going from "full ball emcee" to a "funky, sultry vocal performance".

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, a writer at Pitchfork, called the track "stunning", saying it braided together years of ballroom culture. Jordan Danville of The Fader compared the second half of the song's vocal melodies and funkiness to Janet Jackson and Prince respectively. In a review by Rolling Stone, Will Dukes commended the song, deeming it a "vogue-friendly bop" that showcased Beyoncé's vocal abilities that was reminiscent of Etta James and Tina Turner.

Craig Jenkins of Vulture wrote that along with many other songs on the parent album, "Pure/Honey" illustrated Black dance music history, saying it "juxtaposed '80s radio pop, brash beats, braggadocious commentation of ballroom competitions, and rhythmic gymnastics of New York rap".

Commercial performance
After the release of Renaissance, "Pure/Honey" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 64 and on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number 26.

Samples

 * contains a sample of "Miss Honey", written by Andrew Richardson, Count Maurice, and Moi Renee and performed by Moi Renee.
 * contains a sample of "Cunty (Wave Mix)", written by Eric Snead and Jerel Black and performed by Kevin Aviance.
 * contains a sample of "Feels Like", written by Michael Cox and Kevin Bellmon and performed by MikeQ & Kevin Jz Prodigy.

Recording locations

 * Kings Landing West (Los Angeles, California)
 * The Juicy Juicy (Los Angeles, California)
 * Parkwood West (Los Angeles, California)

Personnel
Performers
 * Vocals by Beyoncé
 * Background vocals by Dixson and Blu June

Musicians
 * Beyoncé – drum programming, horn
 * Lee Blaske – strings
 * Bloodpop – drum programming
 * The-Dream – additional drums
 * Keyon Harrold – trumpet
 * Kenneth Whalum – saxophone
 * Stuart White – additional drums

Technical credits
 * Beyoncé – production, vocal production
 * Bloodpop – co-production
 * Matheus Braz – assistant engineering
 * Chi Coney – engineering
 * John Cranfield – engineering
 * Hotae Alexander Jang – recording, assistant engineering
 * NovaWav – production
 * Andrea Roberts – engineering
 * Stuart White – mixing, recording

Live performance
Beyoncé first performed "Pure/Honey" in Stockholm, Sweden on the opening night of the Renaissance World Tour.

The song takes place in the "Mind Control" act of the tour, following "America Has a Problem". The performance begins with an introduction by Kevin Jz Prodigy, calling Beyoncé the "Mother of the House of Renaissance". During this introduction, a fish-eye lensed selfie camera is brought to Beyoncé, which is then held by her while her and her dancers are voguing. During the "Honey" portion of the performance, Beyoncé includes elements of "Blow".