The year of 2024 represented a new era of the WNBA with tons of new developments. The 2024 NBA Draft drew unprecedented attention amid surging interest and record viewership in women's college basketball, particularly in the 2023 and 2024 NCAA championship games. The draft class was led by first-overall pick Caitlin Clark, who is widely regarded as the main driver of the surge in attention, and featured other highly followed players, including Angel Reese. The draft averaged 2.45 million viewers, more than four times the previous record for a WNBA draft. It was the first of numerous viewership records set during the record-setting 2024 season, the majority of which involved Clark's Indiana Fever; games featuring both Clark and Reese proved a particular draw. The 2024 All-Star Game averaged 3.44 million viewers, delivering the league's largest audience since its opening weekend in 1997. Attendance also rose, with the league and individual teams setting multiple highs, including a regular‑season record of 20,711 for a Mystics–Fever game in Washington. In July 2024, the league announced a new 11-year media deal worth $2.2 billion.
In 2024, the reigning champions, the Las Vegas Aces, faltered despite a historic season by A'ja Wilson. The New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx squared off in both the Commissioner's Cup Final, which the Lynx won, and the WNBA Finals. The five-game Finals were one of the closest in history, with two games going to overtime and two others decided by a single possession. For the first time in WNBA Finals history, a decisive Game Five went to overtime. The Liberty ultimately prevailed, after a controversial ending, to win their first championship in franchise history. The playoffs were no exception to the rising interest, and the Finals drew their largest audience in 25 years.
With the Golden State Valkyries joining the league, the 2025 season expanded to 44 games. Despite Clark and other stars missing significant time due to injuries, the league largely sustained upward trends in interest, viewership, and attendance, highlighted by the Valkyries immediately setting attendance records. Investment continued to rise across the league, and by the end of 2025, more than half of franchises had either opened or announced dedicated training facilities. On August 15, 2025, the Seattle Storm and the Atlanta Dream played the first-ever international WNBA regular-season game at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. The Lynx topped the regular‑season standings but were upset by the Fever in the Commissioner's Cup Final and by the Phoenix Mercury in the playoffs. In the WNBA Finals, played in a best-of-seven format for the first time, the Mercury faced the Aces. Las Vegas struggled midseason but closed the regular season on a 16-game win streak, with Wilson earning a record fourth MVP. The Aces swept the Mercury to claim their third title in four years. On June 30, 2025, the WNBA announced expansion teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. The Cleveland team is scheduled to begin play in 2028, followed by Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia in 2030. The 2026 WNBA season continues with outstanding play from A'ja Wilson, a resurgence of Angel Reese in the Atlanta Dream, rookie stand out Olivia Miles, Caitlin Clark, Jonquel Jones, Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchel, Paige Bueckers, Jackie Young, Kahleah Cooper, and other people.
In July 2025, during the WNBA All-Star Weekend, the WNBA players' union (WNBPA) and league officials had a meeting regarding a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The CBA, which was signed in 2020, was set to expire in 2027, but in October 2024, the WNBPA exercised its right to opt out of the agreement, effective on October 31, 2025. More than 40 players were present at the meeting, which they described as a "missed opportunity", since neither side got any closer to a new deal. Meanwhile, Engelbert called the conversation "very constructive." Players said that revenue sharing, salary structure, and prioritization were among the key issues they did not agree on. On July 19, before the All-Star Game, all players wore "Pay Us What You Owe Us" T-shirts during warm-ups and fans chanted "pay them!" in support after the game. In August, representatives of the WNBA and WNBPA had another meeting in New York to continue the negotiations. On October 30, both parties agreed to an extension, pushing the deadline for the CBA expiration for 30 days. On November 30, both agreed to a second extension, pushing the expiration deadline until January 9, 2026. On December 18, the WNBPA announced that the union had authorized the executive committee to "call a strike when necessary" as players continued negotiations with the league over a new CBA. If both sides hadn't reached an agreement, the league could have experienced a lockout, which has never happened in its history.
On March 24, 2026, the WNBA and its players' union finalized a new seven-year CBA extending to 2032. The agreement introduced a historic shift in the league's economic structure by directly linking player salaries to league revenue for the first time, with players receiving an average of 20% of total revenue. These changes facilitated a substantial increase in the teams' salary cap, which rose from $1.5 million under the previous deal to $7 million. In turn, player compensation saw a significant increase: the average player salary reached $583,000, and the supermax contract was set at $1.4 million. Minimum salaries were also restructured to range between $270,000 and $300,000 based on a player's years of service. The 2026 CBA also introduced key changes to the "Core" player designation, which allows a team to retain exclusive negotiating rights with a star player who would otherwise become an unrestricted free agent, in exchange for a one-year qualifying offer at the league's supermax salary level. The total number of times a player can be "cored" during their career was reduced from three to two. Furthermore, a service-year limit was established to ensure that, starting in 2027, players with seven or more years of experience can't be designated as core players, allowing them to reach unrestricted free agency. The 2026 agreement introduced the "Exceptional Performance on Initial Contract" (EPIC) provision. This allows players to renegotiate the fourth year of their rookie scale contract and agree to a three-year extension if they meet specific performance criteria. Players who earn All-WNBA First or Second Team honors become eligible for a maximum salary in that fourth year, while those who win the league's Most Valuable Player award qualify for the supermax salary.
One major aspect of the WNBA is its unapologetic promotion of social activism. The reason is that we don't live in a vacuum, and oppressed people need not only our allyship but our time to make sure that they have the justice that they rightfully deserve as a birthright. Oppressed human beings don't need token talk or half-hearted measures but unconditional liberation without exception. Even in 2020, The New York Times called the WNBA "the most socially progressive pro league." Many people have spoken up for equality, gender equality, and racial justice, like Brittney Griner, Breanna Stewart, and Maya Moore. Many WNBA Players allied with progressive movements like Black Lives Matter, the ACLU, the NAACP, etc. The Minnesota Lynx promoted justice and accountability in 2016 after Philando Castile and Alton Sterling were killed. By mid-2020. the WNBA and WNBPA formed a Social Justice Council with civil rights leader Alicia Garza and Kimberle Crenshaw acting as external advisors. Many Atlanta Dream players wore the slogan "VOTE WARNOCK" on the back of their black T-shirts to support the campaign of Pastor Raphael Warnock, an African American pastor who defeated Loeffler. Many teams promoted health care and helped to support the COVID-19 vaccine. In June 2024, the documentary film Power of Dream was released. The film dealt with the WNBA's support of Black Lives Matter and the support for the election of Warnock. Sue Bird and Nneka Ogwumike are co-producers of the film, along with Tracee Ellis Ross and the director Dawn Porter.
Providentially, the WNBA has been in existence for over 30 years. I remember watching the WNBA on television since its inception when I was in my early teenage years. Now, I'm almost 50 years old. The WNBA didn't exist out of a vacuum. It grew from the blood, sweat, and tears of women basketball players from throughout the 20th century like Nera White, Ora Washington, Lusia Harris, Ann Meyers Drysdale, Nancy Lieberman, and teams like the All-American Red Heads, the New York Girls, Spartan Girls, Chicago Romas, Philadelphia Tribune Girls, etc. A lot of people don't know about the stories of these unsung icons, but we live in this time when heroes back then and today are celebrated thoroughly. Later, we know about other icons of basketball like Cheryl Miller, Robin Roberts, and Dawn Staley. The WNBA existed because of a dream to allow women to play basketball professionally on a high scale in America. Men have done it for a long time, but women faced sexism and discrimination. People fought back against these evils by activism, Title IX, and various leagues to give women the opportunity to play professionally after college. WNBA started a new trend of international professional basketball leagues to be globally that tons of women enjoy. There have been recent steps to fight for gender equality in pay. Even in 2026, thirty years after 1996, we have a long way to go in eliminating gender discrimination once and for all. You have narrowminded manosphere types who demonize and dehumanize the WNBA because of their hatred of women. Yet, we won't go that route. We will always cherish and love the humanity and sacrifice of women. Women do tons of work that in many cases go unnoticed, but we believe in human equality. The WNBA will continue to promote excellence, philanthropy, and equality for many years and decades to come.
Renaissance (stylized in all caps; also referred to as Act I: Renaissance) is the seventh studio album by American singer and songwriter Beyoncé. It was released on July 29, 2022, by Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. The first installment of a planned trilogy of albums, Renaissance includes guest vocals from Beam, Grace Jones, and Tems.
Beyoncé conceived and recorded Renaissance during the COVID-19 pandemic, intending to inspire joy and escapism in listeners after a period of collective isolation. The album celebrates the club culture that served as a refuge for Black and queer communities, and pays homage to the pioneers who shaped those spaces. Arranged like a continuous DJ mix, Renaissance incorporates post-1970s Black dance music styles—such as disco, house, funk—and pays homage to the overlooked contributions of the pioneers who shaped those genres. Its lyrical themes are primarily centered on escapism, confidence, and self-expression.
The album was promoted with the Renaissance World Tour in 2023 and an accompanying concert film. Renaissance topped the charts of eleven countries, including Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the lattermost country, it became Beyoncé's seventh consecutive album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, and was certified two-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Four singles supported the album: the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one "Break My Soul"; "Cuff It", her longest-charting song on the Hot 100; the Europe-only single "Virgo's Groove"; and a remix of "America Has a Problem" featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar.
On release, Renaissance received universal acclaim from music critics, who praised it for its eclectic yet cohesive sound, celebratory tone, and Beyoncé's vocals. It topped year-end lists from major outlets, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Rolling Stone; the lattermost later included it on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." After winning four of her nine nominations at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards—including Best Dance/Electronic Album—Beyoncé became the most awarded individual in Grammy history. The second installment of the trilogy, Cowboy Carter, followed on March 29, 2024.
Through the late 2010s, American singer Beyoncé released several critically acclaimed, narrative-focused projects that examined and celebrated Black identity. She released her sixth studio album, Lemonade, on April 23, 2016, to critical praise and commercial success. It discusses Black womanhood, reconciliation, and heartbreak—particularly in light of her husband Jay-Z's alleged infidelity; one scholar referred to it as a "cinematic and sonic Afrodiasporic journey from betrayal to redemption." Her 2018 Coachella headlining performance—later chronicled in the Netflix documentary Homecoming and its accompanying live album—paid tribute to historically Black colleges and universities. Beyoncé released the soundtrack album The Lion King: The Gift in 2019, which was influenced by African musical styles and was produced by African producers; she accompanied it with the visual album Black Is King (2020).
Beyoncé told British Vogue in an interview that the COVID-19 pandemic changed her as a person, saying she spent much of that time focused on "building [her] legacy and representing [her] culture the best way [she knew] how", but eventually allowed herself to prioritize her own happiness. She described this period as her "most creative", using music-making as a means to counter feelings of isolation. As the lockdown began to end, she told Harper's Bazaar, "we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again. I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible." She wanted her seventh studio album, Renaissance, to be a celebration of the underappreciated Black LBGTQ+ pioneers of dance music, whose contributions had been unrecognized in the mainstream. The dream co-wrote nine songs of the album's tracks.
Beyoncé began recording Renaissance around 2019–2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic; the entire process spanned nearly three years. The development process for Renaissance largely took place at studios throughout Los Angeles, with recording, production, and writing sessions for all tracks conducted at Parkwood West, Avenue A Studio West, and Juicy Juicy, as well as Sing Mastering in Atlanta.
Early sessions for Renaissance involved the songwriting and production duo Nova Wav, who had previously worked with Beyoncé on "Black Parade" (2020); the duo contributed to eight tracks on the album. The duo frequently created demos, which were later expanded by Beyoncé with a team of collaborators. Tracks such as "Cuff It", "Energy", and "Summer Renaissance" were written after periods of creative block and quickly drafted before being sent to Beyoncé. Others, including "Pure/Honey", were created directly in Beyoncé's studio, where the duo worked closely with her. The-Dream, who has written for Beyoncé since I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008), co-wrote nine tracks on Renaissance. While writing songs from his trailer, he recalled feeling as though he was "trying to get out of here", with that "hungry" feeling leading to lines like "Now, I just fell in love / And I just quit my job" on "Break My Soul."
Beyoncé worked closely with sound engineer Stuart White, her personal engineer and mixer since 2012, at his Avenue A Studio West. White handled vocal production, audio mixing, and recording throughout the process. Several songs were largely completed on the day they were recorded; for example, "I'm That Girl" was mostly written, recorded, and mixed in a single session. White recorded her vocals using a Telefunken ELA M 251 microphone, and he applied equalization, compression, and effects in real time during tracking. Much of the production and mixing was carried out simultaneously, with instrumentation, vocal layering, and effects developed during the recording process. Mike Dean helped produce, program, play synthesizers, and perform drums on six tracks. Producer Hit-Boy revealed that the song "Thique" was made in 2014, but the track did not fully materialize until Beyoncé picked it back up again eight years later for the album. Renaissance has dance, house, pop, and R&B music in the album. It also has elements of disco, soul, funk bounce, Chicago house, Detroit techno, and electro. The ablum pays tribue to black and Latino ballroom culture. The album was inspired by Beyonce's gay cousin, Uncle Johnny, who helped raise her until her passing during the AIDS epidemic. Time noted that Renaissance expands on the explorations of sexuality introduced on her fifth studio album, Beyoncé (2013), adopting a more explicit tone on tracks such as "Church Girl", "Thique", "Plastic Off the Sofa", and "Virgo's Groove." Similarly, Complex wrote that the "confident" themes of the album can be traced back to songs like "Flawless" (2013). Break My Soul was one of the most popular songs on Renaissance.
On June 20, 2022, Beyoncé announced that the album's lead single, "Break My Soul", would be released at midnight Eastern Time on June 21, aligning with the 2022 summer solstice. The track was made available several hours early on Tidal on June 20, followed by the release of a lyric video via YouTube. "Break My Soul" peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, becoming her eighth chart-topper as a solo artist, as well as her first solo number-one without a featured artist since "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008). It also reached number six on the Billboard Global 200. Beyonce riding a house was part of the Renaissance album cover.
By the end of its run, the Renaissance World Tour had grossed over $579 million, ranking as the seventh highest-grossing concert tour of all time, as well as the highest-grossing tour by a woman and by a Black artist. The final show of the Renaissance World Tour, held at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 1, 2023, concluded with the debut of a trailer for Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. The film, released on December 1, 2023, documents the tour while incorporating behind-the-scenes footage of the album and tour's development. A non-album track, "My House", plays over the end credits and was released as a single the same day as the film. The album Renaissance debuted at number one at Billboard 200, selling 332,000 album equivalent units in its first week. It topped the charts in multiple nations, had universal acclaim from critics, and was a very experimental album. The album won a BET Award, an American Music Award, a Grammy Award, and other awards. Renaissance had something for everyone. It had something for fans of R&B, fans of funk, fans of disco, fans of electro, fans of house, and fans of pop music too.
Cowboy Carter was the 8th studio album of Beyonce. It was released on March 29, 2024. It was released by Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. Being a concept album, Cowboy Carter is the 2nd of a planned trilogy after Renaissance that came out in 2022. Beyonce wanted people to know about the black pioneers of country music and American culture in general. Subconsciously, Beyonce was angry at the Country Music Awards snubbing her. Cowboy Carter had many genres in it to merge into an unique album. It showcased Southern culture and Southern music. It had featurered iconic country music artists singing or being part of a radio broadcast like Dolly Parton, Linda Martell, and Willie Nelson (who acted as disc jockeys). The album featured many modern day black music artists like Shaboozey, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, and Willie Jones. The album had acoustic instruments played by many musicians including Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, and Nile Rodgers. Cowboy Carter had universal acclaim and was very experimental. It had eclectic references and talked about Americana and country via Black roots. At the 67th Grammy Awards, Beyoncé became the first Black woman in 25 years to win Album of the Year and the first Black artist to win Best Country Album; the album's third single, "II Most Wanted", won Best Country Duo/Group Performance. The album increased the listenership of country music, drove cultural conversations on Black musicians' place within the genre, boosted the careers of rising country artists, and increased the popularity of Western wear and culture. Some people need to be reminded that Beyonce has strong Southern roots. For example, Beyonce was born and raised in Houston, Texas, where the city's cowboy heritage and country and zydeco music played a great role in her upbringing. She listened to country music at an early age, particularly from her paternal grandfather. Her family attended the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo every year in western clothing. She performed at the Rodeo four times between 2001 and 2007, and has continued to celebrate her country and Southern roots throughout her career. Her first original country song was in 2016 called Daddy Lessons on her sixth studio album of Lemonade. Beyonce worked with the country group The Chicks before too.
Beyoncé, together with the Chicks (who had previously covered the song), performed the track at the 50th Annual Country Music Association Awards on November 2, 2016. The performance was largely praised by critics and gave the Country Music Association Awards their highest viewership in history; however, it was also met with backlash, with some country music fans criticizing Beyoncé's attendance and claiming she did not belong in the genre. The Country Music Association deleted all promotional posts about Beyoncé's performance, which was seen by some observers as succumbing to the pressure from conservative and racist viewers. In December 2016, The Recording Academy's country music committee rejected "Daddy Lessons" for consideration for a Grammy Award, with publications reporting that the song was not seen as being "country enough."
This experience led to the creation of Cowboy Carter. Beyoncé explained how it was made clear to her that she was not welcome in the country music space, which encouraged her to explore the musical history of the genre rather than letting the critics force her out of it. She delved into the history of country music and Western culture and researched its African-American roots. She studied "our rich musical archive" and learned from educators who had long advocated for a re-education on the Black roots of country music. She also read that, historically, half of cowboys were Black, which made her realize how much of the Black, brown, and Native cowboy stories are missing in American history. This was the inspiration for her 2021 "Ivy Park Rodeo" clothing collection. Following this research, Beyoncé conceived Cowboy Carter as a journey through a reinvention of Americana, in which she redefines its boundaries and spotlights overlooked contributions of African Americans to diverse musical genres, Southern and Western culture, and American history. Collaborator Rhiannon Giddens said Beyoncé did not intend to create a typical crossover country album, but instead wanted to explore her family's roots through music.
Cowboy Carter was over five years in the making. Beyoncé began to write the album in 2019, then recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, which she described as her most creative period. The album forms "Act II" of a trilogy project that Beyoncé recorded during this period. The first act, Renaissance (2022), is primarily a house and disco record highlighting and celebrating the Black progenitors of dance music, leading some to believe that each album of the trilogy would aim to explore the Black roots of a different musical genre. Cowboy Carter was originally intended to be released before Renaissance, but Beyoncé changed the order in response to the pandemic. Between 2020 and 2024, Dolly Parton often said that she would like Beyoncé to cover her song "Jolene". While working on the album, she reached out to Miley Cyrus to collaborate with her on Cowboy Carter. Cyrus presented her with "Easy Lover" and "Shotgun Rider", and Beyoncé chose the latter, renaming it "II Most Wanted.' Beyonce recorded about 100 songs for the album. Each song is its own imangined version of a Western film like Space Cowboys, Urbna Cowboy, etc. The album has elements of hip hop, blues, country-soul, outlaw country, pop, rock and roll, jersey club, house, flamenco, funk caricoa, fado, Irish folk, etc. Beyonce promoted Levi Strauss and Company jeans to market their jeans to women being inspired by the Beyonce song Levi's Jeans. Levi's described the partnership as "the biggest one [they've] ever done," and used Beyoncé's impact to help boost sales to $2 billion. The first commercial starring Beyoncé amassed 2.4 billion impressions in under a month. As of August 2025, three of the looks featured in the second "chapter" rank as Levi's top sellers in Europe. Many critics named the album as the best album of 2024 like on Business Insider, Esquire, the Houston Chronicle, People, and USA Today. Cowboy Carter won Grammy Album of the Year and Best Country Album in 2025. She won American Music AwardsFavorite Country Album in 2025 and Hungarian Music Awards Foreign Classic Pop-Rock Album or Recording of the Year.
Cowboy Carter debuted at number one in several countries and broke multiple chart and streaming records. In the United States, it topped the Billboard 200 and was Beyoncé's first to top the Top Country Albums chart, selling 407,000 album-equivalent units. The album was supported by three singles, "Texas Hold 'Em", "16 Carriages", and "II Most Wanted", with the first becoming Beyoncé's ninth US number-one single and the first country song by a Black woman to top the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts. To support the album, Beyoncé embarked on the Cowboy Carter Tour from April 28 to July 26, 2025. Stevie Wonder called the album Cowboy Carter a masterpiece. Paul McCartney, Nancy Sinatra, and Nancy Sinatra praised the album. Jon Batistse praised the album and causing a major shift in culture. Country music artists praised the album like Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Brandi Carlile, Melissa Etheridge, Ro⁹sanne Cash, Luke Bryan, Jelly Roll, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mickey Guyton, Darius Rucker, Klesea Ballerini, Sugarland, etc. Songs like Protector, Texas Hold 'Em, Bodyguard, Amen, etc. prove that Beyonce can sing mightly in multiple genres.
By Timothy
