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The Official Beyoncé Thread
Topic Started: Jan 2 2008, 04:20 AM (5,307 Views)
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3 out of 5 from The Guardian for the album

Beyoncé's new album isn't bad, but nor is it the game-changer we were led to expect, writes Alexis Petridis

Alexis Petridis
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 23 June 2011 15.30 BST

Last month, Beyoncé Knowles made one of her frequent appearances in the lists compiled by Forbes magazine, this one being The Best Paid Celebrities Under 30. She had earned, Forbes claimed, $35m in the last year. The magazine felt obliged to add a footnote. She had only earned so little, it advised any readers perhaps worried about her ability to scrape by on $35m, because she hadn't released any records or toured.
Buy it from amazon.co.uk

In fairness, being heralded as the Eighth Best Paid Celebrity Under 30 represents something of an anticlimax for Knowles in Forbes list terms: the last time she appeared in one, the magazine claimed she was more powerful than the first female speaker of the US House of Representatives, the secretary of homeland security, two supreme court judges and the prime minister of Australia. Nevertheless, a pop artist for whom a $35m salary represents a crushing disappointment is clearly a pop artist who can do whatever she wants. "They do not make mistakes: there is a feeling they have somehow gone beyond the foibles of being human to a place where perfection is effortlessly within their control," claimed the New Statesman of Mr and Mrs Jay-Z recently, having apparently hired Davros to write about them. Under the circumstances, what record company hireling is going to be brave enough to tell her to pull her head in?

Excitingly, advance publicity for her fourth album suggested Knowles had decided to start fully exercising the power that selling nearly 90m albums brings. She apparently recorded 72 tracks. Among the producers and writers were not just old hands such as Rodney Jerkins and Tricky Stewart, but Frank Ocean of Odd Future, MIA producers Diplo and Switch, and noisy Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells. There was talk from one producer, Jim Jonsin, of a pronounced Depeche Mode influence, and, from Knowles herself, of employing the sound of Fela Kuti. You couldn't hear either on the single Run the World (Girls), but that scarcely mattered. What its frantic melange of dancehall rhythms and squealing electronics effects recalls is the futuristic R&B of a decade ago, when every new single by Aaliyah or Brandy appeared to have arrived not from America but Mars: when it crops up on daytime Radio 1, it sounds strange and disruptive. You could argue that anyone familiar with Pon De Floor by Diplo and Switch's Major Lazer project had heard almost everything on it two years ago, but more important is the fact Knowles chose to be influenced by a weird, experimental underground track rather than the vogue for music that sounds like David Guetta's brand of ravey pop house.

If there's nothing like it in the charts, there's also very little like it on 4. Countdown rides a similarly disjointed military rhythm, its agitated Afrobeat brass stabs the one moment you hear anything resembling the influences mooted in the advance publicity. More often, 4 retreats into R&B's past. The fantastic Rather Die Young – written by, of all people, Luke Steele from the Sleepy Jackson and Empire of the Sun – refracts a dramatic Philly soul ballad through gauzy modern production, but for the most part, 4 heads straight for the 80s. Even opener 1+1, which sets out to make Knowles's link to the raw energy of 60s soul explicit, winds up in 1986. Her vocal is visceral and amazing, even if the lurches into falsetto occasionally seem less startling than startled, as if persons unknown have snuck into the vocal booth and goosed her. Still, it would have more impact if the backing was as gritty, if the concluding guitar solo sounded less like it was being performed by a man with a mullet and a white suit with the sleeves rolled up.

The 80s influence isn't always a bad thing. It leads to the Frank Ocean-penned I Miss You, a woozy update of an old-fashioned slow jam: it's probably pushing it a bit to call it an R&B equivalent of Ariel Pink's hypnagogic pop, but there's something enveloping and dream-like about it. It also leads to tracks that just sound dishearteningly like pre-crack Whitney Houston ballads, not least Best Thing I Never Had, the most interesting thing about which is the curious image conjured by the chorus's lyric. Everything was going well, apparently, until the protagonist's former amorata "showed your ass", which somehow makes you think of Beyoncé rolling her eyes and tutting while a man drunkenly moons in a Wetherspoons car park.

This isn't by any means a bad album. There's nothing wrong with a song such as Love on Top, which is well written, has a great vocal and will doubtless help ensure Knowles doesn't have to manage on a mere $35m in the next 12 months. It's just that it isn't the album you might have been led to expect. The highpoints offer hints of what it might have been: it's hard not to feel that what it might have been sounds better than what it is.
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3 out of 5 from The Telegraph

Too many production teams spoil the froth in Beyoncé's 4.

Stylistic uncertainty hampers Beyoncé

By Neil McCormick

“It sucks to be you right now,” sings Beyoncé on Best Thing I Never Had, a brassy Eighties-flavoured showtune in which she reads the riot act to an errant suitor. The sassy girl-power sentiment is the kind of thing we have come to expect from the first lady of r&b pop, delivered with technical verve, her growly soul voice gliding skyward before concluding with a typically daredevil display of swooping and diving.

All her vocal pyrotechnics, however, can’t quite distract from the dullness of the song itself, which proves to be the problem with much of the Texan’s prosaically titled fourth album. Whether laying down the law like a ball-busting disco diva (Countdown, Run The World), prostrating herself at the mercy of an indifferent partner on old-fashioned power ballads (I Miss You, Rather Die Young, I Care), or just calling her ladies out to celebrate on the dance floor (Party), Beyoncé’s almost aggressively accomplished vocal style is the only real constant.

In some ways, Beyoncé might appear to be the superstar who has it all: abundantly talented, utterly gorgeous and married to one of the biggest power players of the modern music business, rapper Jay-Z. But there is a lingering sense (certainly not shared by her more focused husband) that she still hasn’t quite found her own niche.

In the years since she rose to the top with Destiny’s Child, other strong female pop artists such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Adele have moved in to occupy territory (21st-century showgirl/ urban hottie/ soulful singer-songwriter) in which Beyoncé might have expected to reign supreme, and now the diva scene is starting to look rather crowded.

Beyoncé’s last outing was schizophrenic double I Am…Sasha Fierce, in which she conjured up an alter ego to give some coherence to her stylistic uncertainty. Reports that Beyoncé recorded some 70 songs before selecting 12 for this follow-up suggests she remains confused about her musical identity. Only her charismatic sassiness straddles the divide between her taste for gushy ballads, percussive hip-hop chants (blatantly attempting to replicate the success of her Single Ladies hit) and Broadway style showtunes, full of jazzy noodling and theatrical flourishes.

It’s more Glee Club than cutting edge pop queen, and, as is so often the case with big pop albums, too many production teams spoil the froth. It doesn’t quite suck to be Beyoncé right now, but this is not the blockbuster she needs to keep her crown.
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Great piece from PopDust on the whole "4" debacle and what it means for Bee...


This Is A Premature Disaster: Why all these Beyoncé "4" Rumours?

Beyoncé’s 4 isn’t even out for five more days, but thanks to a leak and a rumor-rabid public, the album’s already gone through the first-impression, analysis and verdict phases. And that verdict–again, before the album’s even out–isn’t looking great. In fact, the lead-up to 4 is beginning to look like the lead-up to Christina Aguilera’s Bionic–colossal-voiced singer, a loose Katamari boulder of hype, a dream-team of collaborators both avant and not (Diplo and Switch! Frank Ocean! Sleigh Bells! Darkchild! Fela freaking Kuti!), not all of whom made it to the actual album. And an actual album that, once heard in full, wasn’t what people expected.

Ring the alarm! Crank up the chattering machinery of gossip, from gadflies to gadflies with blogs to gadflies with newsprint, aka Page Six of the New York Post. The longer this went on, the more the rumors started to seem more like accepted fact: 4 is a flop. Columbia Records doesn’t like it. The label wants Beyoncé to cash in on Kelly Rowland’s newfound “Motivation” with a Destiny’s Child reunion. B’s career is over. The Rapture is coming. In the words of New York magazine: stop it!

Of course, nobody’s going to stop it–not now, not on June 28 and definitely not afterward. Some ideas, once proposed, just stick, and Beyoncé’s 4 being a letdown is one of them. Why? A few reasons:

Everything about 4 is defiantly off-trend.

Right after 4 leaked, Rolling Stone writer Matt Perpetua wrote that it was “the sort of album a pop star makes when she doesn’t feel she has anything to prove.” Weeks after critics’ first frantic impressions, that’s still a valid thought; in New York magazine, writer Nitsuh Abebe said 4 was “the audio equivalent of finding a nice place in the suburbs.” Read: quiet, safe, uneventful. Defiant in its complacency. Easy to call boring.

It’s true that many of 4‘s tracks seep into each other to make one amorphous puddle of soul, but every single album in Beyoncé’s career, from Destiny’s Child on, has contained four killer singles encased by filler. So let’s look at those singles. The big ones do one or both of two things: spawn memes–how many times have you said “to the left, to the left” or “you shoulda put a ring on it” lately?–or ride musical trends. Take the four best-performing singles from I Am… Sasha Fierce–you had the hypnotic YouTube bait of “Single Ladies,” a Ryan Tedder track on “Halo” when people weren’t yet sick of Ryan Tedder, a laid-back, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”-alike Toby Gad track and timely gender-wondering on “If I Were a Boy,” and the nightmare-disturbia of “Sweet Dreams,” perfectly timed right after Rihanna’s own “Disturbia” but just before that dark electronic sound really took off. Notice how Enrique Iglesias, mid-comeback, ripped it off heavily drew upon it for “Tonight (I’m Fucking You).”

Now look at 4, the album. With few exceptions, every track is a neat, technically flawless but dated pastiche of ’80s R&B. Old Whitney Houston. Old Prince. Beyoncé does update this sound, but through subtle details rather than the Pro Tools spit-shine of, say, Aguilera’s Back to Basics. This goes for everything, not just the ballads–even uptempo tracks like “Love on Top” or the just-leaked “Schoolin’ Life” live on nostalgia and voice alone. ’80s revivalism might be trendy, but only a specific kind is–and the big-beat, candy-colored sounds plucked for Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and La Roux’s singles are nowhere to be found on 4.

As an R&B album–a genre that rewards the technical proficiency and emotional heft Beyoncé has here–4 is flawless. But B’s always been judged on a pop rubric. So when people say 4 doesn’t have any singles, what they really mean is it doesn’t have any trends. As glorious as “Love on Top” is, there’s absolutely nothing like it on top 40 radio, and unless Beyoncé pulls out one hell of an event video (judging by the riotous non-event “Run the World (Girls),” this is unlikely), 4 probably won’t spark any memes. This puts Beyoncé in a weird place–too staid for the Dr. Luke/Stargate/Guetta hit express, but with too much pop-star baggage to fit an Adele-ish authenticity pitch. What’s a label to do?

The singles and leaks on 4 occurred in the worst possible order.

It’s not just that 4 is untrendy–it’s that nobody expected it to be. Go back a month or two, when Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls)” dropped alongside Lady Gaga’s “Judas.” Enter a collective WTF from the world. Both tracks were brash, overstuffed and weird–in B’s case, the weirdness was totally lifted from Major Lazer’s “Pon de Floor,” but who outside of music writers and obsessives knew that?

Now try to imagine a 4 based only on “Run the World (Girls)” and the collaborator list. A lot weirder, right? Maybe even too weird-both singles whelmed at best. So when “End of Time” leaked soon after, it seemed like a corrective–all the clatter and size of B’s last single, but with more structure and with iffy empowerment swapped out for luurrrrve.

And then everything happened at once. “1+1″ might have seemed like the Big Ballad, Beyoncé’s voice rending the world for one glorious song–and it was starting to until “Best Thing I Never Had” arrived in a midtempo slump. Almost any track on 4–certainly “I Care,” “Love on Top” or even “Schoolin’ Love” fished from the bonus-disc deeps–would have been a better choice. Its writer, Babyface, hasn’t been relevant in years, and the one memorable line, “showed your ass,” is only memorable because it can be turned into a mooning joke. Granted, it’s still early to completely judge the song’s chart performance, but its Hot 100 peak to date at No. 75 won’t quash any rumors. If “Run the World (Girls)” was a single that blew up a bubble of hype, “Best Thing I Never Had” was a pushpin.

People love to deflate hype and egos.

After all, the more air is pumped into that hype bubble, the more satisfying the snap is when the bubble pops. And when you’re a musician–particularly a solo female musician–and the public thinks you’re a diva, trouble is near. This happened to Christina Aguilera with Bionic, and it’s dangerously close to happening (again) to Jennifer Lopez at any moment. (Listen to the Idol-negotation chatter for proof.)

Beyoncé’s battled a diva image all through her career, from the Ferris wheel of rotating Destiny’s Child bandmate drama to the initial scoffing at her Sasha Fierce persona. So it’s little wonder certain commentators want to shove her star a few light-years away. What better way to do it than some numbers and some inconvenient sounds?

That said…

It’s really easy to get carried away with all this.

Let’s be real. There’s a decent chance 4 might not sell as well as Columbia Records wants, but there’s no chance it’ll kill or even maim Beyoncé’s career.

Think about it. 4 is the third of three big pop albums this year: Britney Spears’ Femme Fatale and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way. (Just look at the volume of Popdust coverage if you have any arguments.). Those two musicians have more than reached the point where their sheer celebrity can buoy you over plenty of flaws. Lady Gaga’s reached it–despite Born This Way‘s successive chart tumbles, mixed critical reception and Joseph Kahn drama, nobody is calling her less of a star. Britney Spears has reached it again–fanbase aside, she hasn’t faced this much criticism since the Federline days, but Femme Fatale, if not a sales magnet in tour or album form, still drives conversation and headlines. Nobody is deeming their careers dead after minor or even moderate fumbling.

So those Destiny’s Child reunion rumors? “Motivation” is a surprisingly solid single, but Kelly Rowland’s nevertheless doing fitness DVDs while Beyoncé’s doing fitness campaigns with Michelle Obama. The Bionic comparison is inaccurate in one major way–it was supposed to be Aguilera’s return to reign, while Beyoncé’s reign is already well-established. While 4 might hinder her sales, in the same way that the sun dipping a few inches might hinder the daytime, the only way it’ll tank is if Beyoncé suffers the kind of tabloid drama that she’s micromanaged out of existence her entire life. But more than that, the album isn’t even out yet. You can knit a storyline out of the slightest details, but until June 28, it’ll be full of raggedy holes.


Source: PopDust

http://popdust.com/2011/06/23/beyonce-4-rumors-columbia-records/
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U2 covered "Independent Women" during their set at Glastonbury earlier! :drama:
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:chuckle:
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I don't like Beyonce very much...totally overrated!

The Album before was very good...but this 4 Thing is a mess.

what is 4....sold copies worldwide
:rotfl:
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Bee is SLAYING at Glastonbury right now! :drama:
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She F**king Brilliant
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I've never been a Beyonce fan, but I just caught her Glasto set and it was absolutely f**king brilliant!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

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Jun 26 2011, 10:51 PM
I've never been a Beyonce fan, but I just caught her Glasto set and it was absolutely f**king brilliant!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

+1

I had no expectations and thought she was fantastic
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Nobody can perform like her, nobody. Flawless dancing and flawless vocals.
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quoideneuf
Jun 26 2011, 10:58 PM
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Jun 26 2011, 10:51 PM
I've never been a Beyonce fan, but I just caught her Glasto set and it was absolutely f**king brilliant!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

+1

I had no expectations and thought she was fantastic
Isn't it great to be blown away by someone who's never really registered on your radar before??? :alexz:

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Jun 26 2011, 11:04 PM
Nobody can perform like her, nobody. Flawless dancing and flawless vocals.
TOTALLY!

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Riverwide
Jun 26 2011, 11:04 PM
Nobody can perform like her, nobody. Flawless dancing and flawless vocals.
Riv help... What should I download? Where should I start? :drama: :shock: :bradleh: :spank: :D :confused: :basil:

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Jun 26 2011, 11:06 PM
Riverwide
Jun 26 2011, 11:04 PM
Nobody can perform like her, nobody. Flawless dancing and flawless vocals.
Riv help... What should I download? Where should I start? :drama: :shock: :bradleh: :spank: :D :confused: :basil:

Well see, this is the problem. Her material is actually the "weakest" aspect of Bee. It's so inconsistent. For every stonking booty shaker, there's a dreary generic R&B ballad. Often times it's the videos and performances that bring the songs to life!

Her first album is *shit* aside from "Crazy In Love" and possibly "Naughty Girl" and "Baby Boy", but essentially it's a one song album. The non-singles are utter drek. The second album "B'day" was a big step up in terms of consistency. "Deja Vu", "Suga Mama", "Irreplaceable" and "Green Light"(especially the Freemasons remix) are all good! On her third album, "I Am...Sasha Fierce", the best are "Single Ladies", "Sweet Dreams", "Why Don't You Love Me?" and "Halo". On her latest one "4", there are literally no outstanding songs. It's not a bad album, but it's hard to recommend anything in particular from it. "Love On Top" is my favourite, but "End Of Time" and "Run The World" are good too.

She's such an *incredible* performer, but I just wish her material was as strong as her other skills.

Check out her AMAZING performance of "Run The World" at the Billboard Awards a few weeks back:


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Glastonbury performances!

Crazy In Love


Single Ladies


Naughty Girl


Best Thing I Never Had/End Of Time


If I Were A Boy/You Oughta Know


Sweet Dreams/Why Don't You Love Me?


The Beautiful Ones/Sex On Fire
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OH MY GOD I started watching the videos and I only got to watch Crazy In Love and Single Ladies before the BBC took them down. FOR GODS SAKE
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They're all gone now :(
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"Best Thing I Never Had" is up to #6 on UK iTunes! :shock:

"4" is #1.
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