Okay, so I've been out of town and here and there so please excuse my absence. But I can hit everyone up with this. Today Bey's album is out. I've had it for a couple weeks now but now that everyone can purchase it let's listen together, shall we?
Beyonce 4 Album review
1+1- This song is written by one of my absolute fav producers and performers The-Dream, I posted his demo a few post earlier. The Beyonce version has several differences in the music and also the way it's sang. (4/5)
I Care- This song is like Beyonce's rock track IMO. It's a pretty haunting song that's also catchy and really accurately portrays the emotions of her hurt woman. Her singing is just meh. I don't think Beyonce has to try very hard to sing well. She probably just phones a lot of stuff in. That's not shade btw. (4/5)
I Miss You- I kinda consider this the Frank Ocean track merely because had a hand in writing it, I like the simplicity of this song. It's not trying to do too much. I think Beyonce is doing some vocal gymnastics in the background, not really necesasry but that's her thing. I like the vibe of the song. It's cool. (5/5)
Best Thing I Never Had- This song is pop poo for the radios to play and for those fans to be satisfied. Pretty dull in my opinion. This is basically how I felt about 'If I Were A Boy' but I'd actually take 'Boy' over this song. (2.5/5)
Party- One of the stronger tracks on the album, I'm a fan of that whole 80s sound, so this works for me. Nevermind the ridiculous lyrics (which are actually laughably bad but they work). For once I can actually say I could do without Andre 3000's verse. It wasn't his best. Still this song stands out from the rest. (5/5)
Rather Die Young- I'm already thinking to myself. Is this about Jay-Z? But I'm sure not everything points back to him. This song just has a hook with her screaming growling voice shouting 'I'd rather die young!!" but I actually like what she was trying to do. It's not a stand out track but I wouldn't necessarily skip it right away (3.5/5)
Start Over - I absolutely love the beat of this song and the melodic verses but the chorus ruins it for me. I keep trying to get over it but it keeps coming back to that. Nevermind the shouting she does, the song becomes a repetitive mess (3/5)
Love On Top- Written by The-Dream, I don't know how to feel about this song. It seems like a feel good 80s song. I see what was trying to be done. So I'll give some credit for effort and also because it's The-Dream, it's still not a standout jawn even with her strong singing (3/5/5)
Countdown- This song is also by The-Dream but it's trash IMO. I couldn't get through 2 minutes of it practically. (2.5/5)
End of Time- Another standout track, and a banger that will get you dancing. I love the fancy free vibe, this is another one by The-Dream, it's catchy and addictive and should definitely be a single (5/5)
I Was Here- This is a sentimental jawn and I respect Beyonce for what she's trying to do here. It's a sweet song that does what it does but it's skippable. I'm not a big fan of songs like these so I'm a hater (3/5)
Girls Who Run The World- This song is a song that when it really gets down to it...It's not all that great. But if you're in a party it's a little greater. The lyrics are laughably penned by The-Dream. It's quotable when you need a little laugh but all in all it's a little mediocre. Still I'll give it a 4/5
Overall-- (7.5/10)- I made the mistake of proclaiming too soon on my Twitter that this album was better than 'I Am...Sasha Fierce' until I recalled that 'Sweet Dreams' one of my fav Beyonce songs was on that album. 'Single Ladies' got played out to death but it's still by far stronger than a lot of these tracks. This album didn't really flow together well for me. It's still better than Gaga's album. You can see that Beyonce is trying to cross over so she's making radio friendly songs that appeal to everyone but she does abandon a fanbase a little with that. A few of the songs are just weak, I would've liked for her to have gone the Adele route and just sang some soulful stuff on a couple songs that showcased her voice instead of Pop puffery but it's not a bad effort. I'm predicting she'll do about 300-400K, these days that's pretty good sales.
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Spotlight: Jill Scott's album- The Light of The Sun
I got a chance to listen to this album thanks to the NPR's preview and I must say this ranks pretty high as one of her best albums. This album is a very personal and creative effort. She incorporates more poetry than she has in her past couple albums. So she kinda goes back to her roots and shows off her skill in that area. I really love all the songs but the ones that stand out are 'Missing You' , 'Rolling Hills', 'Le Boom Vent Suite', 'So Gone' and 'Until Then'. She's really making Philly proud. Be sure to pick up Jill's album which is out today and follow Ms. Scott on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/missjillscott
Excuse my absence, I really have been meaning to blog. The-Dream's album of course will not be released tomorrow instead on Dream's bday September 20th but he is dropping singles. The man has been hard at work and if you checked out any of his UStreams, all of which I missed, you'd definitely see what I mean.
