Disclaimer: I did not watch and have not seen the visual part of this album at the time this review was written. I prefer to conceptualize my own images for the music, because it creates a more personal experience.
Mrs. Carter is back! Well, I guess she’s kinda already been back for going on a year now, but this time she’s brought new music with her. At the stoke of midnight appeared a new album from Beyonce on iTunes. Stylized BEYONCÉ, the self-titled album offered up 14 new songs and seventeen accompanying videos and took two of the top three positions on the iTunes charts before half the day was gone. Clearly, the building hype from her Superbowl performance, H&M campaign, and random music/video drops was still there. Would the music live up to it?
It’d fucking better.
With previous albums it’s been said that Beyoncé is “creating new genres” and doing things that no other artists in pop stars are doing. She hasn’t been able to deliver on such bold claims before, but this album offers a bare naked Beyonce exploring the reaches of alt-R&B that her younger sister has help make popular over the past year. The album could really be called a finer-tuned sibling to the Saint Heron compilation directed by Solange’s label, Saint Records.
Unlike the major pop releases this year, BEYONCÉ is truly progressive work. She isn’t trying to force any ideas of making “art.” She isn’t recycling the same generic top 40 formula. She isn’t abusing the idea of controversy. She isn’t making false promises of releasing a truly personal album. She isn’t releasing a hit-and-miss album and there’s not one ounce of filler. She isn’t being over-pretentious and hyping the product. She isn’t hoping for another hit record. She’s giving us something that lyrically explores the depths of her life. She’s sexy and it’s natural, not forced. There’s soul in every note that’s sang or played. It’s musical art that doesn’t have to be explained. It’s the fully realized Beyoncé we all hoped was living underneath the thin layers of “pop star” all these years.
BEYONCÉ is a look back at everything Beyoncé has done musically with her past 4 albums and pushing it. “Drunk In Love” is where you’d expect “Crazy In Love” to be after 5 years of marriage. “Flawless” is her strongest women empowerment anthem over the likes of “Run The World” and “Single Ladies.” “Rocket” is much sexier than her most recent hit, “Dance 4 U” or even the fan-favorite “Speechless.” When recording this album she didn’t listen to other current pop releases and try to top them. She actually challenged herself to top her best efforts with every track, as every artist (no matter the genre) should. For the most part, she was extremely successful.
Standouts are large in number, but in particular the more lengthy tracks are the best. “Haunted” is as the title suggests and rapped poetically over a spacey beat fortified with a thudding bass line. After a piano-vocal duet, the beat transforms into a monstrous production of percussion and hard bass strokes. “Partition” has a similar shift, as the traditional R&B vibe is swallowed by a bursting trap beat and Beyonce spitting bars that make your forget that Nicki Minaj was noticeably absent from the music scene this year. The song shifts for a third time into an urban club thumper where she finally gives meaning to “Partition.” If it went over you head, it’s about getting your legs separated or split in half. “Rocket” is the sexiest song on the album. You gather that as soon as Beyonce belts “Let me put this ass on you!” My personal favorite track, “Mine” (with Drake), is one of the more personal tracks where she finally admits to not having the perfect relationship and chooses to stop holding back emotion or getting angry over things that don’t matter.
The album hits a surprisingly sad note during “Heaven,” as Beyonce depicts stillbirth. It’s a real tear-jerker, equipped with the perfectly enlightening message, “Heaven couldn’t wait for you!” It is arguably the strongest Beyonce track ever.
The only questionable moment of the album is “XO.” It fits in well, it’s just not as strong the rest of the album. Ryan Tedder played it safe, and it barely works. This song is also the rumored first single. I’d prefer “Drunk In Love” or “Flawless.” Even “Jealous” seems strong enough to break through on radio. Not crazy about “Pretty Hurts” either, but again, the track works.
BEYONCÉ seems fantastical in comparison to a large portion of major pop act’s releases this year. She’s experimental the same way Kanye West was experimental with Yeezus and the outcomes are similar, not in sound but in quality. And unlike Yeezus, Bey is actually creating culture and shifting music by leading a movement that will bring quality back to the masses. It is easily one of the most pleasurable music experiences of 2013. She came, she saw, she snatched every wig in the room.
9.5 out of 10