4 the Love of Beyonce
A while ago I realized that maybe I had outgrown Beyonce’s music. And I know… That’s not a big deal. But as a loyal Destiny’s Child fan, the thought of not supporting “one of my own” is worrisome. (And, yes, I was looking for that Anjel release, and I support Kelly and Letoya in their solo endeavors. No comment on Michelle.)
So imagine my horror when Beyonce released some wack singles. After the third one, I was willing to admit to myself that I’m no longer a fan. I was prepared to ignore 4 the same way I had ignored I Am… That is… until a tracklist surfaced and I saw an Andre 3000 feature… (and y’all know how I feel about 3 Stacks…) Officially, 4 doesn’t come out in the United States until tomorrow, but here are the thoughts of someone who’s been unofficially listening to it for too long…
“1 + 1” — I’m not feeling this ballad that much. I missed the “American Idol” performance , but I saw the rehearsal footage. It’s a very sweet song, but I can’t get past the high YOUs and TWO. Every time I’ve attempted to listen to it, I only get about 45 seconds in and I skip it. That’ll probably always be the case.
“I Care” — I liked the beat immediately, and eventually the whole song grew on me. It sounds nice in the car. And the other day I was riding down I-24 and caught myself singing the lyrics as loud as I could. That’s always a plus.
“I Miss You” — I immediately liked this. This is the Frank Ocean song that I was waiting to hear back when the wack stuff was leaking. As I was bashing “Who Run the World (Girls)” with Michelle and was completely distracted when this started. For me, Frank Ocean lives up to his hype and this song doesn’t disappoint at all.
“Best Thing I Never Had” — This is her second single. I’m not really a fan of it. I played it for Michelle and asked her to tell me who wrote it. (Weird question, but this is what we do…) The first writer to pop up was Ne-yo. But no. Babyface. I’ve been saying for a while that Ne-yo is this generation’s Babyface. HOWEVER… Babyface should not sound like Ne-yo. That’s all I’ll say about that.
“Party” (feat. Andre 3000) — I saw Andre 3000 and I was thrilled. But… the song is kind of boring. It has a nice little groove though. The problem is that the groove doesn’t really go anywhere. A minute feels like forever. I found myself wondering if maybe Andre wasn’t on the song. And his verse is cool, but it’s nothing to write home about. I can’t really see myself playing this a lot.
“Rather Die Young” — This is a solid song and she sounds nice. But it kind of sounds a little 90s (which feels a little weird to say). There’s nothing special about it. I feel like I’ve heard it before and don’t really want to hear it repeatedly.
“Start Over” — I love this song. It’s the first Beyonce song I’ve been able to relate to in what feels like forever. I played it 3 times in a row (and might have sent a text or 2 after…)
“Love on Top” — I skip this song almost immediately. It’s probably not that bad, but this whole time I’ve had it, I have not been able to listen to this song. “Cheesy” comes to mind when the music starts. I don’t know why, but I can’t get on board with it.
“Countdown” — This is a cute little song. It’s kind of a mix between “Get Me Bodied” and “Green Light.” It’s Beyonce’s “I-love-my-man-I-have-a-lot-of-money-and-I-wanna-dance” song. It’s cool and it works for her.
“End of Time” — This is another of the weak songs that leaked, but I will say that it benefits greatly by being placed after “Countdown.” The more I hear it, the more I feel like marching. I still don’t like the song as a whole. I like the instrumental and ad libs much more than the verses.
“I Was Here” — This is a Diane Warren song. I only know who she is because I listen to NPR, but you’ve been singing her songs for years. Google her. Anyway, this is a nice song, though I doubt anyone will ever forget Beyonce was here. This would have been a good way to end the album.
“Who Run the World (Girls)” This song is wack, but I like the video. There’s not much to add to that.
I don’t really want to get into the “bonus songs.” I have a bigger issues with those… So I’ll give this a B- mostly because it’s Beyonce. I only listen to 4 songs all the way through on the whole album and they are neither the singles nor the Andre 3000 feature I was excited about. I think the flows well, though I do think that “Who Run the World (Girls)” should have come before “I Was Here.” The way it is now makes the song seem like it doesn’t fit. But that’s beside the point… Since I’ve been listening to a lot of Beyonce recently, I can hear some progress. Her influences are more musical and she is singing more fully than she has on previous albums. None of these songs are singles for me. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As a whole, I think this is solid.
