Beyoncé has never been good with album titles. I mean B'Day? I Am/Sasha Fierce? But she has always been exceptional at turning out the perfect soul/pop tune. Just think of all the classics she already has under her belt. The rapturous disco-horned "Crazy in Love," the ultimate up-beat fuck you anthem that is "Irreplaceable," the contagiously jumpy "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," among other smash hits, and the slew of girl power anthems she master minded for Destiny's Child. These hits have more than asserted her as the definitive capital D diva of her generation.
But again, she's no good at album titles. Her latest is simply called 4, as it is her fourth solo album. Then again, that title may be deceptively simple. Her fourth solo outing shows an immense amount of growth for Queen B as a true pop superstar and artist. And it's her most solid album since the before mentioned B'Day.
That album was full of dance-floor ready, neo-disco tunes with fat beats and catchy hooks. Beyoncé's weakness has always been ballads. Her die-hard fans have always adored her hitting the perfect notes on songs like "Dangerously in Love," but often the songs themselves felt saccharine and sappy. It's the reason only half of I Am/Sasha Fierce was a success. Everybody loved "Single Ladies," most people didn't really care for "If I Were Boy." Even the hit ballad "Halo" has a built in corniness to it, and did we really need B's cover of "Ave Maria"? She sounded fine, but what a kitschy idea!
So what a welcome surprise to find that our R&B goddess has released a ballad heavy album of maturity and substance that is still incredibly catchy. With "1+1," "I Miss You," and "Start Over," Beyoncé has discovered how to bring the same urgency, bombastic energy, and fury that turned many of her uptempo jams into instant classics, into the arena of ballads and mid-tempo tunes. The one bummer may be the Diane Warren penned "I Was Here." B sings it splendidly, but that's about all you can do when the queen of corn writes you a song. Fortunately, her new mid-tempo single "Best Thing I Never Had," which sees B returning to "Irreplaceable" territory, more than makes up for it.
Not to say that Beyoncé has abandoned the dance floor. There's the Kanye West produced, André 3000 featuring "Party," a '90s throwback for the grown and sexy that could have been recorded by SWV, the smooth irresistible "Love on Top," which has received comparisons to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, the dancehall tinged "Countdown," and the bouncy "End of Time." The album's first single, the Diplo/Tricky Stewart produced "Run the World (Girls)" (which samples their own Major Lazer track "Pon de Floor") failed with the public. Perhaps it suffers from too many ideas, or simply doesn't feel as though B is saying anything new (essentially, how is the message different from Independent Women?)
Yet despite all the disparate ideas, Beyoncé has once again come up on top with a hit album, asserting herself as the strongest female voice in pop and R&B. And as hard as it may be to believe, that voice has never sounded better.
p.s. She also triumphed as the first ever female headliner of the Glastonbury music festival. Check out the video above.
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