Every previous release from the superstar songstress Mrs. Knowles-Carter has had its own personality. Dangerously in Love was that swirling concoction of soul jams and contemporary R&B with subtle elements of pop and funk. B’Day laid the funk on much thicker, with songs like “Déjà Vu” and “Suga Mama” piercing the airwaves with a contemporary twist on signature bluesy melodies. I Am Sasha Fierce revealed a pluralistic Beyoncé, one who could propel your average ballad to new heights on one track and transform a dance instrumental into an anthemic rallying call on another. So, what’s so special about 4?
This album is for the most part her most cohesive effort. Largely dominated by rousing ballads and mid-tempos, this is her first release to exclude a slew of sasha-fied tracks. From “Best Thing I Never Had” to “1+1,” it is an undulating portrait of the emotional toil of love and the source of pleasure and pain it proves to be. Each track is a different position along the rollercoaster, projecting snapshots of the various phases of attachment and detachment with which Beyoncé is constantly struggling.
What is most stunning is her ability to rely more on her raw and emotional vocals than the lyrics to tell these stories. Traversing octaves and belting out notes to reflect hurt, and singingly angelically to portray serenity, Beyoncé is acting as if someone had doubted her skills as a singer and this LP was her chance to prove it.
The album at times comes to painstakingly slow turns here and there as a few too many ballads and slow tempos in sequence can become monotonous. But the occasional twist – “Party” is one track that comes to mind – does work well in keeping the album from transforming its cohesion into a redundant snoozefest. Another weak point in the album is the lead single, “Run the World (Girls).” The song, which I have described in not so flattering terms before, ends the album on a low note. Perhaps the intention was to draw a close to the story of a woman enduring the twists and turns of love with a feel-good self-assuring woman’s anthem. But the song’s excessive, repetitive chants and bursting beat make this an obvious disconnect from what the album was aiming to achieve.
Overall, Beyonce’s choice to abandon what the proven formula for pop success by omitting any dance songs reveals that artistically, she is aiming to do more than just get hits. That alone deserves applause, but the fact that it was done well and organically makes this her strongest release yet.
Album: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (8/10)
No comments:
Post a Comment