REVIEW: "4" by Beyonce

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.

REVIEW: "Love?" by Jennifer Lopez

For Jennifer Lopez, musical innovation and artistic originality have largely taken a backseat in her career to make room for mainstream profitability. J.Lo's debut album On The 6 was a latin-pop infused R&B/crossover album that had a few gems amid a monotonous sea of average ballads, while the follow-up albums followed suit with the same recycled formula of money-making collaborations. While Love? is not much of a stark contrast from what has defined Jennifer's aristry hitherto, there is a greater cohesion with her seventh studio album that makes this go around that much more refreshing.

One of the first things evident with this album is the prominence of eurodance beats, something well executed by Lopez with "Waiting for Tonight." Although the former single was a riskier choice back in 2000 when dance music entered a period of dormancy in pop radio, it is a particularly strong direction for Lopez who has always been revered for her stage-strutting abilities as opposed to her vocal acrobatics. Opening with the international smash "On The Floor," the album seems more fitting for a title such as that song as opposed to the interrogative title with which its currently branded. Song after song, the album best unravels when heavy synths and bouncy chord progressions dominate the melody.

REVIEW: "Run The World (Girls)" by Beyonce

With songs like "Diva" and "Upgrade U," Beyonce has the vocal power and swagger strut to translate lyrics on the page into forceful anthems. While it has proven to be a successful recipe for her on number of occasions, "Run The World (Girls)" is not exactly one of them.


The song, which samples the instrumental of Major Lazer's "Pon De Floor," does get some positive points for the beat. With a thumping, marching band style percussion, the energy of the song is largely influenced by the heavy drum rolls and thunderous chants. Add to that an opening chorus of resounding "Girls, we run this mother," Beyonce effectively introduces the songs as equal parts anthem and club banger.

SINGLE REVIEW - "Judas" by Lady Gaga

In biblical terms, Judas is the Benedict Arnold of the New Testament and one of the most vile perpetrators of betrayal history has ever known. But in the pop world, Judas takes on a more positive, upbeat, dancetastic meaning in the form of another guaranteed hit from Gaga's upcoming LP. Accidently leaked onto the internet this morning (a week before Good Friday coincidentally?), Interscope Records made a split-second decision to release the song to iTunes and now eager monsters sit with there fingers pressed on the refresh button to see in realtime its rapid ascent up the charts.

REVIEW: "21" by Adele

When Adele's debut single hit the airwaves, it propagated ripples of excitement throughout the industry. Adele was that unique blend of blue-eyed soul with a pinch of pop and a dash of blues. Her voice possessed this power, a resoundingly fruitful sound that could own an acoustic performance by her vocal acrobatics alone, yet reserved enough to know what instrumental would appropriately accent her abilities. While her debut album 19 had its faults, it functioned as a springboard from which she could ascend into a musical euphoria for her sophomore effort. But is 21 the musical euphoria it could possibly be?

REVIEW: "S&M" by Rihanna

Rihanna has emerged as the modern sex symbol of today's pop music and with that distinction comes a responsibility to produce music that projects sexuality in new and innovative ways. Thus, the new single from Rihanna's album Loud aims to do just that, highlighting the naughtiness and effervescent quality of the synth-centric pop track in attention-grabbing style.

The Bajan beauty struts herself through her vocals, sounding coy and subdued during the first verse before exploding into a thumping, pulsating chorus of "sticks and stones" and the smell of "sex in the air." She's bad and oh so good at it, and entices the listener by telling them to "come on, come on." It is a perfect dance track with just the right amount of sex to have the prudish pulling their hair out, while not going overboard with the sexual overtones to sound desperate.

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW: "What The Hell" by Avril Lavigne

What Avril wants you to know with the video for her new song is that she's not just a tease, she has a male creature more loyal than a dog following her every move. As she awakes from a bed with her love interest, the ever-rebellious Lavigne carjacks a NYC cab on what is far from a NYC block (clearly the video was filmed in Los Angeles). As she drives down the road, she is followed by her clingy boyfriend in a desperate but eerily stalkerish gesture of affection.

REVIEW: "What The Hell" by Avril Lavigne

When we were first introduced to Avril Lavigne in 2002, she was complaining about how complicated boys can be. Now, the 26-year-old has decided to forgo the timid and well-composed Avril for the raging and unapologetic antagonist in her new song "What The Hell." From her fourth studio album Goodbye Lullaby, the track is as catchy new addition to the pop catalog of Lavigne's, which is much more of a continuation sonically to her 2007 The Best Damn Thing.