"4". A pretty simple number when it comes to most people, but true fans of Beyonce' must know this only means one thing. You guessed it! Beyonce's 4th album aptly titled "4" hits your shelves today. One can only wonder what to expect from this magical disc, or download that just so happens to blast Beyonce's latest material into your ears so, join us for a sit down...
At the press of a button, the album starts off with something that sounds foreign in this day and age, a ballad. The emotional "1+1" strips Beyonce' down from the on stage "prowess", to bare vocals that are so full, make you feel fully clothed. lyrics like: "When the world's at war/let our love heal us all", shows us a different side of Beyonce' that from play smells faintly of lyrical legacy. The ride continues with a woman scorn on "I Care". Solemn as can be beat wise, which matched the vocal pain without competing with the "story", that is until a bright light in the form of this chorus wakes the male listener up completely, and flows into Beyonce competing with a roaring guitar taking her vocal ability to another level, also the first sight of her ever growing vocal range.
We stay on complete cruise control through "I Miss You", & "Best Thing I Never Had", without having to turn on a signal, or switch to gas, being that one shows the same venerable Beyonce', and "Best Thing I Never Had" wakes up from her crying corner, and waves goodbye with a: "Thank God you blew it/thank God I dodged the bullet/I'm so over you/so baby good looking out/". But a fast, swift, and complete BRAKE comes when the Kanye West produced " Party" hits, and the memorization of the basic "ABC" song hit my cranium with every punch of this stale beat. Lyrics that try to disown the wheel chair, (aka "stand alone") end up completely falling flat on its face with a nice size ouch!
The baffling lyrics:
"I told my friends you can get it" and "your touch is driving me cra-zay".......
Made me ask myself "was this 14 time Grammy award winning producer doing a song for "Girls Tyme"? or Beyonce the 16 time Grammy award winner?" To add a lately unseen, and very talented Andre 3000 in this mix of "plumfuckfoolery" was outrageous in every stretch of the imagination, and to act like the song isn't there would do a justice to the album as a whole. VERY lazy track.VERY lazy.
Moving on...With our ears back on track, "Rather Die Young"- a very sweet song that helps us over come the previous effort. this one's reminiscent of early puppy love, with a man that "drives to fast and smokes to much", but its nothing when you have a feisty Beyonce that's "addicted to the rush". Through this one Beyonce' continues to show vocal growth, weaving in and out through "Start Over". The Song "Countdown" Which starts off rocky, but reminds us of the older "B-day" Beyonce, helps us signal towards an exit until we hit the monster track, "End Of Time", Which is the strongest "single ready" song on the album hands down. The Jaw dropping Diane Warren penned "I Was Here" makes for a beautiful ending to complete the journey and we end where we began with " Run The World" (Girls).
Vocal Growth - A
Production - C+
Songwriting - B-
WWA (World Wide Appeal) - C
SAU's Official Grade B-
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