Just when it seemed that Beyonce couldn't get any deeper into her own pretentiousness, she dropped her eponymous fifth studio album in the wee hours of December 13, 2013. She may have been involved on a world tour, but Ms. Knowles clearly understands the power of multi-tasking, and she kept this record under wraps from the music industry and the public. She was only absent from the mainstream for two years (a poultry fraction of Justin Timberlake and Daft Punk's vacations), but her fans were obviously starved for new music. This is perhaps to due the certain underwhelm of her fourth album "4", released mid-2011 with no true hits and lower than usual sales. With such a sudden release of fourteen new songs, accompanied with seventeen music videos, it's hard not to read "Beyonce" as a desperate move of sorts, though she hardly needs the help staying relevant. If this was the ploy, it still worked, as the album became the fastest selling album ever in the iTunes store after only three days on sale. But good sales don't always make for good records, especially those released without any preparatory singles or promotion, but that's why "Beyonce" is such a delight. It's a terrific modern-R&B record, filled head to toe with great songs all helmed from the likes of Timba-Lake, Pharrell, and mysterious newcomer Boots. All three collaborators work with Beyonce to create this: a minimal, fitfully intriguing album that is the polar opposite of "4", which constantly shifted between genres and moods. "Beyonce" is thoroughly consistent, all songs are backed by deep, subtle grooves and speaks of self-empowerment, feminism, love, and sex: dirty, raunchy, messy sex (what did you expect of an album released in the same week as R. Kelly's "Black Panties"?)
While Beyonce is certainly no stranger to doing the deed, she's never been this forward about it, as she explicitly details her hook-ups in the back of limos, her foyer, everywhere in her home other than a bed. It's "12 Play" meets "The Velvet Rope", if you will, but unlike those albums, and totally out of character for the usually bombastic Beyonce, this record is coy, describing these numerous encounters (in addition to encouraging her lover to 'lick the inside of her skittles' in "Blow") but never being tacky or gross. The production helps, as the lyrics are often hushed under the throbbing bass-lines and numerous spoken asides, ranging from movie references to pageant contests. The bulk of "Beyonce" is filled with these songs, from the excellent "Haunted" to the pretty good Timba/Lake-produced "Rocket", which captures their knack for old-school grooves better than his recent work in "The 20/20 Experience". The Pharrell productions are good too, specifically in "Blow", which pulsates on its unabashed carnality. Naturally, though, it's the lesser known Boots that helms the best tracks here: "Heaven" is Beyonce's most affecting ballad since "Halo", capturing her in a zenith of emotion, while "***Flawless", another ode to feminism and should seemingly be Beyonce at her most conceited, doesn't play as arrogant as it reads, a nice change of pace for the natural-born Diva. The last stretch of the record is superb, enough to bring back the momentum after tracks two through eight start to sag with the repeated sexual innuendo and sparse productions. But sequencing issues aside, "Beyonce" is easily her second best album, right under 2006's "B'Day", and perhaps this record could have benefited from immediate cuts like "Irreplaceable" or "Deja Vu", but taken as is, it's one of the most cohesively entertaining albums of the year, with some of Beyonce's best and most accomplished music, even if it runs a bit too long.
Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Pretty Hurts 2. Haunted 3.
Drunk in Love
4. Blow 5.
No Angel 6. Partition
7. Jealous 8. Rocket 9. Mine
10. XO 11. ***Flawless 12. Superpower
13. Heaven 14.
Blue
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