Beyoncé's B'Day: Even When It's Bad, It's Pretty Good.
Written: Sep 07 '06 (Updated Sep 07 '06)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: vocally it's really, really good.
Cons: a few not so great moments.
The Bottom Line: She took a risk, and she's done a good job.
|
|
|
| cletta1201's Full Review: B'Day by Beyonce |
Releasing her sophomore album on her 25th birthday, Beyoncé Knowles has accomplished in her short life, what few artists twice her age have. A set of Grammy’s won alone as well as with Destiny’s Child, a budding movie career, a perfume, a L’Oreal makeup contract, and a clothing line, all before the ripe old age of 30.
Perhaps all of those achievements are what propelled Knowles to want to do something different. To make B’day – her 2nd go alone, the polar opposite of 2003’s R&B-licious Dangerously In Love. B’Day is everything Dangerously isn’t. It is hard beats and risky vocal arrangements. It is not romantic or sweet but gritty and empowering. Dangerously’s pretty melodies have been traded in favor of a slicker production and some very interesting subject matter. Most of these changes work quite well for Beyoncé, but there are missteps along the way.
From the minute B’Day begins, the pace is frenetic. The album is awash with humongous beats and hard drums. B’day definitely isn’t a “pretty” album, but Beyoncé holds her own against Hip-Hop production heavyweights like The Neptunes (Kelis, Britney Spears) and Swizz Beats (Ruff Ryders) Crazy In Love’s Rich Harrison gets credit for the sexy ”Suga Mama”, which finds Knowles growling and cooing “Come sit on mama lap” all over a patented Harrison retro 70’s horn section. “Got Me Bodied” is equally in your face and will find its home on dirty dance floors all across the country.
The Neptunes lend a hand on “Green Light” and “Kitty Kat”. “Green Light” is perfectly arranged and produced but there seems to be no real meat and potatoes to the song and far too much chorus, bridge and hooks. Its appeal certainly doesn’t lie in its content but The Neptunes have done such a good job here, it’s almost riveting and vocally Beyoncé is flawless. “Ring The Alarm” is a Beyoncé we haven’t seen before, screaming and rageful all over a song while she berates somebody (I’m looking at you Rihanna) for trying to steal her man (I’m looking at you Jay-Z), and while it seems so uncharacteristically Beyoncé, she finds a nice groove against the blaring sirens and big Swizz Beats sound.
“Freakum Dress” is all about finding vindication in a man gone astray and again, even when the songs aren’t all that good – vocally, they’re still quite well done which is the case here as well as on “Irreplaceable” which is slightly humorous (” You must not know about me / I can have another you by tomorrow / So don't you ever for a second get to thinking you're irreplaceable”)as Beyoncé kicks out the aforementioned stray right out of her life, but it’s almost country undertones take away from the song as a whole.
The best of B’Day is not necessarily found within its most daring moments – “Upgrade U” which features a 2nd appearance from real life love Jay-Z (he also appears on the album’s lackluster first single Dejá Vu), finds Beyoncé trying to convince a (her?) man of her importance now that she’s made him into something worthwhile: ” when you’re in them big meetings for the mils / that’s a good look / you take me just to compliment the deal / that’s a good look”.
Credit goes to Knowles for her attempts at writing or co-writing and while her songwriting isn’t her biggest strength, on “Resentment” she shows her potential in crafting emotive lyrics: ” I only give you a hard time / I cant go on and pretend like / I haven't tried to forgive this / but I'm much too full of resentment / I know she was attractive / but I was here first / been riding with you for six years / why did I deserve / to be treated this way /by you”, vocally “Resentment” is a culmination of all of the good things about B’Day. It’s slightly out of the Knowles’ comfortable range, which adds a whole other tone and texture to her voice which is quite lovely. It also feels quite raw, despite there being a lot going on musically.
With its anthemic songs and overt sexuality, B’Day feels more like a coming of age album. Beyoncé Knowles is eager to show you that she is quite mature and not the girl she used to be. If nothing else, she’s definitely challenged herself and done something that could potentially not work in her favor.
Kudos to Beyoncé, B’day does feel audacious, sexy and fun. Clocking in at just under 40 minutes, B’Day works you into a sweat and brings you back to a sweet spot. To summarize the album quickly (because If you look at the whole offering, there’s a story to be told): girl falls in love with a boy, buys boy stuff because he’s good in bed, chastises a girl for trying to take said boy, gets mad at that boy, dumps that boy and finds herself in a club trying to wash boy out of her hair and then laments the whole affair.
FINAL RATING: 3.5 STARS
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Getting ready to go out
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
cletta1201
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Member: Cletta The Great
Location: Northern Virginia
Reviews written: 309
Trusted by: 262 members
About Me:
Unlike Madtheory, you can call mine a comeback.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.