There’s no denying the fact that Beyonce Knowles is a gifted woman. She possesses an opera-trained, 4-octave voice, striking good looks, a respected penchant for constructing some of the catchiest melodies and hooks this side of the pop music millenium, and along with the group that nurtured her talent - Destiny’s Child - she set an unprecedented record sure to remain untouched in pop music history.

Not to mention her first solo outing, 2003’s Dangerously In Love, was a brillaint exposition of her musical depth as regards her lyrics, melodies, hooks, arrangements, vocals - the whole shebang. To follow up an album of such caliber would take time. And to be fair, it has been a solid 3 years since DIL hit store shelves. But in the 3 years lapsed, Beyonce’s name, voice nor presence has even momentarily left spectators’ eyes, ears, and lips.

She starred in 2 box office blockbusters, filmed yet another inevitable (Dreamgirls), recorded one “final” multi-platinum, worldwide smash LP with the ladies of DC and shared in the subsequent “final” world tour. To say Beyonce earned a much-deserved break would be an understatement. And when the filming of Dreamgirls wrapped, Beyonce was finally given the opportunity to take that necessary vacation.

Surprise, surprise that her vacation spot of choice would wind up being a - you guessed it - recording studio. And in no less, than give or take, TWO WEEKS, Beyonce - with her own funds (shock and surprise) - phoned the heaviest hitters in music production available and put them to work. 22 songs later, she selected her top-10, glossed ‘em up for mass consumption, got glamorous down in the bayou for the liner notes, and issued this “project of passion and inspiration” out as a birthday gift to both her fans and herself in the form of B’Day.

Too bad the record doesn’t come with the gift receipt.

All of this isn’t to say B’Day isn’t a “bad” album. If it had been given to some random, second-tier, R&B studio creation/producer puppet who wears a tubetop and booty-shorts well, the album could easily rank as one of the best in its field; the structure is sound from a sonic standpoint. But the fact that Beyonce’s name is stitched onto the cover and all over its credits dramatically depreciates the artistic value. Instead of building upon the brilliance of her debut, the entire project seems to drip with a rushed sense of desperation. As unstable an industry as the music business has become - with artists literally on the tip of one’s tongue one minute and out their long-term memory the next - Beyonce seems resigned to pandering to the mainstream’s current flavor in hopes of cementing her relevance.

She may have tried to pass off lead single, Deja Vu, as a modern achievement in sound for its usage of LIVE instrumentation but any casual music listener with half an iota of common sense would be quick to acknowledge that LIVE drums, bass, hi-hats, and horns can make music just as generic as drum machines and MIDIs and pro-Tools can. And the fact that it’s the ONLY track on the album to feature complete live instrumentation only adds to the desperation; Bee wants to make sure she isn’t too far ahead of the curve to alienate any chance of mainstream success.

Judging the remainder of the album independent from Beyonce’s name would make it a structurally sound work of music but under Beyonce’s guidance, it’s tragically hit and MISS. Swizz Beats (responsible for the 1st sign of this impending disaster - “Check On It”) employs his kinetic backbeats (and not much else) for both Get Me Bodied and Ring The Alarm and the only real distinction between the two is the slight variation in tempo. The former is albeit quite catchy with its incessant hook and Bee’s over-the-top vocal and the latter does earn points for Bee’s enraged vocal giving the otherwise vapid record a needed jolt. His addition of a muted horn-synth on the Jay-Z-assisted Upgrade U actually enhances the backbeat for a change and makes the collabo one of the sparse highlights on the disc, even in spite of the rather audacious lyrics (“I can do for you what Martin did for the people”).

Rich Harrison dusts off his 70s drum-loops and tries his hardest to make Bee’s emulation of Tina Turner on the cliché Suga Mama come off as non-contrived and genuine as possible. He puts drums to better use, however, on the guiltiest of pleasures, Freakum Dress, where Bee lets her hair down and gives a detailed lesson plan on the perfect attire for turning one’s man out.

The Neptunes surprisingly clear out their swirled, squiggly, cartoonish synths and distorted drum pads for the laidback vibe of Kitty Kat, which has Bee expressing more of her “risqué” side and looking for a more appreciative home for her and her nookie (yes, she says “nookie” as well as “sex” in the same song. This way, her material will have more of an “edge” befitting her age). Yet it all works in its own way. The same can’t be said for Green Light where Pharrell & Chad borrow from Rich’s formula to create a 70s-esque club rhythm that Beyonce can flex her female prowess over (with vocal arrangements that shamelessly lift from Rich’s own protégé, Amerie, who‘s been accused of emulating Bee herself on numerous occasions). Coincidence? Or another example of Beyonce following the tempo she was supposed to help set?

ALL hope isn’t lost by the time Stargate’s Irreplaceable rolls around. It may be a pop song to its core but it’s easily the best constructed record on the album. The energy and vibe seems neither rushed nor forced and the emotion is genuine. Bee’s clear-eyed lyric is rather creative and her vocal is impassioned yet controlled and all elements involved hint at the depth her debut so skillfully showcased. If this was her strongest in just two weeks, 12 months would’ve made an entire world of difference. The “show-stopping” finale, Resentment, actually falls quite flat with its bland arrangement and overwrought delivery but what is more unnerving would be the songwriting credit to Beyonce’s name when the song is a cover of a Victoria Beckham (yes, Posh Spice) leftover from her aborted solo project.

And so it has been proven that Beyonce’s incessant need for her feigned “autonomy” to be perpetuated while her craving for sustained relevance (now matter how temporary and/or incidental) is satisfied are the two factors that ultimately plague B’Day. She was building on her potential of setting the tempo for female R&B in the industry but has quickly rescinded to following the lead of the current “flavors of the week”. And yet, the mainstream has been brainwashed to the point of heralding it as a “modern day work-of-art”.

Sonically? Perhaps (when compared with the current mainstream musical schematic).
Artistically? Not by a long shot.

But leave it to Beyonce to make backsliding fashionable.


Retail Price: $13.29

Retail Worth: $13.25

Final Analysis: Beyonce: 1. LeToya: 1. Kelly: 1. Michelle: 1. LaTavia: doesn’t have much to worry about.

Recommended: No