= Boy, I try to catch myself But I'm losin' control Your sexiness is so appealing I can't let it go =
When in doubt, hate yourself. And, that is exactly how I feel for torturing my eardrums for the sake of this website. Listening to any album by RnB singer Beyonce is one of the most obnoxious experiences that I've ever had to partake in, particularly when her soulless voice hollers like its Aretha Franklin's. Unlike those who surround her (Mary J. Blige) and those before her (Aaliyah), Beyonce doesn't really have a style that is all her own. Her voice is certainly distinguishable above the rest, but she rarely adds any sort of flavor to her music. After her disappointing debut album Dangerously in Love, I successfully diagnosed Beyonce as somebody with a pleasant voice that rarely sounds as such. While there is a niceness to her vocals when she sings at a smoother, lower register a la Sade, most of Beyonce's vocal performances add up screeching and vocal stretching that don't suit her well: her voice is a bit of a shell. She can hit any note she wants to, but there's nothing to back it up. She has, quite possibly, one of the most annoying voices in music today. With her follow up, B'Day, Beyonce has proved yet again that she is not the second coming of yesteryear's songstresses-instead, she is a slightly more tolerable Diana Ross, who also seemed to want to push herself away from her own crowd.
I took a love drive through the mountains this weekend from the must more populated Eastern side of Massachusetts to the farmerville of North Adams, an isolated town about a hop away from the Vermont border. With a collective six hours in my car alone, you'd think I could really sink my teeth into Beyonce's sophomore album; however, unfortunately, I was only a few songs into the album before I realized that any song I played in the car by this woman would just be wasted time (and with a good six hours, I wasn't running out of it anytime soon). With her second album, Beyonce merely did the minimum and kept herself on the radio without really growing as an artist or improving on what severely needed to be an improvement-unless your name is Anna Mae "Tina Turner" Bullock or Frank Sinatra, your voice and singing skills cannot carry you as far as you'd think. The music on B'Day is neither interesting nor challenging, and it seems to be exactly what you'd expect. She claws her way and loses her grip on the obnoxiously paced Ring the Alarm, which finds the woman trying to pull off some stereotypical black chick-somebody should tell her that she's not exactly all that threatening. Her "let's-play-dress-up" attitude never really works on this album, and the only time she sounds all that good is on the ode to self-confidence Irreplaceable, a song that truly concludes that Beyonce is, indeed, in love with herself: "I could have another you in a minute / In fact, he'll be here in a minute / You must not know about me."
The release of this album did not really do anything to keep herself in the spotlight-in fact, it was just enough to get by. At this point, she could have ended up another Jody Watley: very successful before the over-saturation wore off. Horn-riffed Déjà Vu is certainly catchy, though it uses the same exact template as her debut single Crazy in Love from 2003: horns, slick beat, and similar choruses! Check! Beyonce, with this album, also joined the ranks of those who have plagiarized work; I'm unaware of whether or not she knew at the time or if it was just some hot-shot producer's idea of a hit, but Des'ree's Kissing You had to be removed from all pressings almost immediately after its release-that's a pretty big negative in my book, missy! The better moments of this album come in the form of production, particularly that of Mr. Pharrell Williams, who I prefer behind a mixing board than a microphone. After he produced some of the better tracks of Madonna's Hard Candy album, I have a new-found respect for his classically 80s production (that I almost think would have worked really well for Duran Duran). Greenlight is fun and upbeat, but the issue lies in that it's not a catchy song, and Beyonce's repetitive breakdowns and choruses of "yeah, uh huh, go"s are less than appetizing.
The presence of more upbeat songs you think would be a much anticipated sound after the flatlined and dull sound of her debut; but the songwriting is just boring. I need good pop hooks for me to enjoy and album, and on this album, they come very far and in between. This album is lazy. Upgrade U is a stupid song of handclaps and that soul-inspired hip-hop that Beyonce is known for. A lot of this album is comprised of funk samples and soundbytes that attempt to give Beyonce song real flavor, twisting her sound from a seventies outline. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work, particularly on the ridiculous Freakum Dress, which is Beyonce embarrassing her second after second. B'Day runs at ten songs, and not a single one of them is the least bit original or interesting. As fun as it is to shout out "To the left, to the left" anytime somebody needs to go in that particular direction, that's about as cool as this record gets. Beyonce has, once again, done nothing but disappoint me.
VERDICT Beyonce loves herself. Jay-Z loves himself. They both love each other. See Beyonce and Jay-Z regurgitate the same old same old! Regurgitate, B, regurgitate!
01. Déjà Vu [3.5 Stars] 02. Get Me Bodies [0 Stars] 03. Suga Mama [0 Stars] 04. Upgrade U [1 Star] 05. Ring the Alarm [1 Star] 06. Kitty Kat [0 Stars] 07. Freakum Dress [-1 Star] 08. Greenlight [0 Stars] 09. Irreplaceable [3 Stars] 10. Resentment [0 Stars]
BEST: Déjà Vu WORST: ...I really don't know. These songs are all terrible. Maybe Freakum Dress or Kitty Kat.
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