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Originally posted by GeezusHaberdash
IASF wasn't that strong a concept...
I mean, Bey says she has 2 different sides, one that's soft & vulnerable & the other that's diva-ish, strong & sexual. Ok, that's just a set-up, where's the rest of the story? B'Day did Sasha better than IASF did Sasha. None of the songs from IASF matched the aggressiveness of B'Day- only Diva came close. The vocals weren't aggressive & the sound wasn't aggressive as a whole. An album with Radio & Ego on it do not mix well in any way & then having songs like Hello & Scared Of Lonely added on just further muddles the concept. On top of that the I Am side was cohesive lyrically & production-wise to the point of being too same-y. There's a way to show heart-ache & vulnerability without having to sing over somber production, Why Don't You Love Me? being an example of something contrary to that ideal. She presented the concept & forced herself to stick to it but then on the Sasha side it's just all thrown together. The only things that match lyrically on the Sasha side are Ego, Diva, & Video Phone- they show semblances of Sasha's braggadocio-side & her sexuality. And production-wise Sweet Dreams, Radio, & Single Ladies have a dance-pop sound but aren't very Sasha at all, except Single Ladies. Radio & Sweet Dreams are very vulnerable despite being dance songs. Bey's slowed down rendition of SD at her Vegas shows show the vulnerability of the song's lyrics.
As an analogy: I Am... would be someone wearing the same colour gray in their entire outfit. Gray shirt, gray pants, gray shoes. Sasha would be someone wearing a cheetah print Gucci top with zebra striped Louis Vuitton pants & fluorescent green Coach shoes.
B'Day is the perfect album because even though it seems one-dimensional because it contains a bunch of uptempos it still presents itself with variety & shows different aspects of Beyonce in an honest form. The production is also still fresh & lively, unlike something like Video Phone which was stale upon arrival.
All of Beyonce's albums have concepts. DIL is love. B'Day is freedom. IASF is personality aspects. B'Day held closest to the concepts without even trying, IASF was her running down a checklist to make sure she showed every side of her personas & it didn't come off honest seeing as what we see she can do when she really is Sasha Fierce (B'Day). DIL was about her being in love so she just sang a bunch of love songs in R&B slow jam form. Neither DIL & IASF have a story, just a concept/general idea. What differentiates them is that DIL has a cohesive sound while IASF does not. What IASF trumps the other albums in (including B'Day) is in it's strong individual songs. IASF contains some of Beyonce's best songs but that doesn't make it her best album as a whole.
It's cool to have different sounds on an album & Bey can do that if she wants. It's just that if it doesn't blend well then it's an iPod shuffle album and is not a cohesive piece & the critics and people who are here for well-blended albums will agree. If your taste is in iPod shuffle albums then that's fine. But it's not like an artist puts out one album for their entire life then they just retire (unless they're Lauryn Hill). They have a lifetime to explore different genres on multiple albums. Also, there are dozens of artist out in the world so Bey doesn't have to worry about doing 50 different genres in one album just to please the crowd & show variety. |
I couldn't agree more.
The concept of the I Am…Sasha Fierce album was clear (Bey expressing both of her sides), but the execution wasn’t 100%. The songs on I Am… side seemed to all be the same. Meanwhile, there was more variety on the Sasha Fierce side, but some of the songs seemed to be lacking that attitude that we know Sasha has.
Hopefully this new album will combine the positives of her album thus far: The cohesiveness and soulfulness of DIL, the fierceness of B’Day, and the strength of the individual songs that IASF brought.
