OLOGY: Album Review: 4, Beyoncé (Release Date: 6/28/2011)
Now, I’ve never had the pleasure of sex with Beyoncé (I’m not Jay-Z, unfortunately), but I can picture it well enough: I imagine Ms. Knowles in a full on leather catsuit, thrashing and gyrating while screaming sentiments such as “WHO RUN THIS MOTHA?!” and a bunch of other sassy and demanding one-liners that run rampant all over the songstress and worldwide sensation’s fourth studio-album, the quite intricately named 4.
It’s an album so-far defined by its ferociously hostile lead single “Run The World”, a song that’s been met with mixed reactions and subpar sales, but no one would dare raise a hand to call it boring: over the now infamous Major Lazer “Pon De Floor” sample, Knowles growls and roars that rash new emancipation proclamation (“Who run the world? Girls!”). That’s, um, arguable, but the verses are far more tolerable: over a rousing syncopation of stuttering beats and twitching blips, Beyoncé is happy to boast her own Houston, TX swagger, with witty clauses for days: “I think I need a barber! None of these n*ggas can fade me! I’m so gooood with this- I remind you, I’m so hooood with this!”
Haircut jokes aside, perhaps “Run The World” sits as the last track on the album for a reason- ostensibly on purpose, it doesn’t mix well with anything else on 4. The rest of the album is intent upon stringing along a big band sound, with Motown-influenced jazz sitting next to somber mid-tempos and grandiose, trumpeting anthems, all exploding with brassy sass. It’s a wonder how 4 comes off as cohesive as it does, with Kanye West, The-Dream, and Ryan Tedder all with production credits, but it stands quite easily as Knowles’ most vibrant album; not saying it’s her best (B’Day still holds that title), but it begs to be performed live in front of hundreds of thousands of screaming fans unlike anything else she’s released yet.
Put bluntly, Bey just doesn’t calm the hell down. She never really has, but 4 really thrives on its emotional attention deficit: There’s the power ballad to end all power ballads, the vocal standout “1+1”, where Knowles allows you to make love to her, followed by the big and brassy fight that will eventually come after in the form of “I Care”, a heart-thumping accusation that you don’t give a damn about her, then the soft and somber make-up record “I Miss You”, and at last, the feisty kiss-off “Best Thing I Never Had”. But all of these emotions are as emotionally wired as they can get- “MAKE LOVE TO ME!” “I KNOW YOU DON’T CARE! I CARE!” “I MISS YOU EVERYDAY!” “SUCKS TO BE YOU RIGHT NOW!” The last one is the best of that group, a fusion of “If I Were A Boy” and “Irreplaceable” mashed with more powerful intstruments- but all throughout these, it’s as if she’s barely refraining from punching you in the face.
Though it’s all loud, not all of 4 is so aggressive: Kanye’s production on the funky “Party” is a groovy throwback with a Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick to match, and it’s nice to hear a rare Andre 3000 in stereo. It could be paired with the Motown bounce of “Love On Top”, and “Countdown” is another bubbly, fizzy track that’s appropriately fun. The huge, monumental Ryan Tedder ballad “I Was Here” sounds like a I Am… effort, but succeeds for what it is.
There’s a few tracks (“Rather Die Young”, “Start Over”) that succeed in fitting in but don’t make any real lasting effect on the album as a whole, yet it’s “End Of Time” that may just rank on top of 4, as the definitive track that best exemplifies all the record’s best elements: brass, sass, wit, and of course, huge vocals. Over larger-than-life trumpets and drums, Beyoncé is as complimentary to her man as she’ll get, but it still comes off as a command: “SAY YOU’LL NEVER LET ME GO!” she orders. And then she probably slaps you.
4 a whole offsets the failed duality of I Am… Sasha Fierce, and takes the best parts of them and fuses one cohesive sound. There’s certainly no “Single Ladies” this go-round, but with the power and gusto still displayed in Beyoncé’s music, I’d bet it’s only a matter of time.
SumOlogy: Knowles refuses to ease her aggression through powerful vocals and witty one-liners on a funky, brassy, sassy collection of tracks that beg to be performed live.
Grade: 8/10
Best Tracks: “End Of Time”, “Countdown”, “Best Thing I Never Had”, “1+1”, “Run The World”
http://www.ology.com/music/album-review-4-beyonc%C3%A9
. Yea, even below Run The World (Girls) which isnt even that bad..
