Beyonce - 4

it's not like there wasn't a similar dogpile of opinions the day "Power" leaked

personally i find the incessant delay culture of major label music really tedious. if the album is ready, put out the single and stick to your release date, instead of nervously pushing it back and trying to make more hits if the first thing you realize isn't an instant smash.

"girls (run the world)" was co-written by terius? i didn't see that one coming

and is apparently called "run the world (girls)"

http://static.popdash.com/gallery/6923068_run-the-world-girls.jpg

well at least she can make a better cover than gaga

here's the final version & it's on itunes in an hour.

okay YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

"Pon De Floor" has some serious instant-appeal-to-lizard-brain effect on me, I'd probably like a Bieber song with this a the foundation

haha i give it 6 months til that theory is tested

okay those comments are the best

I particularly like the one deriding this as a horrible trend-chasing ego trip that contains the sentence "In the famous words of Aretha Franklin 'Who’s Zooming Who?'"

i will eventually get sick of this but it's pretty cool right now

putting the original synth line back in is a VERY GOOD LOOK

"Pon De Floor" has some serious instant-appeal-to-lizard-brain effect on me

same here - this works exactly like the best sort of mixtape beat-jacking track. i don't think that's mutually exclusive with a lead pop single, either.

putting the original synth line back in is a VERY GOOD LOOK

yup

Okay this to me just sounds like Beyonce singing over "Pon De Floor", which I've sort of always heard as this goofy Tim-and-Ericy type thing and can't really take "seriously" or whatever. This just reminds me of that one LFO song ("Shove Piggy Shove") that Bjork just sang vocals over top of and released as her own ("I Go Humble"). Like, this isn't a Beyonce song.

"I Go Humble" was great! There is nothing in principle wrong about turning someone else's instrumental into a song.

more than anything i guess it just seems strange that with her infinite resources and infinite collaborators they couldn't come up with anything more compelling than...this?

No I mean I LOVE "I Go Humble" but, like, it's not really her song... I mean this song is fine and everything but it just feels like some Beyonce acapella mashup. I mean, it IS just a Beyonce acapella mashup.

brb, looking up "I Go Humble"

also in technical terms, a song is a piece of music performed by the voice, so there is no way that these COULDN'T be Beyonce's/Bjork's songs since the vocal lines are what make them songs

i had no idea that "i go humble" was an lfo track! all these years!

Whoa that is cheap! Yeah

also in technical terms, a song is a piece of music performed by the voice, so there is no way that these COULDN'T be Beyonce's/Bjork's songs since the vocal lines are what make them songs

what?

A song is defined as a piece of music performed by the voice. Bjork's and Beyonce's vocal additions are what make these songs, so it doesn't actually make sense to say "it's not really her song".

Basically I'm just being annoying.

Oh, jesus, I never realized the term "song" was voice-specific. Or maybe I did and I forgot?

I think it definitely throws a monkey wrench in how people her or perceive a song if it contains prominent elements of a song they've heard before. It's almost like you're being invited into the creative process and thinking about X + Y whereas you might otherwise just take it all as a package deal.

the only thing I'm objecting to here is misuse of the word "song"

Right, I figured as much, but I feel totes sonned now :(

Album is to be called 4... which is better than Bidet and that Sasha Fierce thing I guess.

Whatever, this video is gonna be insane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3x_yiRm9K4&feature=player_embedded

!

anticipating

A brief questionnaire from Billboard:

http://bit.ly/la9g2K

It doesn't sound like it will be on the album but I would've at least like to hear the sessions of this:

I started off being inspired by [Afrobeat music pioneer] Fela Kuti. I actually worked with the band from "Fela!" [the hit Broadway musical based on his life] for a couple of days, just to get the feel for the soul and heart of his music; it's so sexy, and has a great groove you get lost in. I loved his drums, all the horns, how everything was on the one. What I learned most from Fela was artistic freedom: he just felt the spirit.

Yeah, she was talking about her love for Kuti in the same article where she posed "blacked-up".

At 0:28 in the video when the horse kicks up on his hind legs...that should be the lp cover!!

or not.

It's a cool bit, though.

haha this always happens with pop artists, you hear their new album title/see the new cover and your immediate reaction is THAT IS SO AWFUL, WHYYYY, and then you remember how bad all their previous titles and covers were

i'm really not sure how i feel about this run the world song

like i'm not offended by it but

yeah it sort of came and went without any impact.. extremely forgettable

if I was her I'd just scrap it and make it a "bonus track" or whatever... NO ONE likes it

it's just like was that a comeback

i like it!

imo it's kind of sad when people run from their own singles at the first sign of resistance -- good song or bad, if she put it out in the first place she should stand by it, work it for at least a month or two before moving on to something more radio-friendly

if I was her I'd just scrap it and make it a "bonus track" or whatever... NO ONE likes it

I actually like it. I was lukewarm on the demo but since they added the synth line from the original "Pon De Floor" it has improved the song big time. Plus, a lot of people hated Deja Vu and the accompanying video but I thin it's been accepted by as a solid song in her catalog.

it's just like was that a comeback

How can you call this a comeback when she has been working consistently since 1997? I'm not trying to act like a devoted fan but I feel like using hyperbole language like that doesn't base discussion of music in reality or context. Plus, since she has worked since 1997 the girl can be excused if she wants to experiment or a song doesn't hit right away.

*but I think it's been accepted...

I don't hate this song but Deja Vu >>>>

imo it's kind of sad when people run from their own singles at the first sign of resistance -- good song or bad

I still hate Nicki for bailing on "Massive Attack." It wasn't perfect but god damn it was the best Missy Elliot song that wasn't Missy Elliot in a long time.

I don't hate this song but Deja Vu >>>>

As a former bass player, that Deja Vu fucking owns!!! Darkchild should've kept that sound around before going all electro a la "Telephone."

If people still released albums every calendar year, comeback talk would hopefully go away and each new album would feel like less of a make-or-break event. That'd be good for pop music, imo.

xp both those songs are great tho

jf otm

I still hate Nicki for bailing on "Massive Attack."

SERIOUSLY

what would have made it perfect: kick sean garrett off the chorus, get busy signal on

If people still released albums every calendar year, comeback talk would hopefully go away and each new album would feel like less of a make-or-break event. That'd be good for pop music, imo.

This is the exact reason why I went through a 60s/70s Motown phase after college. I was so impressed that a label could steadily churn out albums and singles that were innovative and listenable. Even if the song or album didn't hit, they just went ahead released the next one with no big public crisis.

Even during the 80s/90s, when pop was really making money, a pop star could take 2-4 years between albums and not have the public (the media/industry is a different story of course) wait to see them fail or "comeback harder" (whatever the fuck that means).

imo it's kind of sad when people run from their own singles at the first sign of resistance -- good song or bad, if she put it out in the first place she should stand by it, work it for at least a month or two before moving on to something more radio-friendly

Generally I agree with you, but "Run The World" has no real redeeming qualities imo, and the reaction to it has been so cold that I can't really see it turning around. For the first single from a Beyonce album to be out of the iTunes 100 two weeks after release is kind of shocking and speaks to the quality of the song.

Of course the video could turn everything around, but I don't really see that happening tbh.