Beyonce - 4

what people, lex?

ah what the hell i don't usually do self-promo on ilx but i really enjoyed writing this review & am kind of proud of it http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/with-4-beyonc-applies-her-work-ethic-to-emotions

xp other critics. the ones who enjoy kanye's swagu line :(

"love on top" is too retro tho

Has the pop market changed so much since "Crazy in Love" or even "Ain't No Other Man"?

...yes

...it can't change again?

honestly i don't really care whether there are "singles" on this because judging it on that basis in advance is on some crystal ball shit

― the smoke cloud of pure hatred (lex pretend), Saturday, June 18, 2011 1:58 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

it's not a criteria for judging the music on an album sure but it's a pretty inevitable line of conversation for one of the biggest hitmakers in the world

I don't know. The auteurist pop star is as powerful as ever, and I don't hear how Clear Channel would resist a Beyonce single this ingratiating.

"love on top" is a great song, but i don't think it's going to change the pop landscape, no

did you think "irreplaceable" would change the pop landscape?

I didn't at all mention changing the pop landscape -- I wondered merely about its reception.

Lex, that's one of your best, most intelligenet reviews.

*intelligent

oh no wonder I hate "I Am Here" -- it's written by Dianne Goddamn Warren.

"sweet dreams" & "ego" were pretty modest hits, tho hits they were! "love on top" could do well, but it's not gonna be a smash

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Bet the editors giggled thinking of lex's response.

ooh i just picked up on the grocery bagging on "countdown"

thanks alfred

i don't think my editors there know about my views on pfork!

the grocery bagging on "countdown" is kind of great

the bass in "end of time" is great

also still really interested in writing/production credits on this

I read somewhere someone said "I Miss You" was about a miscarriage (carrying on this supposed baby theme of the album) because the music sounds like a sonogram or something. o.O

damn, i guess her & frank ocean really had some deep chats

The phrasing of the chorus in End of Time always makes me think of the "seen a lotta places, been all around the world" bit in Yamaha.

Still think 1+1 is a hit

As in a song destined to be one

a miscarriage interpretation wouldn't be implausible, i guess. i mean the only line explicitly about a baby is on "countdown" and i could well imagine she threw that in just to fulfil the song's concept

Apparently Diplo produced "End of Time"? Didn't know he had it in him

I particularly love the analysis of Beyoncé as a hedge fund in your review lex, it reminded me of a scene from old destiny's child footage (when beyonce was in queen bitch survivor mode) - it's the last part:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZzJ8-qTkg0

Look at the sheer disgust Beyoncé has on her face when Michelle says that if she was Queen for a day the thing she'd want would be for things to be free - the removal of all economic value from things would probably be her vision of hell!

(and then Farrah says "you'd get kicked out", though to whom? <3)

Also:

My favorite song is actually going to be on the deluxe (Target) edition of "4." It's a song called "School & Life." It has a Prince vibe. The-Dream wrote and produced it, and it's basically a song about life and growing up. We recorded that toward the end of the project. As soon as I heard it I told B, "That's the one . . . I love that song." I actually got the chance to mix that record. It was incredible that she allowed me to do that.

Perth musician and one-half of electro-pop duo Empire Of The Sun, Luke Steele will appear on Beyonce's upcoming album. Steele, who cut his musical teeth in the Perth band Sleepy Jackson, has co-written a track on the R&B star's highly anticipated album titled 4, which is due for official release next week. The song, Rather Die Young, has been leaked online today and is being touted by reviewers and music bloggers in the US as the one of the highlights of Beyonce's fourth studio album. Steele's influence is also heard in the instrumentals of the electronic sounding love ballad.

"Rather Die Young" sounds like Diamonds & Pearls-era Prince

OMG that clip prolego. "everything - would be free?"

also given that beyoncé WAS queen of DC (not just for a day) that was tantamount to lèse majesté. shocking stuff, michelle :o

also, beyoncé as hedge fund would make solange one of those "ethical" banks (that secretly fund grizzly bear shows)

Number None where are you c/ping from?

The quote about The-Dream song is from this
http://www.billboard.com/#/news/beyonce-experimented-with-everything-on-1005240182.story
Luke Steele bit from here
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/luke-steeles-love-song-for-beyonce-20110617-1g796.html

Just got those from googling around to see what credits i could scare up

Supposedly Rich Harrison worked on the album too. "Love On Top" maybe?

it's so weird to me that beyoncé has been to bath, lol

Great review, lex.

uh, so "rather die young" was co-written from some guy from empire of the sun??????

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/luke-steeles-love-song-for-beyonce-20110617-1g796.html

smh.com

http://images.smh.com.au/2011/06/17/2436504/Luke-Steele_729-420x0.jpg

andre 3000 flows like yelawolf on this

i had zero expectations for this album after sasha fierce/"run the world" but this is really one of the better albums released this year

xp more like yela kinda flows like andre

I'm not sure how anyone can confidently say there are no hit singles on this album, or that it's too retro, in a pop environment where Adele is the year's biggest star.

xp more like yela kinda flows like andre

― 51 suggest gang (The Reverend), Sunday, June 19, 2011 3:22 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark

well yeah, but there's something about the elongation of "ooooo" in that verse that struck me as distinctly yelawolf

I'm not sure how anyone can confidently say there are no hit singles on this album, or that it's too retro, in a pop environment where Adele is the year's biggest star.

― Matt DC, Sunday, June 19, 2011 1:57 PM (13 minutes ago)

in the uk maybe dude

the better example would be cee-lo, but that's more kitschy than "love on top" -- i mean retro songs can be hits still certainly, but i don't think there's a smash on this album

there might not actually be a song as big as "motivation"

yeah i know what you mean

in the uk maybe dude

― jag goo (k3vin k.), Sunday, June 19, 2011 11:10 AM Bookmark

and like second biggest in the us?

nah, biggest in US to