Beyonce - 4

I like "schoolin life" a whole lot but there are a couple observations, and I call them that because they aren't rlly criticisms but might come off that way, which is that the song is very melodically affecting but not very melodically distinct; when I start singing it in my head it starts to become the verses of "you shook me all night long" (esp the part with the line about "american thighs") or whitneys "$100 bill"

I'm also fairly sure that we have a bias towards certain prince esque aesthetic maneuvers that make dreams cartoony imitations appealing simply because they are fresh in our current context - a "good kind" of revivalism. I think that part of why I do like this so much is that its being done on a huge stage with a big pop artist, so it feels like these moves "matter". context feeds into why I like this a lot, basically

I do look skeptically at any artist who isn't Prince boasting that h/she's got seventy-two tracks in the can: more like less than a quarter of that number, the rest of which are songs requiring more mixing or fragments of choruses and bridges.

yeah, i really do kind of agree with you on the 100 bill/schoolin life connection; they're odd but true cognates
that GROWL she delivers with AH HAD MUH FIRST KISS BAH TH AGE UH THIRTEEN UNGH absolutely kills me

the song is very melodically affecting but not very melodically distinct

totally agree

it doesn't make me love it any less but it's right that it's a bonus track

on the subject of which, nicki minaj seems intent on releasing all her own bonus tracks as singles

ok so many great moments on this album

"boy your lips taste like a night of champagne"

a NIGHT! not just a glass. and then getting so love drunk on kissing you "again and again and again and again"

"all up in the kitchen in my heels" - the rhythm of the word totters exactly like the housewife she's playing at

"damn i think i love that boy! (aside, sotto voce) do anything for that boy..."

i think - i like schoolin' life, but i don't love it. for me it is slightly too pigeon-holed and not QUITE fulfilling enough in terms of the melody. that's just me.

all round otm d-40 post

i think also you have to ask where would you put 'schoolin life' on the album for it to work as a whole as well as it currently does... tracing back from that, and taking into account bey already said was one of her fave cuts before the regular edition even came out, (not even in an obvious "buy the deluxe as well!" kinda way it seemed to me) the decision to leave it as a bonus grows more and more appreciable imo

like it's a striking song, i'm pretty sure it would have been among the cornerstones of a blundering panicky exec's tracklist selection

i watched this beyonce concert on MHD recently.

it was very strange, she is a weird performer. like she doesn't even feel like she's playing a real show for real human people, it's like she's still making all her hair flailing tigress type weird facial expression and it even seems like she has canned facial expressions for everything.

like maybe she should only play in arenas, this was a small room in vegas and it just didn't work, like i dunno she doesn't really scan for me, like even celine or someone like bette midler kinda CONNECT with you even over TV, beyonce seems like a cipher.

likes she's talented in the basic sense, she can dance and sing and everything but i don't think she's a really compelling performer outside of videos where all her hyperactive weird faces and poses can sort of be used and presented in a certain way.

very "dead" emotionally i think (as a performer)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNvfIDbotHY

I'm not sure Schoolin Life would be any more sore thumb than Party.

^exactly what i was thinking

"party" sticks out because it sucks, not because it's uptempo

Also it's sonically completely different to the rest of the album. Schoolin Life at least fits the retro 80s reel.

Beyonce Stan Calls Target
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyAFd_QuXhc
Because some people are beyond help.

Also it's sonically completely different to the rest of the album. Schoolin Life at least fits the retro 80s reel.

― Matt DC, Thursday, June 30, 2011 2:02 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i think Party fits an 80s retro feel to a large degree, and i think it is sonically more similar to the rest of the album than Schoolin Life is.

xpost Beesus?

to me, most of the album sounds like Beyonce just got home from a long night and said "peace, i'm gonna go to the basement and record." and Party sounds like she went upstairs after a while and took a break with the crew.

if Schoolin Life were on there, it would sound like she went into her time machine and took a break in another galaxy.

going to see her Good morning America show tomorrow if i can wake up at like 4.30 or 5.
kind excited?

er, "kinda excited?"

"party" is uptempo?

not really, no

i cannot imagine not liking "party" just like i cannot imagine not liking monica's "just one of them days"

just doesn't compute for me

sorry, "upbeat"

btw jordan i like " i was here "

have u not listened to it at all?

no

i have no problem w/ "I Was Here," it fits in with the theme of the last 4 tracks while being kind of a refreshingly different energy from the others

yes it is quite pretty, the way she sings " i was here "

surm otm re: "i was here" and "party"

although, as much as i think it fits the record, kanye just completely jettisons me out of any mood the previous four tracks established

swagu intolerance

xpost to some dude lol yeah that was the show! fucking bizarre stuff

FYI, there's a "Year of 4" behind the scenes special on VH1 right now...

i just listened to "Party" w/o the Kanye intro and i have to admit the song is a lot more tolerable without that setting the tone. still a weak spot of the album, and Andre's verse kinda sucks, though.

xpost The one time I saw Destiny's Child, when they toured after her first solo album, I was surprised by the sheer dearth of star power radiating from Beyonce. It felt like any other show to me.

Is anything from this album gaining traction? I've been driving across the country, flipping around top 40, and I don't think I've heard a single Beyonce song, new or otherwise, yet. Unless I have and didn't recognize it as such, I guess.

"Best Thing" is steadily rising up the charts -- i've already heard it on the radio enough that i'm kind of sick of it and change the station as soon as i hear that growl of "WHAT GOES AROUND COMES BACK AROUND HEY"

so far "Countdown" has been picking up the most airplay on urban radio out of the album tracks

"Best Thing" is so nice. it's like women of the canyon.

played this at a friend's house last night, and one of my girlfriends who never listens to R&B was all ears. it was exciting.

was anyone else surprised this only got an 8.0 from pfork? I expected it to do better than waka, lol

8.0 seemed high tbh, when's the last time they gave significantly more than that to a big non-rap blockbuster album?

Damn, I set my alarm for that Pitchfork review and it failed to go off.

I was pretty impressed too, and Dombal nailed the album's tone and ambitions (he's dead wrong about "Party" though).

was anyone else surprised this only got an 8.0 from pfork?

did anyone else give a shit?

I really don't understand how US radio works, but it's probably preferable to the UK where every song will be automatically playlisted on every relevant station purely by virtue of being by Beyonce.

terius displays his pitchfork rating on his website as a badge of honour btw

"best thing i never had"

i really like this one and i'm not surprised it's catching on or that it resonates with lots of people. i'm confused that it's been specifically criticised for being bitter and petulant - it reminds me of the reaction to kelly clarkson's "never again", as though clarkson had somehow committed a giant faux pas by making an angry, bitter pop song - i got the distinct impression that people were demanding that pop should only be happy & uplifting.

beyoncé's been covering "you oughta know" live for a while. alanis morissette and her confessional/cathartic aesthetic may be considered both uncool and uncommercial right now (though if you think this, you're an idiot), but the audience is totally there to be tapped because it is REAL, and beyoncé understands real.

i don't know if it really 'resonates' that much or if it's just a new Beyonce single that's more radio-friendly than "Run The World" -- after "Irreplaceable" it just feels like more of the same tbh

there are critiques along those lines?? that is very weird to me. it doesn't even sound bitter to me. it sounds reflective and ultimately positive.

i thought songs putting other people down were pretty common.

it think it resonates and i think it sounds very different than irreplaceable.

it has a pretty distinct angle on a break-up from "irrepaceable" though

i think it sounds less spiteful and more like she is celebrating how far she's come

I just can't get over the Bruce Hornsbyisms

I mean, I do like "The Way It Is" but I never really had any desire to hear an R&B power vocal over it