Beyonce - 4

rest of the shoot is here -

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/10868/1/beyonce-the-simple-life

actually i see most of the shoot is about that 'contrast' (or whatever)

...

It’s hard to think of Beyoncé as an advocate for anything but an ideal of spritzy competence. She is a quiet meritocrat, celebrating the pleasure of doing things well and not making a particularly big deal of it.

Sasha Frere-Jones in the New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2011/06/27/110627crmu_music_frerejones?currentPage=1

not terrible

except he called born this way "immensely fun"

I want him to vote in my poll.

almost all the musical moves are there to frame the singing.

^super otm

whoa "dance for you"

like!!

this was probably written for ciara or someone? but beyonce pulls it off pretty well!

I love how well that SFJ piece filters out distractions and homes in on the real core stuff about the records -- it's just terrifically well-written and clear-thinking. Sort of the least clotted thing available to read on either album.

it's really great on gaga for exactly that reason - it's deceptively hard to write about her because it's so easy to be distracted, to go down tangents - but feels way underdone on beyoncé. also "spritzy competence" seems an odd thing to apply to someone whose entire raison d'être has been her unashamed pursuit (and, generally, attainment) of perfection. i guess that's kinda what competent is, doing things exactly right, but beyoncé's never been as mundane as that implies.

I'd agree though I'm guessing SFJ's implied point is that perfection also builds in more risk-taking than he's hearing.

Where I'd go further in that regard is that the record is not just a spotlight on Beyonce's voice, it also allows her to do stuff with her voice that is both distinctive and (I think) unmatched - could anyone else invest quite so much character and nuance into "Countdown" in particular?

In this regard I think the record is "braver" (in a certain sense unobvious to many listeners perhaps) than it gets credit for.

perfection also builds in more risk-taking than he's hearing

indeed! get perfection wrong, once you explicitly aim for it, and you look like a prat. whereas if your thing, like gaga, is celebrating messiness and flaws or individuality, when you overreach or underwhelm it's less a failure than just a by-product of gaga being gaga.

Yeah exactly: Gaga can at least theorise any failures.

could anyone else invest quite so much character and nuance into "Countdown" in particular?

rihanna.

nah

Yeah exactly: Gaga can at least theorise any failures.

If not, that's always ILM's specialty.

rihanna.

A million times no. And I love Rihanna. But their skills are very very very very different.

i can totally imagine rihanna doing "countdown" but it'd be a very different song

oh yeah she could do the song but it's not like it's a "classic song", that song is all about (a) the production and (b) the winning hilariousness of Beyonce's vocals.

when i heard it i thought it sounded basically like a rihanna song. she would do an amazing version of it i think.

Again, I love Rihanna, but I can't imagine thinking that Beyonce sounds like Rihanna on it.

90% of the appeal is the singularity with which Beyonce delivers lines like "ME AND MY BOOF AND MY BOOF LIP LOCKING!"

Y'all make me want to listen to Lindsey Buckingham's "Countdown."

Yeah exactly: Gaga can at least theorise any failures.

If not, that's always ILM's specialty.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, July 20, 2011 11:02 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol

Y'all make me want to listen to Lindsey Buckingham's "Countdown."

OH MAN.

Chris Richards (Sade fan and former Dischord group bandmember) at the Washington Post dislikes the album:

He suggests in part:

Beyonce drops “4,” as in her fourth album. It’s also her fourth-best album, as in her worst.

Both cool and low-key, its subdued tone suggests that she’s turning an intimate new leaf. Surprise! She isn’t. Instead, Beyonce sounds more precise and distant than ever, making these mid-tempo tunes feel vexing at first, then dull. Unlike Sade and Prince — her mysterious, ultra-private forebears — Beyonce is becoming a puzzle that might not be worth solving.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/click-track/post/album-review-beyonce-4/2011/06/28/AGxjyDpH_blog.html

i think it is true that beyonce's perfection is much more nuanced than the sfj piece suggests, but i am not sold on the idea that gaga's musical mission is to celebrate flaws on born this way, even if that is what the idea of being "born this way" is about. if anything i get more of a perfectionist vibe from btw than i do from gaga's earlier projects, especially in terms of the production. any mess i hear on it is sewn up rather fastidiously. when born this way overreaches or underwhelms, it sounds overwrought, and i do not think the idea that it is just "gaga being gaga" makes it any less of a failure in those moments.

90% of the appeal is the singularity with which Beyonce delivers lines like "ME AND MY BOOF AND MY BOOF LIP LOCKING!"

if I'm honest, my two biggest takeaways from the album are the BOOF and the YOOP

me and my BOOF and my BOOF BOOF WRITING

How is sade a beyonce forbearer exactly?

they're both women of color

i do not think the idea that it is just "gaga being gaga" makes it any less of a failure in those moments.

neither do i, but it fits better into her particular narrative

like, just on a basic level, if gaga tripped over on stage she could shrug it off way more than beyoncé could

lol yes

actually she would break into a tripping dance

That's because Beyonce would never trip on stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2LHiKk0vRs

SFJ does come out with some faux-profound claptrap sometimes

when did she get a decent low range

― Tom Skerritt Mustache Ride (DJP), Wednesday, June 1, 2011 10:21 AM (1 month ago)

i know right? the part in "dance for you" where she sings 'til you're through with me-e' is really pretty, i can't remember being so impressed by her low end ever before

i've long been impressed w/ beyonce's low end etc etc

otm

lol j0rdan

(((d-_-b))) atm tbh

i feel like i've always heard the alto in her -- but it seems like just now she's finally realllly settled into that groove

like on

" i swear you like when i'm in paiiiinn "

damn girl

countdown is a v beyonce song - what with the female solidarity/girlfriend-to-girlfriend type tips in the lyrics (even if the tips are to just grind on their mans crotch) and the melody is quintessential 00s beyonce, actually the closest 4 gets to old beyonce vocals/get me bodied-style chants. BUT even tho it demands a certain boldness that rihanna doesnt really do i could totally hear rihanna singing the 'lowerrrrrrrrrrrr' and 'love the way he...' parts. do love the horns on there though, reminds me a lot of all of the lights (actually i think thats why i keep thinking of rihanna on it)

4 is her best album imo - ive come to like it a lot more than her others, prob cos its her most R&B.

alright well "dance for you" has taken over my life :/

this is for the time you gave me flowers
for the world that is ours
for the MOOLAH, for the POWER

(of love)

(that's such an afterthought, lol)

yeah her minds ALWAYS on her money and moneys on her mind