Beyonce - 4

I kind of just want to listen to "I Care", "Countdown" and "End of Time" on repeat to the exclusion of everything else (except I do still really enjoy "Girls" whenever I actually get to it)

I tried to get my wife into this but she will not get past her "Beyonce is dumber than a hammer and has the vocal sensitivity of a rutting pig" biases; I thought "I Care" might convince her until it got to the chorus and even then I really couldn't argue that "I care/I know you don't care too much/But I still care (la la la la la)/Baby" wasn't a really, really moronic thing to say

It's better than "tears falling down to my ears".

where does she get the idea that Beyonce is dumber than a hammer?

Thanks to this album, I've capitulated to her aesthetic sense, which now rivals her financial one.

where does she get the idea that Beyonce is dumber than a hammer?

From her interviews and her songs, essentially. She is appalled that "bootylicious" ended up in the dictionary, thinks that championing "Irreplaceable" as a female empowerment anthem is something only someone with little grasp of the English language would ever do, and feels that Beyonce is by and far the most inarticulate superstar to emerge from the last decade.

I don't entirely agree with her (I do agree about "Irreplaceable" tho) but my wife's stance is basically that Beyonce is a slightly more talented Diana Ross in that she didn't have to fuck her way into a career.

(She hates DR too, obv)

her last point is otm

ur wife is annoying imo

you can fuck off IMO

i dare not ask what your wife thinks of rihanna, dan

(i think rihanna was uncharacteristically super smart in the wake of the assault, and in fact so smart and otm that she gets a free pass for everything else she says ever, but really everything else she's said = dumb as rocks)

i love the lyrics "I care/I know you don't care too much/But I still care (la la la la la)/Baby"

i think they are beautifully simple, and honest

and the chorus of multitracked Beyonces.

they're not "good lyrics" but she sells em

and they're right for the song and what she's trying to convey

"ur wife is annoying imo"

I lol'd

i think they are great lyrics that do not try too hard. i find that the unmasked and straightforward nature of the lyrics mimics the interplay of emotions in a confusing relationship.

also, the way the words fit on top of the beat contrasts what is deceptively ordinary (the lyrics) against something much more obviously powerful (the instrumentation). it is a deft contrast, both truthful and humorous.

"Most inarticulate superstar to emerge from the last decade" is a very very crowded field and I'm not sure Beyonce is even in the running. Rihanna maybe.

maybe she just says dumb shit to the press & is cool & smart irl thats whats i believe

xp kanye obv? the field is only limited because the number of superstars is by defn limited

I have no problem calling Kanye stupid but I have a massive problem calling him "inarticulate"; he very clearly says stupid, stupid things.

otm

dan i have traditionally had similar misgivings about beyonce to what it sounds like your wife's are. not that i think she's stupid but there's something blank about the way she has seemed on camera and in interviews that kind of freaks me out and i think has affected my ability to totally buy into (lol at beyonce materialistic metaphor) her work. this album has convinced me that i've been unfair to her. she sings these songs so smartly.

she's really boring when she's not performing in some fashion -- i'm not sure if that means she's dumb tho, i would guess not

i do not care that much about how smart she is in her interviews -- i care mostly about the music, and i do not think her music or her lyrics are stupid. i like the lyrics of irreplaceable, and i like the term bootylicious.

She's always stuck me more as v guarded than as dumb.

private like a hedge fund manager

She's always stuck me more as v guarded than as dumb.

― dutty whiney (The Reverend), Tuesday, August 9, 2011 1:42 PM (46 seconds ago) Bookmark

yeah i think this is probably right also lol lex otm.

i love irreplaceable tbh also i thought ne-yo wrote it?

Yeah, he did.

Apologies if this has already been posted, but this is the original version of "Best Thing I Never Had": http://soundcloud.com/pop-labyrinth/beyonc-best-thing-i-never-had

Still hate it.

i was listening to 'i was here' yesterday and it occurred to me that one of the most crucial elements of the song is the music box behind the chorus. it really gives it wheels.

― j lol (surm), Monday, August 1, 2011 12:47 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

sometimes i'm not so sure surm isn't secretly one of the most incisive music critics on this board

Most times.

aww, shucks, you guys are sweet! thank you.

i am going to see Beyonce on friday ....

I must meet more introverted hedge fund managers.

glad beyonce doesnt mind being the inevitable subject of the throne's 'thats my bitch'. thats a good female role model for the masses.

oh goodie concern trolling

I didn't realize that women looked to Jay-Z to provide them with a role model

i love people who wheel out the word 'trolling' whenever someone says something they dont like or agree with. well done on being so above it all. i think its a valid discussion point, esp in light of all the feminist blogs springing to her defence just a few months ago.

tbh i have the same response of wanting to brush that off, & i don't know quite why - i guess something between it being endemic & sorta 'a genre staple' enough for it to seem weird to attach specific personal responsibility to someone involved; or partly because of wariness at the idea of attributing responsibility at beyonce to utterly control and limit her & others' messages and make them as broadly appropriate & positive as possible, which is a lot to ask. volunteering this not b/c i think it's right but just because i feel the kneejerk 'that's concern trolling' thing, sorta.

I'm not gonna argue against the problems with the song title (because duh) but, generally speaking, people tend to look upon husbands talking about how much they love/want/admire their wives as a good thing.

also Kanye's verse is the one that is horrible

i think in this case it's extra weird to implicate beyonce somehow, b/c you're asking her to actively intervene in the delivery of someone else's, jay's, message, which seems at the far end of 'to what extent should a publicly revered performer have to work to address these issues'. like we probably ought to be looking at, you know, jay, or just any number of gross kanyeisms to consider the women-as-bitches effect on an audience

xp

xp @ dan i know the way he gets all spritely & says & some les-be-anz?, awful

concern trolling is not strictly the same thing as trolling fwiw

http://rapgenius.com/Kanye-west-thats-my-bitch-lyrics

it's kind of amazing that Kanye manages to out-terrible Elly Jackson

it is a genre staple, and im not saying rappers should never say 'bitch' (though ive a feeling a track like queen latifahs unity would prob get dismissed on a place like ilx if it came out today for being out of date step with 'genre staples'), just that its odd for one half of such a high profile couple to make a track called thats my bitch when everyone knows who his partner is (obv lines like the one about bagging supermodels are also to be taken lightly but i dunno, thats my bitch seems more specific as a kind of 'idealised partner' kind of rap song) and esp when the partner in question has made such a big deal of not taking shit from men etc. you could just jay is rapping in a make believe juvenile hip hop universe where its all par for the course, and im not saying i expect beyonce to take a stand against the whole 'THEYRE CALLING WOMEN BITCHES' issue, but youd think she might just *mind* being called that in songs made by her husband.

"people tend to look upon husbands talking about how much they love/want/admire their wives as a good thing."

even songs when theyre calling them bitches?

i mean, HELLO, look at the lyrics:

Back to my Beyoncés
Get ya own dog, ya heard? That's my bitch

yeah, its def not about beyonce.

if jay and beyonce had some sort of ike and tina relationship i could understand it more but erm, they dont.

i think that line is just a perfect example of jay (and b) getting a laugh out of scandalizing the easily offended

im not offended by it. its one of the best songs on the album for me. but i think people are so blase about the whole 'bitches/hos' thing that it no longer affects them or as your reaction seems to be, they just dont want to look like oprah.