Beyonce - 4

LOL that hat btw

she is a genius

do you think

- they put that hat on last minute
- they planned the entire video around that hat
- the song was originally written staring at that hat

OMG yes at muppets comparison.

Whenever I hear about Muppets in pop I always think of the Flaming Lips or Animal Collective or Grandaddy or some other Kermit and Robin-voiced fake Neil Young loser. Love On Top is fantastic but do not want that image in there.

It totally just reminds me of Stevie Wonder as well fwiw. Just really guileless in its positivity without being annoying about it.

lol right yeah the inherent guile of the muppets. the issue of their indie connotations is one for you and your therapist bro.

It's less about inherent guilelessness and more being able to channel that guilelessness without looking like a twat. Obviously B pulls that off.

Muppets do in a different way. Wayne Coyne or whoever, less so.

the way she sings the love on top chorus, it feels like it is being hammered into my brain like a math textbook

apparently she's also already shot a video for "love on top"

http://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/watch/26861960

― yung huma (J0rdan S.), Sunday, October 9, 2011 8:55 PM Bookmark

If it isn't love
Why does it hurt so bad
Make me feel so sad
Inside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7HYYKEbfLk

was listening to this album today and thinking about how perfect it would be as an 8-track song cycle about love and commitment and devotion with "Girls (Ruin The Album)" and the other shitty off-topic songs cut out

i like this album more than you do, i think, but otm, especially about girls (it's nice that you're rich, beyonce, but girls manifestly don't run the world)

well you can get pretty close if you, like me, just choose not to listen to the final two songs on the album

haha the song not being a truthful depiction of the state of the world is the least of its problems (xpost)

"i was here" is part of the off-topic quartet (w/ "party" and "best thing") but i feel like people have been unfair to it for the dianne warren stigma, it has one of the best drum sounds on the whole album

i mean, it sounds bad, too, but it elicits a really childish irritation in me

"Dance For You" and "Lay Up Under Me" both totally fit the song cycle

i wish "party" delivered on "i may be young but i'm READY"

Yeah, I've just replaced the last two with "Lay Up Under Me" and "Schoolin' Life" (which makes for a really great closer).

Actually that would work really well - as much because placing "Schoolin' Life" anywhere else in the tracklist would totally disrupt the album's flow.

It totally just reminds me of Stevie Wonder as well fwiw.

― Matt DC, Monday, October 10, 2011 11:45 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

this is sort of my point tho. it doesn't do much besides remind me of stevie wonder. most of the songs on this album are referential, but they add something more as well. love on top is like the sonic equivalent of a photoshopped image of stevie wonder with beyonce's head on top.

Yeah, the reconfigured tracklisting works really fucking well. 8 track EP + three bonus tracks. There's also this Japanese bonus track ballad called 'Dreaming' that samples We Will Rock You and fits with the overall theme of 4, but I can't decide if it really fits anywhere in the flow/vibe of the album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mD47AZBu40

That said, "I never wished on a star, when a star ain't got nothing on me." is a very Beyoncé lyric.

Also, Dance With You might be overtaking Schoolin' Life as my favourite track on this.

^^

I could cull this down even further to a 4 song EP: "I Care", "I Miss You", "Countdown" and "End of Time"

although I like every song on here aside from "Best Thing I Never Had"

really love "i miss you"

how can you leave "1+1" off your EP, though

"1+1" is a very good song, it just doesn't hit me as hard as the 4 I listed.

I'd rank the main album:

unimpeachable faves:

End of Time
I Miss You
I Care
Countdown

I like this way more than the rest of the world and don't give a shit:
Run the World (Girls)

good song, sometimes verging on great:
1+1
I Was Here
Rather Die Young
Love On Top

I don't remember this at all when I'm not listening to it:
Start Over

sadly I DO remember this one when I'm not listening to it:
Party

lol Bruce Hornsby pastiche, gtfo:
Best Thing I Never Had

it's all totally great except "party" (ugh) and "i was here" (i even like this more than i should. I WAS HE-ERE-ERE-ERE-ERE-ERE-ERE-ERE!!!). the bonus trax <3

"Party" is totally my I like this way more than the rest of the world and don't give a shit joint.

I would love "Party" if Kanye wasn't on it.

good song

"Rather Die Young" is the most underratedest junt on this album.

yeah, it's awesome

it's always weird when ship randomly defends something bcuz of the drum sound

i'd rather give up everything
than to live my
live my life withOUT YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

it's always weird when ship randomly defends something bcuz of the drum sound

― yung huma (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, October 11, 2011 4:10 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

is the texture and programming of drum tracks not important in modern hip hop and R&B? it seems hugely, self-evidently important to me.

That track isn't either of them though

hip hop or R&B that is

or POP, whatever. music with drum machines. don't be stupid.

it's a shitty power ballad. Listening to it now i guess the drums have a vaguely interesting sound but they're buried under a whole lot of bluster

it's not much schlockier than a lot of stuff you hear on beyonce albums, it's just a different kind of schlock

A lot less schlocky than a lot of previous DC/Beyonce ballads, in fact. I think if people didn't know it was written by Diane Warren they'd be a lot more forgiving of it.

what i'm saying!

is the texture and programming of drum tracks not important in modern hip hop and R&B? it seems hugely, self-evidently important to me.

― some dude, Tuesday, October 11, 2011 5:21 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

idk all you mentioned was the drum sound & i'm going to go out on a limb and say that the drum sound on the diane warren/beyonce album closing ballad isn't so cool that it makes the whole song

tho maybe i'm wrong idk

it doesn't make the whole song -- song is not bad in and of itself! if there's one emotion she's better at communicating than love it's I WILL LEAVE MY MARK ON THIS EARTH megalomaniacal self-love.

cool drum sounds are like 50% of the reason why I listen to music

my man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoKoSqlRLR4

I'm obsessed with the drums that kick in at about a minute

"I was here" killed it live. and ship is right about the drums; the beat pulsates like a clock.

If we're picking on tiny details, I really dislike the way she sings "it's so simple" during 'I Miss You'. Neither the lyric nor its position in the song feel like they merit that level of volume or emoting.

"Rather Die Young" is the most underratedest junt on this album

That song is amazing. Both that and 'Start Over' kind of get overlooked but that central pairing is fantastic.

I really dislike the way she sings "it's so simple" during 'I Miss You'. Neither the lyric nor its position in the song feel like they merit that level of volume or emoting.

This is so true!

I love "Rather Die Young" and especially "Start Over", one of my favourites on the album.