Beyonce in 2016 - 'Formation' and Lemonade

I could work with "Schoolin' Life" as an uptempo opener, but not "Love On Top". And I've always sort of admired how the album started with a sequence of ballads which is kind of an unfashionable move.

relegating those to bonus track status was always insane but idk if it counts as excluding them per se - the original sequencing of 4 was perfect imo, including listening to "schoolin' life" as a kind of closing-credits song that wouldn't really have fit anywhere on the main album (in fact i wonder whether that's the reason it was a bonus track - it's been a prominent song in her live sets since so it's not like she's paying it dust).

i am...sasha fierce wasn't ever an album i disliked but it's the one that seems worse and worse with everything she does now

4 had almost exactly the same narrative arc as lemonade

B'Day is another one with wack sequencing - "Green Light" seguing into "Irreplaceable" is very ungainly

Very Final Fantasy-esque synth figure on "Love Drought"

So I finally listened to this yesterday. The early songs were pretty good, and the songs at the end are pretty good. Some interesting decisions made, etc.

The earth didn't move for me or anything, but we're all different. On one listen vastly prefer the s/t.

fwiw both this and s/t are massively enhanced by the accompanying video

Completely agree that this a great album but not in the same league as the s/t. The last two Miguel albums would be a good comparison for me. I loved Wild Heart and thought it was a worthy follow up but it didn't take over my listening the same way that Kaleidoscope Dream did. That's how I feel about Lemonade at this stage (I know it's still early days). Beyonce and Kaleidoscope Dream were both perfect records in my opinion.

yeah i would put this comfortably below 4 & the s/t on the same level as b'day

Her vocals, her songwriting, the songwriting she commissions, her choice of collaborators has reached such a zenith that the crap ballads on this thing still put it past B'Day, i.e. I can forgive "Love Drought" and "Sandcastles" and the Blake crap. I guess Lemondade for me is like 4 in that even the album tracks sparkle such that "Party" I can pretend doesn't exist.

wait but...... "love drought" is fucking amazing

Yeah, Love Drought is one of the highlights. I like Sandcastles a lot too.

https://imgflip.com/readImage?iid=23188056

struggle hooks

― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Tuesday, May 10, 2016 1:19 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.thecoli.com/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/camby.png

fwiw both this and s/t are massively enhanced by the accompanying video

― i like to trump and i am crazy (DJP), Thursday, May 12, 2016 2:05 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the lemonade film is really rich and beautiful and def adds layers to the music but i'd argue that both albums would be masterpieces with no visuals (which is 90% how i've consumed them). this has taken over my listening in much the same way that the s/t did

anyone annoyed by the accent on/rhythm of sandCASTles?

The "jarring" nature of the subject matter actually seems pretty crucial to me. I think if Beyonce did a straight political protest song it would seem... not insincere, but at least gestural. On "Formation" the politics feels like a natural consequence of the extent to which she's feeling herself. The protest is something she is, not something she occasionally decides to do.

This intersects with the points above about this being a political irruption into mainstream culture. "Formation" makes confronting black politics a necessary and indivisible part of America's enjoyment of black culture, rather than a medicinal counterpoint to it.

― Tim F, Tuesday, February 9, 2016 9:10 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this tim f post sums up for me why "formation" is a more successful political song than "freedom"

Most Tim F posts sum up *everything* tbf.

hey this seems like a good place to ask this: anyone have an idea when a chloe x halle album might come out?

my show on Sunday is gonna get canceled bcz of a thunderstorm, i just know it

finally watching the music video/movie thing this is pretty awesome

yeah, IMO the thematic throughline elevates the video above the self-titled

love that she's doing something so arty and out-there on scale that very few artists could afford to do just because she can and wants to

the show was v excellent and all, but i gotta say the collective batshit thrill of the crowd between the 4-5 minute intro > lights dropping > the opening of "Formation" starting is prob one of the best concert experiences I've ever had

i am so not used to shows (or p much anything else in life tbh) having that much palpable suspense + the subsequent release

chloe x halle have an EP out; suspect this opening stint on b's european leg will determine a release date for the full-length

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaFH1vwLAP2yAaS9bTg-Le8QHT2DsDBZR

in a weird way they remind me of vistoso bosses, but like, the gothy siblings of vistoso bosses

rip vistoso bosses, you were too beautiful for this world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdJcmvQ0DFc

mmmmm, been a minute since i thought of delirious; such a lovely song.

aww man "Delirious" is such an under-rated jam, I was literally falling down the Youtube hole of VB demos just this weekend there

Curious how everybody heard this album: did you buy it, or do more people have a Tidal subscription than I thought?

I keep waiting for it to come to Apple Music, but it's looking like that might not happen.

still havent heard it

sometimes I forget how dope formation is

stole it from the internet

unlikely to ever pull the trigger on tidal. picked up the cd once the price came down a bit.

How cheap did you get it for? A CD copy of this seems unappealing to me, b/c I buy so few CDs these days, but $18 for MP3s on Amazon is a huge ripoff. And since there's no LP version available (yet?) there isn't a good way for me to hear this one

i think it was like 8 bucks (double what i spend on most cds, but a lot more favorable than that ridiculous mp3 price).

I bought it because I wanted the video.

I've been listening to it during my commute and it's pretty much my favorite album of the year, which startles me a little.

I own a physical copy.

kept hearing "Sorry, Not Sorry" on v103

it's a top ten album for me but i should go back to it more often
still haven't seen the video!

The cultural impact has been wide. Watching four teenaged girls do a choreographed routine to "Sorry" around the condo pool in May remains one of my favorite memories of 2016.

So we can all expect lemonade to pretty much dominate year end list season right?

mods please close ilm til february

frank ocean, kanye, solange, sturgill simpson will probably be up there. whether they'll be higher or not remains a mystery.

oh and chance.

I'd bet on Bowie.

yeah definitely

sturgill simpson

Wasn't everybody disappointed by this, or was it just people with ears?

i forgot he released an album this year. also his voice/schtick grates on me. for the sturgill simpson experience with 100x better results just get high & listen to brand new man

I don't know how Kendrick's surprise album will fare in EOY polls but that's the one I recently went back to and fell back in love with