Avg Rating: 
4.1 ( 10 total votes )
In a strange way Beyoncé is a victim of her own success. She’s the closest we now have to Michael Jackson, a transcendent entertainer with the power to both sell out stadiums and have the White House on speed dial (and handcuff Jay while she’s at it). She is the pure embodiment of pop, a woman able to simply overwhelm her more girlish competitors like Rihanna and not nearly as over-the-top as Lady Gaga. But Beyoncé is also a student of history and she knows that all the true soul greats, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, … ...Read the full album review
Fans can also check out Beyoncé's previous albums: Beyoncé - I Am… Sasha Fierce
DJBooth Album Review
In a strange way Beyoncé is a victim of her own success. She’s the closest we now have to Michael Jackson, a transcendent entertainer with the power to both sell out stadiums and have the White House on speed dial (and handcuff Jay while she’s at it). She is the pure embodiment of pop, a woman able to simply overwhelm her more girlish competitors like Rihanna and not nearly as over-the-top as Lady Gaga. But Beyoncé is also a student of history and she knows that all the true soul greats, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Etta James had a consuming inner pain that their voices carried out. What pain could one of the most beautiful, accomplished, richest women alive possibly have to sing about. It’s no coincidence that while Dream Girls was supposed to be her coming out as a serious artist it was actually Jennifer Hudson that people truly connected with. Her success has ironically isolated her from the kind of worship her soul idols earned through their tears.
Beyoncé’s previous album, I Am…Sasha Fierce was a concept album without a real concept; what was the difference between Beyoncé and Sasha again? Higher heels? A different color eye shadow? So it only makes sense that for her new effort, the aptly named 4, the Queen B has rolled out a much more striped down, simple album steeped in ‘80s and ‘90s R&B. It also focuses, not so coincidentally, not on Beyoncé the diva, or the global icon, but on Beyoncé the person, a woman who goes through the same relationship struggles as the average woman….only the average woman doesn’t have a husband who buys her a yacht as a make up gift.
There’s no clearer announcement of Beyoncé’s intentions on 4 than starting the album off with 1 + 1, a Dream and Tricky Stewart produced track that’s one of the duo’s more organic efforts ever (what happened to those “A”s?). Essentially conceived as a vessel for her powerhouse voice, 1 + 1 is vocally impressive, though strange. Considering the force B is delivering her lines with you’d think this is an angry break up song, not a pure love ballad. Rather Die Young is perhaps less notable but more coherent, as is the heartbroken Start Over, but for my money the best of the ballad bunch is I Was Here, a cinematic tale that’s also its most purely inspirational anthem. With rare exception (check the next paragraph) 4 mostly stays in this mid-tempo range, a fact that has to be considered a constant statement at a time when uptempo club tracks have taken over R&B, pop and hip-hop.
Speaking of which, the album’s lone Sasha Fierce-esque contribution is the hyper-kinetic Run the World (Girls), a song that’s shares very little, if anything, with the other songs it shares 4 with. It turns out that while personal ballads may be great for making an artistic statement they’re not so great for worldwide tours. Girls aside, and it really does deserve a separate categorization, the album’s only real loose record is Party, which tellingly reaches back to old standards like Keith Sweat and Andre 3000, not Pitbull and Far East Movement, to get the party started. Kanye’s insistence on peppering the song with Swagu sauce aside, it’s an enjoyable experience, as is Love On Top, which rides easily on a Quincy Jones inspired structure and the horn heavy Countdown, the album’s only real evidence of Beyoncé’s hip-hop influences. Together these songs are enough to keep 4 from sounding overly serious, though not nearly enough to significantly change its overall tone. This album isn’t a good time, but it’s not a bad time.
I’ve always had the vague sense that, like any truly great entertainer, Beyoncé is always playing a part. She’s far too skilled to make it look obvious or false, but can we say we actually know B as a person. When you’re that famous every move has to be carefully choreographed and while I suspect 4 was made in large part to sound more natural and real, it doesn’t succeed entirely. The album is a refreshingly understated change from the constantly banging and bumping sound of modern R&B, but it doesn’t really bring us closer to the Queen B. The throne remains as hard to reach as ever and perhaps that’s for the best. We want our pop idols on a pedestal, it’s the only way we can look up to them.
Listen to More: Beyoncé Written by Nathan S.
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Member Reviews and Ratings
Average Member Rating: Total Ratings: 10
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DJ Booth Member |
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first off I love Beyonce she has catchy songs n she's a great performer, so I went into this album thinking it was gonna be a up tempo feel good summer album but it is not, Its more of a rnb Ballad album. At first I was disappointed but on the second go around I started to acutally listen to the songs instead of just previewing it and its a pretty solid album diff not her worst I think I am.. disc 1 was her worst really. None of the singles do this album justice there are better song on the CD but my only problem was that the CD is vocally loud at parts it just sounds like she is screamin which is a turn off on some songs but If ur a Beyonce fan u will like this album..
BEST SONGS: Party , Rather Die Young , I Care , Countdown , End Of Time |
| Posted on Jun 28, 2011 |
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DJ Booth Member |
her album was bad
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| Posted on Jun 28, 2011 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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love her
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| Posted on Jun 28, 2011 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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great album, toss up between this and bday as her best album lol. I loved a lot of the tracks on here (i care, i miss you, rather die young, countdown, and love on top are my top faves) and the deluxe edition had some amazing songs as well.
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| Posted on Jun 29, 2011 |
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DJ Booth Member |
well i think that her album iz the best
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| Posted on Jun 29, 2011 |
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I think her real fans more vibe and connect with her rather than put her on a pedal stool. fav song Party and love on top
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| Posted on Jun 30, 2011 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 33 |
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The majority of this albums work will be forgotten by next year. AVERAGE
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| Posted on Jul 02, 2011 |
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| Posted on Jul 03, 2011 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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I personally love the album. This one won't produce too many number one hits like B'Day and Sasha Fierce did, but musically is better than the last one. Really fresh and original.
I like all the songs on this one, especially Rather Die Young, Party, Love On Top and Countdown. Though I give it 4 stars, it is actually 4.5 |
| Posted on Jul 04, 2011 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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This is Beyoncé’s best original work to date. This is an amazing R&B/Hip-Hop album, and that Houston flare Beyoncé portrayed during her Dangerously In Love era has NOW re-emerged. Although aggressive shouting and over-singing showed up frequently, it isn’t unbearable. Beyoncé’s ability to control the so cold screams have become a distinctive trait of hers anyways.
Beyoncé slips from flirty to fragile to fabulous, and is in terrific voice throughout, reminding us that when she opens up there's no-one else in the game. |
| Posted on Jul 13, 2011 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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Beyonce is my fav female artist, other than girls run this world, its a perfect album.
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| Posted on Aug 04, 2011 |
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i love beyonce she is my favorite artist of my life time my favorite song of hers is best thing i ever had but in some way my problem was that the song was loud in some parts as if she was screaming i love the song so much but it sounded bad in some parts
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| Posted on Aug 05, 2011 |
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