Music Review: Beyonce - Beyonce'

Sometimes, it is necessary for one to embark on the atypical and unusual. Within that journey, one should actually seek to see the worth in what they worked hard to not fully figure out. Without this, we do not “discover things for ourselves”. Also, we will eventually miss out on things we may otherwise enjoy. With that said, it is always good to try new things.

Trying new things is the spice of life. And with that spice of life, I took time to review an album that has been getting reviews from all over: Beyonce’.

Yeah, I said it: I finally gave Beyonce’ a listen. From what I heard on this album, I see why people either love her or loathe her. Beyond anything, Beyonce’ is an album that is highly listenable and worth the price of admission.

I understand that people loathe her due to her pretentiousness and wonderful ability to “toe the line”. For example, she can create the damn-near-masterful “Pretty Hurts” and “then double back with tracks like “Drunk In Love”, “Flawless”, and “Partition”. Many listeners can’t deal with Beyonce swinging on the pendulum as such. She can make a song liberating her soul and then turn around to make a track that puts her soul back into the shackles that she escaped. At the end of the day, a lot of listeners try not to deal with her music due to her musical hypocrisy.

Yet, so many people love Beyonce because she KNOWS how to craft music that is both touching and musical. As much as you want to hate her, songs like “Haunted”, “Superpower”, and “Jealous” will always be seen as highlights of an artist being personable. Even further, “Mine” is a duet that possibly delved into Beyonce’s mind as she and Drake repeats “I just wanna say you’re mine/ you’re mine/fuck what ya heard/you’re mine, you’re mine”. If you pay attention to “Flawless” and look beyond the hardcore message, it IS a song about empowerment. At the end of the day, Beyonce knows how to make a jam.

But beyond the swinging pendulum of musical aspirations, there is still an honest album filled with a track list that never gets boring. As much as people can show their chagrin for “Drunk In Love”, the song bangs. The same can be said for “Blow”, the sexual romp-turned-consequential-roller skate jam. Instead of having an album sounding the same, the tracks switch and change both their pace and production style. If anything, the naysayers can say that she works to keep the musical palette diverse.

Ending off the album with “Blue”, her dedication to her daughter, what we have is an album made by a woman that wanted to show all sides of her. Many will dislike the album for what it offers. However, there will be others that love it for that same offering. If this isn’t the album for you to get with, I understand. Still, Beyonce’ offers an unabashed look at the woman that creates the music.

Love it or hate it, you have to respect it.