REVIEW: BEYONCE: 4

Almost a year later than previously hinted at, Beyonce has released her 4th studio album. Despite the mediocre publicity and spectacle in the run up to the album’s release, fans have loyally been as eager as ever. Have they been let down?

Beyonce tends to spring surprises on her fans with new material with Run The World (Girls) being no different. As was the case with Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) – What is the point of the parenthesis?? Run The World (Girls) introduced fans to a new sound overnight, with no warning. Generally fans and critics alike were not thrilled by the latest offering…

Some complained about the weak lyrics, some threw shade because of the thankless Major Lazer sampling of Pon de Floor. I would have to say that it is the riskiest track on the album, not original in its concept but risky in applying it to the current pop music scene. The outcome of the risk is probably not what Beyonce was hoping for, but that’s the risk you take.

What threw me particularly was that Run The World (Girls) in no way set the tone for the full album, being the only song of its tempo was quite surprising. Song after song that surfaced and it became clear that Beyonce had indeed killed Sasha Fierce (why, oh why?!). I get that artists need to evolve for the sake of longevity and growth, but alienating your fan base is always a risk.

Hyped for its unique sound, which was dubbed to be something completely different from anything else, I was expecting something ground breaking. Ironically the most progressive sound on the album shines through in the lead single with its female empowerment chanting lyrics and its synth and drumbeats.

The rest album of the album features strong gritty vocals with that being the main focus. Despite this strength, the weakness in these meaningful songs are located in the underwhelming musical presence with generic background sounds reminiscent of Boys To Men and Phil Collins. At times the Adele influence beautifully creeps through with stand out tracks like I Was Here, Best Thing I Never Had and Start Over with the latter being the most emotional and raw, yet they seem to just not hit deep enough.

What lets the album down is the attempt to combine the mature sound with bold mid-tempo tracks like Love on Top and Party, and all this with a total of only ten tracks. Featuring cheezy lyrics and a sound that resembles an 80’s version of Motown music, these mid-tempo tracks are what cause the album to digress from its intended direction and overshadow the strengths.