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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
In time, it should be seen as a career highlight from a superstar -- one of the hardest-working people in the business, a new mother, in total control, at her creative and commercial peak.
91
Beyoncé waited for the last moment to unveil 2013′s finest pop album. It arrived too late to enter our top ten lists, but just in time to own the year.
91
That Beyoncé was able to keep a project of this scale completely under wraps is one of the most impressive tricks of her career, but the real feat is the album itself, a candid, confrontational work that dares to cut against the singer’s carefully cultivated goddess image to reveal the opinionated, imperfect woman underneath.
91
Here more than ever Bey indulges clashing impulses — between strength and escape, megapop and fresh sounds, big messages and resonant lyrics.
90
It's as impressive an accomplishment creatively as it is for shifting the industry towards a more nontraditional take on the "single-album-tour" strategy.
90
‘Beyoncé’ is one of the best damn albums of 2013, basically, however you’re looking at it: as an R&B record, a pop set, an electro collection. Whatever your tastes, you can’t question the quality here.
90
Indeed, at its dizzying zenith, beyoncé is a loaded fusion of generosity and self-empowerment. or perhaps, more accurately, it finds self-empowerment in generosity.
90
This is her best album, more textured than its predecessors in both sound and content.
90
In my estimation, when critically examined, BEYONCÉ functions as a highly successful feminist manifesto.
90
A tour through Beyoncé’s backstory, a meditation on Third Wave feminism and a rejection of perfection, Beyoncé is the singer at her rawest, realest, and most personal, with a sound deeper and darker than ever before.
88
The album is brassy but elegant, its post-coital breath smelling faintly of cheap liquor sipped from a crystal flute. It finds Beyoncé shifting gears to pull off her most explicit and sonically experimental music to date, exploring sounds and ideas at the grittier margins of popular music.
80
While there isn't a chart-smashing Single Ladies or Baby Boy in the mix, the resulting 14 tracks (plus 17 videos) make her most complete album to date.
80
By far her most experimental and multi-layered album.
80
Beyoncé is better than good, slickly packaged, created with the best of intentions yet still comes off as a postmodern mash of hubris, sincerity and gloss. It will be a hit regardless.
80
Beyoncé's surprise album, BEYONCÉ, is X-rated, sensuous and thoughtful ... And Queen Bey's vocal gifts put the rest of 2013's pop stars in the shade.
80
Without warning, Beyoncé's fifth album appeared in all its multimedia glory on iTunes this morning. Pleasingly, it's a winner.
80
Beyonce is an album that knows what it's about, and it smacks of confidence - it's an artist on top of their game.
80
It’s entertaining though the odd thing about Beyonce is how she can sing quasi-personal lyrics but never really get deeply personal, talking about emotions without ever really being nakedly emotional and moving with high levels of sexuality without ever generating something other than mechanical desire.
11mo
80
If there’s one thing you can take from BEYONCÉ, it’s that you never have to feel “bored” as she describes in “Ghost.” There’s always room to innovate.
80
It trafficks specifically in lost arts like sequencing, pacing, and mastering. It’s not concerned with moving units. It’s concerned with Beyoncé’s self-exploration, in a complicated, incredibly intriguing way.
80
There are no real bangers here, but for once that’s not a disappointment cushioned by wafty ballads. Instead the low-key, moody production throws the spotlight on the words and the images brought to play by Beyonce as serious album artist, encompassing bulimia, post-natal depression, the fears and insecurities of marriage and motherhood, and lots and lots of sex.
80
Despite an army as deep and varied as any other Beyoncé album, what she’s found here is an honesty that’s just missing all too often from these sorts of raunch-fests.
80
The album’s clearest message is that, beneath the second-guessing, Beyoncé is one hell of a pop star. We should get on board and enjoy the ride.
79
The lack of universality to much of it keeps it from being the great album it wants to be, and some of the fascination seems to stem from 2013 celebrity culture obsession and speaks to the need to disappear from our own lives and become so wrapped up in the world of the rich and famous. Beyoncé does her part to make her world worthwhile, but it is our job to try and do the same.
75
It's still a massive leap forward—hearing a superstar be honest about her desires, in love with a family, and calling for an end to unrealistic expectations for women is a pretty great thing to have on a platinum-selling album.
70
What makes the album significant is the fact that its creator is a bona fide superstar who, apparently, seems to care more about following her creative bliss than scoring easy hits. And it takes her (and us) to some mighty weird and exhilarating places.
70
Beyoncé may have gotten "bored" with the popstar routine, as she confesses in "Ghost." But only massive hubris could have made a feat like this album possible. And Beyoncé's hubris makes the world a better, more Beyoncé-like place.
70
As much as there is to admire in its forthright gender politics and bleeding edge approach to R&B, it’s a remarkably selfish listen. By favouring lavish presentation over tender blemishes, Mrs Carter is rarely portrayed as anything less than a remarkable human being. One who intends to arrest her commercial decline with pop’s most avant-garde album in years.
60
It's this continued need to feed her multi-platinum beast that stops the album from being the post-modern wheeze it could have been.
60
Musically, it's the same kind of electro R&B with which radio is already awash - in large part because it's produced by the same small coterie of hip producers, with Timbaland appearing to take the most prominent role amongst the likes of Detail, Jerome Harmon, Pharrell Williams and Ryan Tedder.
60
Beyoncé Knowles' latest album is easily her most sexual and personal.
BEYONCÉ is a testament to the singer's potential as an artist. Launched by surprise on a Friday, this project impacted the way albums were released and the idea of visual albums, as well as showing a more experimental side of Beyoncé that makes not only her voice shine on this album.
Pretty Hurts (10/10)
Haunted (9.8/10)
Drunk In Love (8.8/10)
Blow (8.5/10)
No Angel (8.3/10)
Partition (9/10)
Jealous (8.2/10)
Rocket (8.2/10)
Mine (9.2/10)
XO (9/10)
Flawless (9.5/10)
Superpower ... read more
REVISITING BEYONCÉ’S DISCOGRAPHY #1
In anticipation of Beyoncé’s new album “RENAISSANCE”, I decided to revisit two of her albums, starting with her self titled album. And while it’s not a perfect album by any means, it’s just so enjoyable and is filled with great highlights, production, and vocal performances throughout. This album has has also aged pretty well, and it has proven to be a very influential album in music.
Fav Tracks: Pretty ... read more
2013 albums (8/10)
incredible.
top 5 songs:
Haunted
Drunk In Lovew
Partition
XO
Rocket
worst song: Superpower (so sad this was the worst)
I was tiny a bit disappointed. I really enjoy both 4 and Lemonade. Those feel like the most consistent and fully developed albums from Beyonce. However, this album fell a bit short for me. All of the songs were good, but there weren't very many standout moments, and I thought it was a bit too long. Beyonce still has amazing vocals as usual, but the songs themselves just weren't very memorable to me. This is still a solid project overall though; I just think the projects that came before and ... read more
Younger version of Lemonade.
Number:#453
First Listen:2023.11.30
Times I Have Full Listened To:1
First Re-Listen:
Lately Re-Listen:
Special Meaning:
Collection:
Contributions By
patton, royalflush, Greg Fisher, thisisabtlgrnd, klopsiarz, philthy, erik, Pacaveli, hannahlux, MarkyC, MikeOwen, XOXXXOOOXO, OPENblinds, danielRosseBecome a Donor
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Track List
| 1 | Pretty Hurts 4:17 | 87 |
| 2 | Haunted 6:09 | 90 |
| 3 | Drunk in Love 5:23 feat. JAY-Z | 89 |
| 4 | Blow 5:09 | 86 |
| 5 | No Angel 3:48 | 83 |
| 6 | Partition 5:19 | 91 |
| 7 | Jealous 3:04 | 83 |
| 8 | Rocket 6:31 | 83 |
| 9 | Mine 6:18 feat. Drake | 86 |
| 10 | XO 3:35 | 90 |
| 11 | ***Flawless 4:10 feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | 87 |
| 12 | Superpower 4:36 feat. Frank Ocean | 79 |
| 13 | Heaven 3:50 | 82 |
| 14 | Blue 4:26 feat. Blue Ivy | 85 |
Total Length: 1 hour, 6 minutes
Year End Lists
| #1 | / | Billboard |
| #1 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
| #1 | / | Vibe |
| #8 | / | Variety |
| #11 | / | Gigwise |
| #18 | / | Consequence of Sound |
| #40 | / | Tiny Mix Tapes |
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7mo
No Angel and Rocket are at least top 20 best Beyonce song
now XO might be her best song
now XO might be her best song
Added on: December 13, 2013