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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.
12y
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.
12y
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.
12y
91
Here more than ever Bey indulges clashing impulses — between strength and escape, megapop and fresh sounds, big messages and resonant lyrics.
10y
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.
11y
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.
11y
90
This is her best album, more textured than its predecessors in both sound and content.
12y
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.
12y
90
In my estimation, when critically examined, BEYONCÉ functions as a highly successful feminist manifesto.
12y
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.
12y
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.
12y
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.
10y
80
By far her most experimental and multi-layered album.
9y
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.
12y
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.
8y
80
Without warning, Beyoncé's fifth album appeared in all its multimedia glory on iTunes this morning. Pleasingly, it's a winner.
8y
80
Over four albums, Beyoncé has perfected the creation of pop music. On her fifth, she has figured out how to make art.
1y
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.
5y
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.
3y
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.
12y
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.
12y
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.
12y
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.
12y
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.
12y
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.
12y
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.
12y
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.
11y
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.
11y
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.
12y
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.
8y
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.
5y
60
Beyoncé Knowles' latest album is easily her most sexual and personal.
8y
Just like the album, this is a little “surprise release” of a review.
Almost two months later, here is my project. Some of you must have noticed my review for this album was gone - breaking my even review/rating numbers that I've had for so long. So here's the secret I've been hiding for all this time... here's the review. I'm so excited to be complete this project and to finally be sharing it with all of you!
Just recently I hit 700 followers and I want to thank you all so, so ... read more
Maybe if I have my album cover and title called ¿CJAY?, more people will listen to my album
Believe it or not, but I have never listened to a full album from Beyoncé *audible gasp from followers*
I know. Weird, right? I've obviously heard the hits and such, but I never sat down and listened to a full album from her, until now. Since COWBOY CARTER is releasing this Friday, I decided that it's finally time to sit down and listen to 3 of Beyoncé's most loved ... read more
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 & RE-REVIEWING MY CD COLLECTION — #54
This is when the music industry changed. 5% for the worst, and 95% for the good of musical innovation, self-identity, and re-establishment. For the past few years, artists have used self-titled albums (usually a tactic for a debut album) as a re-introduction or a declaration of evolution. Kehlani has done it just about a month ago and created a body of work vastly different from her past four albums, and so many artists have followed ... read more
Un début extrêmement solide mais y’a pas mal de sons qui aurait pu être enlevés je trouve.
Pretty Hurts : 5*
Haunted : 5.
Drunk in Love : 5
Blow : 3
No Angel : 3,5
Partition : 3
Jealous : 4
Rocket : 3
Mine : 4
XO : 3,5
Flawless : 3
Superpower : 3
Heaven : 4
Blue : 4
7/11 : 4,5
Ring off : 3,5
To me, it feels longer than it actually is... Not really a good sign here. There are a bunch of great Individual songs, but as an album, it doesn't have the same "star power" that the others have
✅ Songs I added to my playlist: Pretty Hurts, Drunk in Love, Blow, Rocket, Partition, Jealous, Mine, Flawless, Heaven
(this is my way of listing my favorites, while still pointing out that there might be other songs I like, that may just not be on my radar)
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patton, royalflush, Greg Fisher, thisisabtlgrnd, klopsiarz, philthy, erik, Pacaveli, hannahlux, MarkyC, MikeOwen, LeeGal, XOXXXOOOXO, OPENblinds, danielRosse, madiiBecome a Subscriber
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Track List
| 1 | Pretty Hurts 4:17 | 88 |
| 2 | Haunted 6:09 | 91 |
| 3 | Drunk in Love 5:23 feat. JAY-Z | 90 |
| 4 | Blow 5:09 | 86 |
| 5 | No Angel 3:48 | 81 |
| 6 | Partition 5:19 | 91 |
| 7 | Jealous 3:04 | 83 |
| 8 | Rocket 6:31 | 83 |
| 9 | Mine 6:18 feat. Drake | 81 |
| 10 | XO 3:35 | 89 |
| 11 | ***Flawless 4:10 feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | 86 |
| 12 | Superpower 4:36 feat. Frank Ocean | 78 |
| 13 | Heaven 3:50 | 82 |
| 14 | Blue 4:26 feat. Blue Ivy | 86 |
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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2w
surprisingly excellent on first listen, this clears the two other beyonce albums ive heard so far
3mo
why's parkwood not listed at the labels this album was released on (I got banned from making corrections a year ago)