13 minutes ago, Machete said:

Spirit is the only song on The Gift that fits the part of the movie they slated it to be in, Simba’s “march” back home to save the pride lands. No other song on the album matches that vibe.

 

Although, I’m pretty sure I read that originally Spirit was supposed to be for end-credits, but the director decided to add it to that scene. A mistake in my opinion, because the 1 minute edit of the song they presented in the scene was just terrible. Letting it play in full at the conclusion of the story would’ve worked much better.

Elton John probably asked for the end credits. 

And the director also said she sent the song very late. They probably struggled to find where to put it. 

Elton her reign of terror

1 hour ago, MrLovett said:

I genuinely can't understand how anyone can listen to "Be Alive" and think it's bad, let alone trash. I just don't get it.

Much as I LOVE Spirit, I agree with the Be Alive shade. It's objectively extremely meh. It doesn't go ANYWHERE. It's annoying because the grandioseness of the trailer/movie version proves that there was potential, but I think the bare bones production of the released version was wack, It actually had me scared for Ren lol. 

 

I'm very much here for Bey winning all the awards, but the Spirit Oscar snub and Be Alive Oscar nom proved that it's all political and nothing to do with the quality of the song IMO. 

 

Edit: The Oscar live version of Be Alive was a huge improvement. It highlighted the two main issues with the released version. There's no build/crescendo and the production could have benefitted from being fuller and more grand. Even vocally, she almost kept it too cute on the track. 

Edited October 28, 20223 yr by Cbreezy

Be alive is so meh I tried to like it when it came out but I just couldn’t 

 

Bigger should’ve been the song they used for Disney not spirit, it just moves me so much every time I hear it spirit is cute tho!

I think the issue with Be alive was its production because that snippet in the trailer sounded phenomenal

33 minutes ago, sillycilla said:

Y’all want fans to just be yes man and accept whatever. How are artists supposed to grow if all they hear from fans is “yaaas queen” to everything? That’s why Nicki acts the way she does.There’s nothing wrong with saying Beyoncé is a great artist but probably not the best A&R and should relinquish some control when it comes to promo.  And complaining about the critique is just as annoying. 
 

 The talk of overexposure only seems to be a concern for Beyoncé because other artists who are just as big have been doing re releases with full promo in the media, new albums, and the only result is they are getting more popular, more streams, more hits lol. If cancel culture isn’t real neither is overexposure. 

Again with these horrible comparisons lol. Nicki lashing out on all of her competitors and acting a mess is NOT comparable to Beyoncé making career choices that YOU don’t like. You don’t have to call her stupid and all this other **** in response like  and like somebody else said, it’s giving you like her career more than her artistry. Like i get the frustrations but y’all be pissy about her not dropping stuff on a time schedule that you yourselves made up and agreed with with absolutely no confirmation from Beyoncé, thinking she was gonna be on some taylor swift ****. She’s not! The visuals are coming it’s been confirmed multiple times. just wait 

and that Elton song was just so so awful

24 minutes ago, ToraeGilt said:

I think the issue with Be alive was its production because that snippet in the trailer sounded phenomenal

Be Alive was begging for an orchestra behind it... that's why the cinematic feels on that trailer worked so well... then we got that bland version

I like the song, but it's not great at all. Oscar version upgraded it for me.

1 hour ago, BnPac said:

Elton John probably asked for the end credits. 

And the director also said she sent the song very late. They probably struggled to find where to put it. 

And thats the issue with her in general - keeping deadlines. 

It's gonna be November in a couple mins

 

Ya'll, Bey is ALWAYS late. If there is one thing she suffers the most from, it's her lateness.

__

Anyway, As hybrid Bey/Rih fan - Lift Me Up and OTHERSIDE sound so beautiful together. 

1 hour ago, ToraeGilt said:

I think the issue with Be alive was its production because that snippet in the trailer sounded phenomenal

The production was grating...

 

1 hour ago, bijonse said:

Be alive is so meh I tried to like it when it came out but I just couldn’t 

 

Bigger should’ve been the song they used for Disney not spirit, it just moves me so much every time I hear it spirit is cute tho!

This! Bigger was so much better! 

This is what sold me on Spirit...

 

 

Everything about this is amazing. The gospel choir adds such flavor to an otherwise bland song. Stripped down in its acapella form, away from the generic production, Spirit is a great song.

13 minutes ago, Planet Mars said:

The production was grating...

 

This! Bigger was so much better! 

YOU JUST DONT KNOW IT YET NO MATTER HOW HARD IT GETS YOU GOT MY BLOOD IN YOU

 

YOURE GONNA RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiIiIiIIIIIIISSEEE

 

Edited October 28, 20223 yr by bijonse

i don't see how soundtrack songs created for specific themed plots were supposed to be musically indicative of a solo album...but i guess

9 minutes ago, giRLbye. said:

i don't see how soundtrack songs created for specific themed plots were supposed to be musically indicative of a solo album...but i guess

Well can they at least be good?

 

 

looking at you Be Alive...

 

 

2 hours ago, sillycilla said:

Y’all want fans to just be yes man and accept whatever. How are artists supposed to grow if all they hear from fans is “yaaas queen” to everything? That’s why Nicki acts the way she does.There’s nothing wrong with saying Beyoncé is a great artist but probably not the best A&R and should relinquish some control when it comes to promo.  And complaining about the critique is just as annoying. 
 

 The talk of overexposure only seems to be a concern for Beyoncé because other artists who are just as big have been doing re releases with full promo in the media, new albums, and the only result is they are getting more popular, more streams, more hits lol. If cancel culture isn’t real neither is overexposure. 

I think for Beyoncé it doesn't matter if other artists can be just as big and still do promo without being overexposed. That concern seems like only part of the reasoning.

The main reason (imo) is since 2012 she has marketed her brand and her music as luxury items. First, by putting out products of incredibly fine quality and cultural significance beyond commercial aims, whether it be artistically (ST) or politically (Lemonade), and then through her moves, allowing the market to come to her. She may lose out on specific mainstream successes, but the way she withheld her music from streaming is no different than a luxury brand only allowing specific retailers access to sell their products. You won't find Cartier at Walmart, for example. It creates the idea of prestige. Still, all you had to do was buy the album on iTunes, it's not as if she made it unattainable and limited BUT this is pop music and so even that makes a different impact than the usual wide releases of a mainstream album.

 

We may not agree with the choices because we as fans want more people outwardly loving her music, listening to it easily, making hits we can take back and brag about etc., but the plus side is that this has fast-tracked her legend-status like no other artist I've seen (certianly not of her generation and as for previous ones, I don't know for sure but don't think many were seen with the same awe at the time of their peak relevance as Beyoncé is now other than maybe Michael Jackson).

 

At some point Beyoncé seemed to ask herself, "do I want to be a pop icon, or do I want to be a legend, and how best can I guarantee that occurs?"

 

Having her music at a bit of an arm's length, choosing to do very little promotion, and confidently putting out albums without even an annoucnemnt or with a video for each song elimiating single potential later, OR giving a lead single away for free or not releasing ANY videos... all these things have made her more of a mysterious, upper echelon type of artist that has treated her work as the art is it, not necessarily the product it may also be.

Let's not forget, Beyoncé has not ONCE relied on a hit to define her relevance since 2010...even has she's had a few collaborative #1s, none of them would be cited in even the Top 10 most important things Beyoncé did in the 2010s...and that says a LOT.

Not this Be Alive dispute again. I come back to the same old stuff? lol.

 

It's perfectly suited for the job it needed to do in the end credits. If it doesn't translate to your ideal listening experience then that's fine. It's meant to soundtrack the ever-forward, insessant, determination of the William sisters' life as told by their home videos at the end of the film. Asking it to be an ear-worm radio hit with a standard build-up, bridge and denouement is asking it to be something it was not intended to be.

 

If RENAISSANCE has taught us anything, it's that Beyoncé is not afraid to go outside the bounds of traditional song structures and use production like paint on a canvas to convey the desired emotions she wishes to impart.

 

 

Edited October 28, 20223 yr by swissman

1 hour ago, Planet Mars said:

This is what sold me on Spirit...

 

 

Everything about this is amazing. The gospel choir adds such flavor to an otherwise bland song. Stripped down in its acapella form, away from the generic production, Spirit is a great song.

No I wanted this uploaded on the Gift deluxe cause this improved the song so much.

Her best artwork:

 

LEMONADE > RENAISSANCE> DANGEROUSLY IN LOVE > BEYONCÉ > 4 > HOMECOMING > THE GIFT > B'DAY 

 

Anyways, I'm listening to Spirit. I was obsessed with it back then (along with The Gift and Black Parade). At the end of the days, numbers meant nothing. Adele could sell 20M albums but I still chose to listen to an album with barely 300K streams a day. 

Her side projects HOMECOMING & THE GIFT had better artwork than some of the mpg's studio album artwork.

1 hour ago, *-ChriZ-* said:

And thats the issue with her in general - keeping deadlines. 

 

1 hour ago, Tripthelight said:

Ya'll, Bey is ALWAYS late. If there is one thing she suffers the most from, it's her lateness.

I forget who said it the other day, but it was so accurate: she probably feels like completing a project at the very last second is an impressive achievement  Something that shows determination and drive or whatever…

Peacemaker swissman finally back?

Speaking of soundtracks TG was amazing. Spirit being the single they pushed was a choice. BIGGER, FYWB, BSG, OTHERSIDE sitting right there.