3 minutes ago, cloudbusting said:

Run the World - #29 but 4x platinum

Worst Shart I Ever Recorded - #16 but 3x platinum

Party - #50 but still platinum

Love on Top - #20 but 4x platinum

Countdown - #71 but 2x platinum

End of Time - #113 but still platinum

 

and this is with her being undercertified like, bffr 

See when you make TIMELESS music 

 

1 minute ago, Starshine said:

4 is also the most "Beyoncé" Bey has ever been in terms of sound and maybe performing. Idk how to explain it, like it's classic Bey in her rawest form? Everything after has been an experimentation and an evolution. 

 

It's also her vocal peak, gave us Glastonbury. 

I honestly think that title goes to Renaissance now, she was really feeling her puss on renny. Like she has never made music that screamed I AM THAT ***** I AM BEYONCÉ like Renaissance before 

11 minutes ago, cloudbusting said:

Run the World - #29 but 4x platinum

Worst Shart I Ever Recorded - #16 but 3x platinum

Party - #50 but still platinum

Love on Top - #20 but 4x platinum

Countdown - #71 but 2x platinum

End of Time - #113 but still platinum

 

and this is with her being undercertified like, bffr 

 

4 won in the long haul! 

1 minute ago, swissman said:

It's an artistic statement to forgo trends in favour of the kind of music you want to make, but the kind of music she made wasn't exactly progressive in the scope of her career. Aside from Run the World, which is pretty much a sonic outlier in the album, much of what we hear on it she had already proven to be adept at in other moments of her career.

 

If we look at her solo albums up to that point, each one expanded on her artistry in a different way whereas 4 gave a stunning combination of little elements of all her previous work. It's not to say there is no artistry in the album, but as far as BOLD artistry, she was still very much in her lane.

4 is an amazing album, but it's not boldly artistic in the sense that aside from not conforming to radio, she wasn't stepping out of any comfort zone to make it. Now if she had released the Fela Kuti album, that imo would have been bold artistry...not only forgoing trends but playing around with her sound/her art in way she had not done.

 

I disagree. I Care, End of Time, Countdown, Start Over, Schoolin Life are also among some of her bold artistic choices at that time & were noted as such. Even on some of the more traditional moments...there were still artistic choices within the song arrangements that were different...like 1+1, Party, Love On Top.

4 is also the first album where she actually sang on the record and didn’t hold back. That was a big deal for me at the time 

Renaissance is her best album, but, to me, ST is still her "most Beyoncé album".

 

It manages to display (almost) all sides of her artistry without coming off as contrived. It's one of the few self-titled albums that actually earns its title.

Edited February 20, 20233 yr by Virgos Groove

Imagine calling 4 trash and saying ST saved her when 4 is bigger and better than the other

I think her most "Beyonce" album is B'Day

Dance For You, Schoolin Life, Lay Up Under Me, and Dreaming is better than everything on ST. 

wait nnn those did get updated in august HOWEVER for songs that didn’t immediately smash? that’s incredible

 

plus they have more plaques than some of the hits from I Am… Ann Marie Lastrassi and before which have had longer to catch up 

No, the collab is not welcome, neither is the Adele's one and neither was the Alicia's one that no one remembers because it's not significant to either discographies. 

I also don't like Telephone, at all. 

 

Just because people are in the same industry doesn't mean they need to collaborate. 

 

Also is an excellent album. Its underperformance can be explained by EDM dominating but that album would have been a way bigger success and not underperformed had she led it with anything but RTW. RTW is what "doomed" the era. 

2 minutes ago, giRLbye. said:

I think her most "Beyonce" album is B'Day

This. Her energy, attitude, and the music whew.

I Miss You, Love On Top, Countdown, 1+1, Party, Rather Die Young, Best Thing I Never Had, the F#5 on Start Over, I Care, End Of Time and I Was Here  She was in her bag that year.

6 minutes ago, family.guy123 said:

4 is also the first album where she actually sang on the record and didn’t hold back. That was a big deal for me at the time 

B'Day?

It's also the blossoming of what Beyoncé is as an artist. 

That's why almost all of her albums moving forward have a song that sound like B'Day. 

Bey and Adele could have had an all-time classic No More Tears moment if they weren't annoying and insufferable and didn't hate literally all people including each other

 

Oh and yes Bidet is the most Beyonce of albums

The standard version of B'Day is a 10. The deluxe is an 8.5. I could've done without Beautiful Liar and If. The Creole and WWW addition saved it.

i'd rather an Adele collab over a Rihanna one

 

1 minute ago, BnPac said:

B'Day?

It's also the blossoming of what Beyoncé is as an artist. 

That's why almost all of her albums moving forward have a song that sound like B'Day. 

Yeah you’re right. Her words though 

4 minutes ago, giRLbye. said:

I think her most "Beyonce" album is B'Day

I second this. It's funky, it's flamboyant, and a bit camp. All the things that make Bey, Bey. (before she got married and became a mother of 3 anyway). It's still top 3 for me.

The highs on 4 are some of the highest highs (redundancy intended) in her discography. 

Opening the album with a Prince-inspired track with the guitar that goes with it then almost ending it with this punch LOT-Countdown-End of Time is transcendent. 

 

The problem with the album is that the lows are a bit low(I Was Here, SO, BTINH). 

2 minutes ago, BGKC said:

I second this. It's funky, it's flamboyant, and a bit camp. All the things that make Bey, Bey. (before she got married and became a mother of 3 anyway). It's still top 3 for me.

I think Renaissance does this but on an even higher level. If I were gonna introduce someone to Beyoncé that never listened to her before I would make them listen to Renaissance and bday to get what she’s about musically. 
 

She’s a vocal beast (POTS and Virgos groove) blends hip hop into her music (I’m that girl AHAP and thique) experimental (auiym) because she has mastered classic sounds (cuff it and BMS) and very campy and flamboyant (alien superstar heated and summer renaissance) 

Edited February 20, 20233 yr by bijonse

Renaissance isn't as loud as B'Day which is why it is better.

5 minutes ago, BnPac said:

No, the collab is not welcome, neither is the Adele's one and neither was the Alicia's one that no one remembers because it's not significant to either discographies. 

I also don't like Telephone, at all. 

 

Just because people are in the same industry doesn't mean they need to collaborate. 

 

All of this

 

Her non Jay collabs are some of the worst things she's ever put out. There are exceptions of course, but I could live the rest of my life in peace if the ga ga collabs, mi gente, perfect, savage, hymn for the weekend and feeling myself were erased from the face of Earth tomorrow. 

1 minute ago, Keith said:

Renaissance isn't as loud as B'Day which is why it is better.

Well I think for B'Day, Beyoncé the artist was let out of a box, she kinda yelled her artistic freedom all throughout the album just to be made prisoner again the next album by her own refusal to pick the adequate singles.

29 minutes ago, Virgos Groove said:

4sus is literally what allowed her to have the longevity she has rn. She'd be on Usher level if she went the Guetta route.

I kind of doubt it.  Those Usher songs weren’t even that well-regarded upon release, and even if she’d chosen to go that path, there’s no way her material would’ve been as void and generic. But yeah, 4 may not be her most significant or heavily-cited record, but it definitely lent credence to her profile and for her future development, and gave her more of an assertive stance as an artist. Run the World is also now one of her signature songs.

18 minutes ago, giRLbye. said:

 

I disagree. I Care, End of Time, Countdown, Start Over, Schoolin Life are also among some of her bold artistic choices at that time & were noted as such. Even on some of the more traditional moments...there were still artistic choices within the song arrangements that were different...like 1+1, Party, Love On Top.

We can agree to disagree then, because I feel there is a difference between making artistic choices (which she absolutely did) and making a bold artistic move. She certainly added new things to her palette with 4, I just don't see the record as being a bold declaration of artistry we had not seen throughout all her previous works.

 

The most progressive elements I'd say were I Care's rock vibe and Countdown's eclectic production and her turn towards newer R&B styles like that of Frank Ocean, but that's not doesn't exactly compare to the bold artistic moves of BEYONCÉ or Lemonade. Using a previously unknown producer like Boots for the majority of the album, exploring new genres to her catalogue like trap, chillwave, trip-hop, doo-***, and incorporating spoken word elements (like in ***Flawless), combining two songs into one, etc, recording a video for every song, surprise releasing it etc., is the kind of bold artistic statement I meant.

 

In comparison, 4 made steps forward but was still very much in her own musical comfort zone. The vocals however? Yes, those were bold.