Massive_Teardrop Posted May 22 Posted May 22 (edited) 1 hour ago, ScorpiosGroove said: well Fillertitled isn't even top 3 and ren is her best album alongside lemonade so I really wanna report you for harassment over this awful moniker for one of beyonces MAGNUS OPUSES jk 😘 Edited May 22 by Massive_Teardrop 3 1 1
Negiiiii Posted May 22 Posted May 22 1 hour ago, ScorpiosGroove said: well Fillertitled isn't even top 3 and ren is her best album alongside lemonade so LawdT how dare you we were all rooting for you *Tyra Banks voice* Self Titiled is amazing even though B'Day and Renaissance >>>>>>>>> Lemonade on the other hand… but today is its day thanks to Apple so I guess I'll pretend to like it right? how can yall not like BDay as much as I do ? Loud Yoncé >>>>>>>>
Cbreezy Posted May 22 Posted May 22 (edited) Oh Lemonade...lol I all at once live for how revered it is and what it "means" to her discography and career at large. ...All the while I don't particularly care for it in the grand scheme of her discography. It's absolutely the album I revisit least. Will say this til the wheels fall off: I will forever marvel at the irony that the "least" sounding Beyonce album is the album critically deemed her "best". Something about that is so off to me. I don't like the wider semantics of that fact either. Both in regards of what came before it and what came after it. IMO, people (especially critics) struggle to tease apart the **music** on Lemonade from the wider era (the social discourse, the political climate, the movie, the tour, etc). To many, IMO, it's all blended into one. So, with the "era" being monumental, so too (apparently) is the music at its center. And that's the part I fundamentally disagree with. Almost all of the music on Lemonade was missing from the RWT and not one (us included) batted an eyelid...which I think says everything that needs to be said about the true engagement with the music on the album (compared to the era at large). Make no mistake, though. I'm glad to see Bey rank so highly on lists like this. Even if only for the industry recognition and as a mass talking point. It speaks to how respected she is. Edited May 22 by Cbreezy 2
sillycilla Posted May 22 Posted May 22 (edited) 1 hour ago, Cbreezy said: Oh Lemonade...lol I all at once live for how revered it is and what it "means" to her discography and career at large. ...All the while I don't particularly care for it in the grand scheme of her discography. It's absolutely the album I revisit least. Will say this til the wheels fall off: I will forever marvel at the irony that the "least" sounding Beyonce album is the album critically deemed her "best". Something about that is so off to me. I don't like the wider semantics of it either. Both in regards of what came before it and what came after it. IMO, people (especially critics) struggle to tease apart the **music** on Lemonade from the wider era (the social discourse, the political climate, the movie, the tour, etc). To many, IMO, it's all blended into one. So, with the "era" being monumental, so too (apparently) is the music at its center. And that's the part I fundamentally disagree with. Almost all of the music on Lemonade was missing from the RWT and not one (us included) batted an eyelid...which I think says everything that needs to be said about the true engagement with the music on the album (compared to the era at large). Make no mistake, though. I'm glad to see Bey rank so highly on lists like this. Even if only for the industry recognition and as a mass talking point. It speaks to how respected she is. Interesting, while I agree with most of what you said I have a somewhat different perspective. Would you still have the same overall opinion of Lemonade if she had actually let the era breathe? If singles were done properly and the album success matched the overwhelming critical acclaim? This has been my main frustration with Beyonce in general and it's not about "chasing charts". She's stifling so much of her greatest work, Beyonce, Lemonade, Renaissance, and now CC that when you see it in comparison to the greatest albums of all time the public perception is why is it there? There is too much disconnect and that shouldn't be the case. The apple top ten albums list ALL had massive single success that even if most of the gp hadn't listened to those albums they have an understanding for why it's there. Her albums should constantly be revisited for the cultural reset it creates at the beginning but they don't have the longevity bc she doesn't let it marinate with the public. Edited May 22 by sillycilla 1 1
Cbreezy Posted May 22 Posted May 22 45 minutes ago, sillycilla said: Interesting, while I agree with most of what you said I have a somewhat different perspective. Would you still have the same overall opinion of Lemonade if she had actually let the era breathe? If singles were done properly and the album success matched the overwhelming critical acclaim? This has been my main frustration with Beyonce in general and it's not about "chasing charts". She's stifling so much of her greatest work, Beyonce, Lemonade, Renaissance, and now CC that when you see it in comparison to the greatest albums of all time the public perception is why is it there? There is too much disconnect and that shouldn't be the case. The apple top ten albums list ALL had massive single success that even if most of the gp hadn't listened to those albums they have an understanding for why it's there. Her albums should constantly be revisited for the cultural reset it creates at the beginning but they don't have the longevity bc she doesn't let it marinate with the public. I also agree with a lot of this. IMO, the reality is that none of us (myself included) are above being marketed to. Similarly, we're not above feeling the disconnect you mention when we're actively "not" marketed to enough. As has been the case with Bey in more recent eras. With Lemonade, a lot of the era felt front-loaded and tour-focused, so after the surprise drop/movie/tour launch, if it wasn't already single it kinda fell by the wayside. And we all know what happened with the streaming side of things. Sometimes ish needs to marinate. I think, to a degree, that's what's happening with CC. IMO, CC is objectively way better than Lemonade, but I don't find myself listening to it much because there is nothing happening promotionally to incentivize that atm. Overall, though, marketing or not, Lemonade does not (for lack of better pun) "taste" like Beyonce in the most representative sense. So I would go as far as to say it's almost impossible for it to be seen as defining of her artistry in the way critics and lists like this seem hell-bent on "making" the case. IMO, it also minimizes the greatness of her authentically defining sound and almost seems to support the mindset that saw the material before and after it constantly getting overlooked when it comes to accolades like the Grammys. The irony being that that music doesn't win and neither does her supposedly "best" album Lemonade.
Kristie Kuwa Posted May 22 Posted May 22 All I ever wanted from Bey was Billies current rollout - perfect vinyl situation, great push on social media and streaming, release of MV of lead single, instant Interview focussing on the process of creating the album, late night show + performance of lead single.. like, is that really too much to ask for? Or should that actually be regarded the bare minimum? Its truly unbelievable that shes SO weird handling her rollouts. The fact that CC Was initially able to compete with all these albums and died like that - wow. How can they (Bey and her team) look at that and be like "its whatever, we slayed week 1". I will never understand 1
Kassi Posted May 22 Posted May 22 With all of the tour rumors floating around, I will say that it helps to take the edge off to think that she's just in rehearsals and hasn't totally forgotten about the album. So like Fantasia said, I_believe.mp3 1
Cbreezy Posted May 22 Posted May 22 (edited) 1 hour ago, Kristie Kuwa said: All I ever wanted from Bey was Billies current rollout - perfect vinyl situation, great push on social media and streaming, release of MV of lead single, instant Interview focussing on the process of creating the album, late night show + performance of lead single.. like, is that really too much to ask for? Or should that actually be regarded the bare minimum? Its truly unbelievable that shes SO weird handling her rollouts. The fact that CC Was initially able to compete with all these albums and died like that - wow. How can they (Bey and her team) look at that and be like "its whatever, we slayed week 1". I will never understand I'm with you and largely agree. I've always leaned more towards her latter-day rollouts (or lack thereof) being more "weird" than indicative of her "not caring" as I see thrown around here so much. Simply listening to Bey's albums makes clear the level of care poured into the product, so I just don't buy that she "doesn't care" how it does. What I do think, though, is that her present-day approach reminds that even the "best" artists can be disconnected from the reality of what is optimally best for their projects. Because, while I don't think any of us expect B'Day levels of insane promotion today, the whole "release and promote as, when, and how I feel" just doesn't work as well as she thinks it does. I'm not sure it's the flex she thinks it is either. That said, she's forcing me to grow up as a stan. In the sense that it's abundantly clear that she really has tried and true bullet points for each act/era that she takes a "nothing more, nothing less" approach to ticking off. Per era, we're getting: * 1 "properly worked" hit single * A Well-Selling Album * A Tour or Live Thing * A Longform Visual (Pending) * Aspects of all of the above that present as a "surprise" She essentially has been doing the same/similar rollout for over a decade and tweaking it here and there to "present" it differently. The different aspect atm being the "acts" thing. It's all just clever marketing. Whenever the visual does arrive, the reality is that it's essentially another BIK/Lemonade/ST packaged differently. I'd bet on it at most being 1.5-2 hours max and not featuring every song in full video format. I hate to throw the wife/mom of 3 thing up again, but all evidence points to her (from her lens) working smarter not harder. Sis will tick box the same deliverables per era and take more and more time doing it...while clever marketing will bamboozle us into thinking it's something vastly different to what she's been doing. Edited May 22 by Cbreezy
alien superstore Posted May 22 Posted May 22 Hello! This account is new but I've been an avid reader of this forum since pre-Lemonade days. Very excited to be here My most played Bey songs of all time are God Your Way Back and C[hrist]zy (and I was on the Cozy train before the tour, thank you very much). I have a lot of thoughts about how this era isn't going, excited to dive in soon x 4
Chris Posted May 22 Posted May 22 Not to sound biased or anything but Beyonce's verse is my favorite and the best part of the song. Just saying. 2
Cbreezy Posted May 22 Posted May 22 Clown makeup applied: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7R-eSzpH2Z/ But forreal, can Bey just throw us something? Got the memo loud and clear that conventional promo ain't her thing. But a viral performance on Netflix (over YT)...in the midst of Miley's promo block is the kind of extra/odd/backwards-but-it-works promo that almost feels on-brand for Bey at this point. Because, beyond that, what is Miley even promoting atm beyond her collabs? Knowing our luck she'll perform Flowers, the Pharrell collab, and the new one with Calvin, tease a new album, say how amazing it was working with Bey and that will be it. 1
Lose My Breath Posted May 22 Posted May 22 Mess, CC predicted to leave the top 10 on the BB200 this next week It'll be her shortest run in the top 10 if it doesn't return for a studio album
Kristie Kuwa Posted May 22 Posted May 22 15 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said: Mess, CC predicted to leave the top 10 on the BB200 this next week It'll be her shortest run in the top 10 if it doesn't return for a studio album Cécred, thats all that matters now 1
TizTiz Posted May 22 Posted May 22 25 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said: Mess, CC predicted to leave the top 10 on the BB200 this next week It'll be her shortest run in the top 10 if it doesn't return for a studio Beyoncé is at the round table of Parkwood board room cheering with a gleeful Yvette and a confused new employee not understanding why everyone is clapping about this. 1
jane Posted May 22 Posted May 22 38 minutes ago, Kristie Kuwa said: Cécred, thats all that matters now Well if Cécred becomes a financial success for her, she will do even less. Touring can also be affected. I dont blame Bey for leaving the music industry behind because it's become even more of a trap for her, full of people wanting to humble her secretely. I mean you can see it all over, it's not subtle. However for the fans she must find a way to give them a minimum of entertainment because they still invest heavily in her. There just must be a better balance, however in the middle of this heavy palestina vs Isreal campaign, the election coming, i dont blame for sitting this one out. Things will continue to be tense and weird for the rest of the year. If she tours this fall and winter, i hope she does it in Europe and Asia, ang ignore the US for a while. I kinda dont like how many have ignored this album suddenly. I kinda want to protect her from humiliation here and it's best she stays away for a while. 1
yonsé Posted May 22 Posted May 22 (edited) 7 hours ago, Cbreezy said: Oh Lemonade...lol I all at once live for how revered it is and what it "means" to her discography and career at large. ...All the while I don't particularly care for it in the grand scheme of her discography. It's absolutely the album I revisit least. Will say this til the wheels fall off: I will forever marvel at the irony that the "least" sounding Beyonce album is the album critically deemed her "best". Something about that is so off to me. I don't like the wider semantics of that fact either. Both in regards of what came before it and what came after it. IMO, people (especially critics) struggle to tease apart the **music** on Lemonade from the wider era (the social discourse, the political climate, the movie, the tour, etc). To many, IMO, it's all blended into one. So, with the "era" being monumental, so too (apparently) is the music at its center. And that's the part I fundamentally disagree with. Almost all of the music on Lemonade was missing from the RWT and not one (us included) batted an eyelid...which I think says everything that needs to be said about the true engagement with the music on the album (compared to the era at large). Make no mistake, though. I'm glad to see Bey rank so highly on lists like this. Even if only for the industry recognition and as a mass talking point. It speaks to how respected she is. Formation though. Formation as a song alone was a massive moment and one of her best songs and is unequivocally a Beyoncé song. i think formation alone is what catapults it ahead of most of her albums. the world stopped when that song dropped even though she kept it from being bought. super bowl, music video, police boycott. she was in the news for months. and it was the only lemon song kept for RWT. and that was before unveiling this SUPER personal story that was the album. she had never been that candid in her music prior to lemonade. (we got some glimpses with Jealous and songs like Ring the Alarm, but this is a culmination) i do hear what you're saying as the era and visuals overshadow the album itself. but songs like dont hurt yourself and daddy lessons are some of her best genre work, which is, like i said above, something she had been building up to for ages. Edited May 22 by yonsé
alien superstore Posted May 22 Posted May 22 1 hour ago, Joaco95 said: that third pic is new nah, I've definitely seen it before
yonsé Posted May 22 Posted May 22 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said: How has CC aged for y'all? i listened to it yesterday for the first time in a couple weeks. its still very good. i found myself skipping tracks though (Texas, the smoke hour interludes, ii most wanted) so its not a no-skips album, even if the skips are still good songs. i think it's just a bit too long. im not complaining though, since she has never given us this much music ever. Edited May 22 by yonsé 1
Joaco95 Posted May 22 Posted May 22 15 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said: How has CC aged for y'all? like that 1 1
yonsé Posted May 22 Posted May 22 3 hours ago, alien superstore said: Hello! This account is new but I've been an avid reader of this forum since pre-Lemonade days. Very excited to be here My most played Bey songs of all time are God Your Way Back and C[hrist]zy (and I was on the Cozy train before the tour, thank you very much). I have a lot of thoughts about how this era isn't going, excited to dive in soon x welcome! 1
alien superstore Posted May 22 Posted May 22 (edited) We know Bey and Parkwood are definitely up to something. She has been quite quiet for a while now. She was busy with the tour until October and focused a lot of time editing and directing the Renaissance Tour Film up until December (something we can be sure about given the confusion when it was first uploaded to cinema sites--remember the varied runtimes, the Odeon website saying Nadia Lee Cohen was directing, etc etc). Then she was working on the Cowboy Carter first week rollout, which we know had a lot of up-to-the-deadline changes thanks to the botched BEYINCE vinyl's disparity with the official streaming version of the record. Since then, she's spent time in Japan for...some reason (we still don't actually know why she was there, and we all know it wasn't simply so she could charitably sign some vinyls there), and we've seen a bunch of Cowboy Carter visuals in the form of the lyric videos which confirm they're a) tied to the Renaissance film (check the Amen video for the literal backdrop of the ITG Teaser) and has confirmation from Nadia Lee Cohen that they're "coming soon". Obviously we all want stuff sooner and quicker, but if Bey changed the title and concept for Cowboy at the last minute, it means her visuals are also out of date. I don't want a visual album that includes a video for Blackbiird that doesn't star the featured girls, and I don't want a visual project anytime soon that includes Levii's Jeans but excludes God YA. It's very obvious that this entire trilogy has not gone according to plan behind the scenes, given the lack of Rennie visuals, the ITG Teaser leading to nothing, the knee injury and the last minute u-turn of a Cuff It Grammy Performance (which an insider on the Pop Pantheon podcast alluded to). That being said, I am quite frustrated at how this era is panning out. She has claimed it's her best music (and I do believe American Requiiem, Protector, Texas, Ya Ya, 16 and Tyrant are all career highlights), but she isn't pushing it. Even her current single II Most Wanted has had...zero push beyond a cover art reveal that would look more at home on Microsoft Paint than on streaming services. It's confusing, but we know there's more to come. My suspicion is that she's either gearing up for a residency or a tour of the continents she didn't get to visit with the Renaissance project (Asia, South America, and Oceania), and letting herself vibe off the fumes of the success of Texas Hold Em (which, like it or not, was an Irreplaceable level hit in terms of cultural saturation). I do wonder if this is all part of her plan to nab AOTY. Cowboy Carter came out quite early in the eligibility period. Releasing an insane visual project for the album and/or performing it on tour during the winter months would give the album a significant second wind come Grammy season. And before you claim she doesn't care about the Grammy's...she obviously does. You might not like it, but she turns up every year and gratefully accepts each gold trophy they continue to give her. Regardless, I see Billie winning AOTY (an easy way to not reward Bey, while also not continuing to fawn over Taylor) and Bey winning SOTY for Texas, which wouldn't be a horrid outcome I guess :/ Anyway, sorry this was long, I'm new so thought I'd dive right in Edited May 22 by alien superstore typo 3 10
alien superstore Posted May 22 Posted May 22 27 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said: How has CC aged for y'all? I was cooking breakfast at the stove the other morning and played the whole album through on my kitchen radio. It made me realise that Cowboy Carter is perfect alongside some scrambled eggs in the morning (especially that stunning first half and II Hands II Heaven), while Rennie is perfect for the gym and the club. Most of us are young gays or girls who are still out there partying, but I think with age we'll appreciate CC more. 4
alien superstore Posted May 22 Posted May 22 1 hour ago, alien superstore said: Anyway, sorry this was long, I'm new so thought I'd dive right in Oh and also... Echoville is obviously still on the table. Whatever that ends up being. She's trademarked Echoville just a few months ago under the following categories; "Glasses; sunglasses; cases for sunglasses; cases for mobile phones" (sounds like Website Merch) "Clocks; Watches; Jewelry; Keychains; Lapel pins and ornamental pin" (Keychains and Pins are typical Bey Merch) "Photographs; Stationery; Stickers; Posters; Event programs; Notepads; Blank journals; Collectible trading cards; Collectible printed trading cards; Comic books; Pen and pencil cases" (Posters are typical Bey Merch) "Bags, namely, tote bags, beach bags, handbags, diaper bags, baby carriers worn on the body, pouch baby carriers, luggage; small leather goods, namely, leather cases, leather bags and wallets, leather purses, leather billfolds, leather key chains, leather key" (again, Tote bags and keychains are obvious merch) "Household and kitchen containers; lunch boxes; wash bags; fitted vanity cases; food storage containers; drinks containers; plastic drinks containers (empty); stainless steel drinks containers (empty); sports bottles (empty); hydration packs comprising a fluid reservoir and a delivery tube" (I could see her sending out steel water bottles in PR packages/selling them on her site for Echoville once the project has launched) "Clothing; Headwear; Footwear" (Hats are obvious merch) "Bedding, namely, bed spreads, bed sheets, bed throws, bed linen, bed blankets; linens, namely, table linens, kitchen linens, household linens, bath linens; towels; textile wall hangings; blankets, namely, blanket throws, children's blankets, lap blankets, fleece blankets, blankets for household pets, blankets for outdoor use; comforters; pillow cases; duvets" (we have already seen her release blankets as part of the Renaissance merch collection) "Stuffed and plush toys; Collectible toys; Toy action figures and toy action figure accessories; Playing cards; Action Figures; Board games; Water toys; Radio-controlled toy vehicles and drone toys; Party games; Trading cards for games" (Branded playing cards for Echoville would make sense if Texas Hold Em--a song that riffs on Poker--is included in this visual project). All being said, she's very obviously cooking something up. Echoville was last officially referenced by Parkwood with the Cecred haircare tiktok, and previously before that on the tour in the visuals. Consider the connection between Renaissance's 'Mind Control' KNTY News tour segment (playing on FOX News' aesthetic and ability to brainwash people into their echochambers) and Cowboy Carter's KNTRY Radio Texas with it's 10,000 watts of healing power (and the CGI radio waves that shoot out of the radio station during the Texas lyric video). It seems clear to me that Act III's visuals might focus more on the grungey newspaper aesthetic (the Delresto album art is clearly a still from the Echoville visual project imho, and the allusion to Betty Black confirms to me its placement in Act III), meaning ACT I is TV, ACT II is Radio and ACT III is the printed press. Put it all together and you have a visual project, Echoville, which considers the way in which the media has shaped our understanding of genre, and of the way the media has erased the Black roots of modern popular genres. 7
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