1 minute ago, swissman said:

B'Day her worst? B'Day not a full body of work?

Are we talking about the deluxe version where new songs were added? Because the original is incredibly cohesive, concise, and tells a clear, narrative story from love to love-lost.

What is the worst song on B'Day's standard version, anyway? Resentment because it sticks out? And yet it still is an amazing track.

imo she didn't make an album as good until BEYONCÉ, seven years later.

4 obliterates the static noise and poor mixing of B'day

but b'day is not her worst... truth be told her worst albums are actually DC's albums

40 minutes ago, Lose My Breath said:

So any celebrities though? lol

all the important ones went to the VF after party, i wonder why

3 minutes ago, QueenB said:

4 obliterates the static noise and poor mixing of B'day

but b'day is not her worst... truth be told her worst albums are actually DC's albums

4 is well made, but does that make it one of her great "albums"? I'm not sure. Compared to what would follow, I think it obviously falls short of the greatness she can do, but though it's one of her best made pre-2013 albums, I think conceptually and overall, B'Day is a better piece of work. I wish there was a clearer concept behind 4, and that certain low points of the record were replaced with songs that better fit the rest (such as some of the bonus songs). I Was Here being right between End of Time and Run the World is a very odd choice too, and I think its mood and motives are a bit mixed up. Several of the songs are about intense love, some about intense heartbreak, which is fine, not every album needs a storyline, but B'Day has amazing songs, sonic cohesion until the narrative is concluded, and while both albums tried to repeat her own nachos (Déja Vu/Crazy in Love; BTINH/Irreplaceable), she did it better on B'Day and it wasn't late when she did it. (And at least with B'Day she ran with it and artistically explored other faucets of the style [Green Light, Freakum Dress, Suga Mama...], she didn't just add it in as some commercial grab, not really caring that it sticks out.

Edited March 16Mar 16 by swissman

1 hour ago, ScorpiosGroove said:

all the important ones went to the VF after party, i wonder why

Celebrities always go to VF first and then the Gold Party lol

1 hour ago, ScorpiosGroove said:

all the important ones went to the VF after party, i wonder why

sorry but I hate this narrative, why are some Hive even talking this nonsense?

most celebs will show up to Vanity Fair red carpet, pose, and then go to the Gold Party (if they're invited). y'all sound dumb.

even Kelly:

Can't wait for Bey to debut that auburn wig for this era

DIL > 4 if we wanna keep it a buck

4's lows are almost as bad as DC's lows

10 minutes ago, king_queen said:

DIL > 4 if we wanna keep it a buck

4's lows are almost as bad as DC's lows

4 trumps all the albums that came before her

Finally… paps are dropping the pics

I feel a I Am Sasha Fierce renaissance coming... stans here will start showing it the love and respect it deserves

to spread my wings and fly away, away with YOOOOOOOUUUUUuuuUuuUuUUuUuUu yeahyeahyeah oooOOoooOOOOOOOH

1 hour ago, swissman said:

B'Day her worst? B'Day not a full body of work?

Are we talking about the deluxe version where new songs were added? Because the original is incredibly cohesive, concise, and tells a clear, narrative story from love to love-lost.

What is the worst song on B'Day's standard version, anyway? Resentment because it sticks out? And yet it still is an amazing track.

imo she didn't make an album as good until BEYONCÉ, seven years later.

well first off, that's not what i said. even with the narrative on the original tracklisting, musically speaking it sounds fairly safe — like an expected evolution of her sound up to that point + keeping in trend to the times. while something like 4 is a little more inconsistent, it felt like such a breath of fresh air not just for Bey, but for the sound of the times. she would then refine and really push the envelope with that kind of approach on her subsequent albums.

and THAT is why B'day doesn't stand up as an album to me compared to almost everything that followed it - she just hadn't tapped into the formula of what makes her post-IASF work so powerful yet. it's still fantastic and i really love it, but it didn't quite have the experimentation that i really appreciate from her.

2 hours ago, Fleahive said:

Looks like they all ditched for vanity fair this year. We all know why.

14 minutes ago, beyonceparkwood said:

Finally… paps are dropping the pics

@Fleahive Explain King .... ?

I Have... Somuch Filler already gets the respect is deserves

53 minutes ago, kimberly said:

sorry but I hate this narrative, why are some Hive even talking this nonsense?

most celebs will show up to Vanity Fair red carpet, pose, and then go to the Gold Party (if they're invited). y'all sound dumb.

even Kelly:

it's so easy to bait y'all

9 minutes ago, ScorpiosGroove said:

it's so easy to bait y'all

am I supposed to be able to tell when you're "baiting" intentionally when everything you post is negative and miserable sounding

5 minutes ago, kimberly said:

am I supposed to be able to tell when you're "baiting" intentionally when everything you post is negative and miserable sounding

you're the one throwing insults over a party you're not even invited to, sounds like you're the miserable one

4 being a breathe of fresh air but the lead single's instrumental had already been well-known and already sampled upon release

4 is a great album, however, 4 almost has no cohesion and there is no way songs like Schoolin' Life and D4Y were on the deluxe but RDY and IWH was on the standard?

I think y'all give 4 a lot of grace bc of it was her first "flop" and the hive went through hell defending her from 2011-2013

10 minutes ago, cloudbusting said:

well first off, that's not what i said. even with the narrative on the original tracklisting, musically speaking it sounds fairly safe — like an expected evolution of her sound up to that point + keeping in trend to the times. while something like 4 is a little more inconsistent, it felt like such a breath of fresh air not just for Bey, but for the sound of the times. she would then refine and really push the envelope with that kind of approach on her subsequent albums.

and THAT is why B'day doesn't stand up as an album to me compared to almost everything that followed it - she just hadn't tapped into the formula of what makes her post-IASF work so powerful yet. it's still fantastic and i really love it, but it didn't quite have the experimentation that i really appreciate from her.

Oh yes I see I misunderstood / misread the "full body of work" comment. Apologies for that.

However, personally, I don't think an album being more or less expected makes it automatically better than another which is more consistent, cohesive, and successful at telling its story. And though Crazy in Love might've been the sonic starting point for the record, it's not like DIL had any other songs at all similar to Crazy in Love, so this is actually the first (and only) of her records that prioritized this sassy, brassy, big sound. And still she managed to evolve her palette as well, adding big, loud emotional moments like Ring the Alarm that paved the way for songs like Don't Hurt Yourself or Get Me Bodied which laid the groundwork for Single Ladies.

As much as we deride IASF, at least it presented a very clear concept that allowed a song like Satellites to exist on the same album as a song like Radio. But 4 offered no such reasoning for why I Was Here was directly before Run the World, except that Run the World was so sonically unique that it had to go at the end, or even why 1+1 followed RTW as a single. To me 4 seems like a collection of great songs, but a collection that doesn't say more than the sum of its parts. What does it mean that she's zigging when everyone's zagging? I think if it had sunk its teeth into its more experimental moments like Countdown or I Care and to a lesser extent Love on Top and Run the World, it might have come across as more clear artistic experimentation, but instead she had some innocuous songs (mainly just BTINH that said nothing artistically) and other "fine" one that are not wholly memorable and which diminish its overall rating for me, whereas on B'Day, the only real songs that stick out are at the very end, and it's clear why they sound different, because it's a totally different section of the story after going from being obsessed with your partner, to putting a lot of work into your relationship, to finding out about and then dealing with indiscretions, to breaking up and then reconciling with the vulnerability after so much bravado.

2 minutes ago, king_queen said:

4 being a breathe of fresh air but the lead single's instrumental had already been well-known and already sampled upon release

4 is a great album, however, 4 almost has no cohesion and there is no way songs like Schoolin' Life and D4Y were on the deluxe but RDY and IWH was on the standard?

I think y'all give 4 a lot of grace bc of it was her first "flop" and the hive went through hell defending her from 2011-2013

I don't think anyone at all is doing this in this base, but generally I think when people loudly announce that "4 is Beyoncé's best album" they are giving a "I wanna be different" dogwhistle that slightly borders on Beyoncé-hate wherein they want to anchor themselves to / say she peaked in her "flop" era both as a display of their "good taste" over her more popular or widely acclaimed albums and to invalidate all the truly amazing, astounding albums she released afterwards.

It's just something I've sort of noticed: that people who proudly announce that they aren't Beyoncé fans will say this is their favourite.

Edited March 16Mar 16 by swissman

IASF would have made such a good visual album...

3 hours ago, TipToe said:

What are the lows on B'Day in your opinion? Are they worse than, for example, Start Over or Ave Maria?

ntm on ave maria

wh0re

4 hours ago, swissman said:

B'Day her worst? B'Day not a full body of work?

Are we talking about the deluxe version where new songs were added? Because the original is incredibly cohesive, concise, and tells a clear, narrative story from love to love-lost.

What is the worst song on B'Day's standard version, anyway? Resentment because it sticks out? And yet it still is an amazing track.

imo she didn't make an album as good until BEYONCÉ, seven years later.

Ring the alarm aka noise pollution

1 minute ago, Anvarie said:

Ring the alarm aka noise pollution

It's noisy, I'll give you that. It's not as bad as BTINH had though. At least she took a swing with Ring the Alarm, and tried something new for her. BTINH was a regression all the way back to B'Day and to a style that had already been copied been maxed out by others.

Edited March 16Mar 16 by swissman

1 hour ago, swissman said:

I don't think anyone at all is doing this in this base, but generally I think when people loudly announce that "4 is Beyoncé's best album" they are giving a "I wanna be different" dogwhistle that slightly borders on Beyoncé-hate wherein they want to anchor themselves to / say she peaked in her "flop" era both as a display of their "good taste" over her more popular or widely acclaimed albums and to invalidate all the truly amazing, astounding albums she released afterwards.

It's just something I've sort of noticed: that people who proudly announce that they aren't Beyoncé fans will say this is their favourite.

I had to a double take that this mess came out out your mouth Swissman

Just now, Anvarie said:

I had to a double take that this mess came out out your mouth Swissman

Why?