Reviews (page 4 of 8)
Never listened to a Beyonce album before. Won't be seeking another. Not the worst album I've ever heard but for every mildly catchy hook there was something they (and it is a they when it comes to this album) seemed to programme literally to just be annoying. By the last few tracks I gave up. Also, I'm quite prepared to listen to an international pop star sing "punish me daddy" or whatever but when they song is written by a committee including Justin Timberlake it just feels icky.
Oh man, I thought this might be were I listen to a whole Beyonce album and at least learn to appreciate her. Nope. Not this album anyway. Didn't really do anything for me, some of the bass lines were alright. The singing was meh, the lyrics I noticed were meh. I thought perhaps since it was a visual album that the videos would put better meanings behind the songs. We watched one. Perhaps we choose the wrong one. It was essentially just her in her pants. I dunno. This did nothing for me. I still don't understand the clamour. Maybe one day.
Beyoncé is a gifted and talented artist working in a genre that doesn't resonate well with me. The album sounds great, it is exceptionally produced, and it is musically enjoyable. I know I am repeating myself, but I don't think I am the audience for this album and it doesn't transcend its target audience into the world of empirical greatness.
It’s ok, just not my type of music
Pretty hurts - 7/10 Haunted - 6/10 Drunk in love - 8/10 blow - 7/10 no angel - 6/10 partition - 8/10 jealous - 6/10 rocket - 7/10 mine - 8/10 XO - 8/10 Flawless - 6/10 superpower - 7/10 heaven - 6/10 blue - 8/10
more of a 3.5 for me, but there are some great songs on here that are still iconic today. some of these comments are just breathtakingly racist, though. at worst, this is a mid album depending on your tastes. i simply don't believe that this is the worst pop album some of you have listened to! it is not the truth! it's a shame XO uses that bizarre sample of the challenger explosion because it's a great song - one of my favorites by beyonce.
>looks at the comments >thinly-veiled racism, misogyny, and a general fear of pop music abound >michael bluth voice: i don't know what i expected i was actually paying attention to the radio in 2014 but somehow i totally missed this album and its singles. i honestly don't think i had heard any of these songs before (but of course had heard all the memes and buzz about SURF-BORT). there are definitely some duds and songs/features that have not aged well here (looking at you, drake) but overall this is solid stuff. beyonce's voice sounds great as always and the production/instrumentation on these tracks is some of the best money can buy. the clips from her past are a nice addition as well, really makes everything feel more real and less like a soulless commercial release, but there's still enough long and drawn out filler that it's definitely not a five star from me. favorites: pretty hurts, haunted, drunk in love, partition, xo, blue
Alright so it had "Drunk in Love" which was a hit but honest to god I do not understand how Beyonce ended up as famous as she got. Rest of the album was just ok. Alot of is just talking into a mic with some weird music in the back which is... not good. 4/10
I only made it through a few tracks, but they were some of the most self-indulgent yet simultaneously vapid pop/R&B shite out there. Like months out of date packets of "builders breakfast" crisps which just taste like ready salted and are more air than actual crisps. This was supposedly the fastest selling album on the iTunes Store following its release until, you guessed it, Adele snatched the record a couple of years later. All I can say is that people are idiots.
Look, I've never heard a Beyonce album before. I've heard a lot of her music on the radio, both solo and with Destiny's Child, and have almost without exception, hated it. She can sing, but I can't stand her voice. All the shite about being independent - that's cool for one song, but becomes grating and increasingly like a calculated marketing move rather than a lyric with any personal truth behind it once it appears in single after single. But I'll listen to this and see if I've missed anything. I want to love as much music as possible. I can't love this. I tried. Open mind and all that. But this is just garbage. And not even fun, throwaway garbage. It's a needlessly hyped star having so much money thrown at creating a product but forgetting the ideas, the soul, the music. Ludicrously over-produced and yet feels cheap. No restraint in any aspect. The vocals are unnecessarily over the top to the detriment of the songs that might otherwise be listenable. Most songs would not be listenable even if you had an interesting voice doing their best work. If you strip everything back to melody and message, most songs wouldn't work. Satan bless her, she's a trier. Tryer? Who knows. I'm not saying she's not talented, but that's the absolute bottom of the barrel bare minimum you would expect of someone who has been a cog in the hit industry for decades. But there's just nothing here. Every note and word rings hollow. It's as erotic as a drunken, diseased, and decrepit grandmother forcing her dusty loins upon you. It's as smart as a MAGA podcaster. For a pop album, it's alarmingly free of melody. Most songs are some barren beat and nothing else. There are irritating sound bites. It's too long. This is an easy one star in my mind... It people love her and her music for some reason, and I get that this was likely influential.
This wasn't bad. Not sure if I'd listen again, but could see why people are drawn to her music. 3/5
To think, Beyoncé turned down Len Houmous for Jay Z. Some said she’d had a conversation with Debbie Harry just before choosing. Says it all! 1.4 4/20 Blow
Bring back side parts and the grapefruit method. #2014 #yolo
Horny
D+
Écouté vite fait, ça va mais pas marquant
Oh fuck this.
I do feel a bit on an island with this one. With Beyoncé, Crazy in Love came out and we all though this is what pop music is gonna be and then she went straight back to warbling or quite basic stuff and never reached those heights again. This did nothing to persuade me otherwise.
The production was excellent and I liked a lot of the songs, even beyond the singles. It went on a little long but never hit the "boring back half" that so many albums suffer from.
not for me for most of it, but the production work here is really really good. the sound is complete
The "Yoncé" music video was very formative for me when it came out. It was a bit of a bummer when it was merged fully into "Partition" on the album. It's interesting, too, to think about how "***Flawless" was received by Buzzfeed etc. in 2013 because it has the quotes from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie interspersed...really the perfect time for a #feminist message and it took over my tumblr feed for probably a solid six months. All of that said, I spend at least a third of the time that I listen to this album wishing I was listening to Lemonade instead. The songs here are good but the album as a whole is just better on Lemonade, in my opinion.
A morning of listening to Beyonce telling me how much she fucks while building ikea furniture lmao. The best line has to come from Jay Z tbh, with "you're a milf and I'm a motherfucker" LMAO. lyricism. I did enjoy the vine-like "daddy what are you gonna do with all this ✨️ASS✨️" I should start saying 'no rest in the kingdom' next time I can't sleep too. There was also a Drake jumpscare which unfortunately was a very catchy song. Had a fun time overall, just not one to share with the parents
Surprised I’d never heard a single song on here. Must’ve been influential as pop music still sounds like this, it was alright but not for me
I got excited to see a Beyoncé album but there were 0 bops. Not for me unfortunately.
Wildly overproduced and a mish-mash of braggadocio pop tropes...still, damn that lady can sing and dance.
muziek melodie aardig zang gaat er rommelig doorheen
Lei sa cantare e su questo non ci piove, ma porca madonna, le canzoni sono una peggio dell'altra, inascoltabili
Beyonce is not the worst artist of all time, like some people think. Beyonce is not the greatest artist of all time, like some people think. She is simultaneously over and underrated. Beyonce is okay, she makes generally decent music that is incredibly catchy, and she is a master at that. This is okay, nothing more, nothing less. Except I love the way she says "surfboard" Best Song: XO Rating: 5.5/10 Stars: 3
Bey fam all day everyday
Pish.
Dour, sparse, boring. Maybe this was pop music in 2013 but it hasn’t aged well. Stripped of context it’s just dull
I did not like It but It is not so bad.
Oh no this is such a crap for normies. Fuck off.
Excellent album. This album really lets you see the continual evolution of Beyoncé and her art.
This music is fake slop
4/10 Music through committee. You can hear the meetings and the flip charts that this derived from. You can't put your finger on what music loses when you run it through the machine repeatedly, but Beyonce captures it. It has some moments, but this is meant to the preeminent pop of the last 15 years.
Ok
Ehon
Yall hate this just because it's Beyonce 💅👑🐝 like stop overreacting
Disappointed to be honest. Found it tuneless and unoriginal. Struggling to remember any highlights even.
Mid 4
Some really good tracks, but I'm just not that into Beyonce
solid and i get why people are down with her. i find Beyonce to be bland, boring, over produced and a bit LCD. GREAT entertainer - live, sure. this bored me.
I enjoy Beyoncé but Lemonade or Renaissance really should have been the pick over this. Still a nice pop album though
I've heard a lot of Beyonce and I think maybe one song hit? So I don't feel bad about this.
When did popular music become so goddamn boring?
Voy a escuchar la edición estándar que ya es mucho para mí. Cero interés por mi parte, no le voy a dar una estrella porque las reservo para los discos malos (que los hay). Ningún tema famoso. La nada.
The track, "Partition," is not bad. I like the beat.
This was a solid self-titled album from Beyoncé! I felt like this album is a sexy good time and many of the songs are very catchy and fun to listen to. Drunk in Love and Partition are my two standout tracks from this album. I would definitely listen to this album again in the future!
C'est pas juste que c'est nul, c'est que c'est FUCKING LONG. Chaque chanson dure 6 minutes et il y a genre 65 chansons putain de merde.
Pas mal mais pas forcément le genre de musique que j'écoute régulièrement J'ai bien aimé le morceau "Blue" qui est un peu plus ressorti du lot pour moi mais sinon pas de gros coup de coeur.
Pas mal de sons connus, je ne pensais pas que c’était y a déjà 11 ans… pas mon album préf mais beaucoup de sons variés et queen b = c’est une vibe générale
Je connaissais quelques pistes, l'album entier est une très bonne découverte ! Je m'attendais pas à ce que ce soit aussi varié. Ça fait du bien de changer de registre. 5/5
I like a lot of Beyoncé's music, but this album just isn't it. Frankly, it just doesn't sound very good. In a world with Lemonade, Renaissance, and Cowboy Carter, it's ridiculous that this album is on the list instead of better Queen B albums.
Bien meilleur que ce que j’aurais pu espérer (je sais, c’est du snobisme envers la musique pop de ma part). Plusieurs bonnes chansons (dont Blow, une ode au sexe oral...) et de belles ambiances. L’album est trop long à mon goût, mais pas vraiment de filler. Quand même pas pour moi.
Overrated drama queen.
According to wikepedia, this album did particularly well because of the short story videos. Maybe it is because I didn't watch them, but I didn't see anything special in the songs. They were OK, I preferred the remixes with the exception of Nicky Minaj
3.25 Queen B, not for me. Respect the craft tho.
Some abrasvie hip-hop, some fine if uninteresting pop, a lot of just boring nothing. I don't get the hype.
guess who's jealous....BEYONCÉ
beyonky
Beyonce went off the rails with this one. The two previous albums are full of iconic songs. There's nothing memorable here and it's far too long.
Уважаю, и это хороший альбом, но у нее будет сильно лучше. Лучшая песня - Partition.
I remember this coming out and being such a cultural moment. It’s aged about as well I expected it to (very well). I’m never going to be the biggest Beyoncé fan but this still feels like such a landmark album and the blueprint for so much music that came after it.
You're so focused listening to 10 straight minutes of Beyonce singing about fucking and getting eaten out that your coworkers need to throw something at you to get your attention. This is not a 10am album.
I don’t mind a bit of Beyoncé and I enjoyed this. Not my usual listen but it was good. Have to say though cooking dinner with no clothes on is just an accident waiting to happen….
Some good stuff. Some same same stuff
Meh
This just bored me completely
Skittles, Cherries and Breasteses, Oh My! First time listening to one of Beyoncé's albums. I was impressed by the variety in the music and the skillful way she uses her voice. It was actually better than I expected.
Would never listen to this normally, but I was impressed. Beautiful voice.
I have no words for how utterly awful this is.
A good album, I liked Drunken in Love, Superpower and Blue the most.
A big fat NO for me
quite dull
A bit bloated and not quite as good as what was to come, but still has some great material
Tsja, het is luisterbaar, zit af en toe best wat tussen, maar is echt niet voor mij.
…What? Honestly, better than I imagined before
She's a terrific singer and a world class performer. and from the book length wikipedia articles about this album and her next, Lemonade, she clearly means a lot to a lot of people. But I just can't get on board. It's much funnier to imagine the dozens of people on the credits of these songs crammed into the studio at the same, cheek to cheek, fighting over the controls on the console, or the 1 pen. It's much less funny to realise that all her horny songs are about having sex with ugly ass Jay-z. 3 Stars.
bad
This was probably my first real memory of Beyonce as a solo artist. Unsurprisingly, it's very good. If not for a few tracks that I'd consider duds, this would've been 5 stars. And I'm a JAY-Z fan but damn he basically ruined Drunk in Love. Just stfu and let her cook, dude. 4/5 Highlights: Pretty Hurts Drunk in Love Partition Jealous Rocket XO
Terrible
nope nope nope!
Not for me
Had fun with this but am in a rush today so I'm just sayin' 3-4
I've never listened to any of her albums. It's not what I expected. There's a wide range on many levels. She's genuine and authentic. I can see the appeal.
This album doesn't just feel like the something produced by a corporation - it sounds like a corporation. You can feel the many hands involved in ever track - writers, producers, features "collaborators". What you don't feel are musicians. Or musicianship. There is nothing here that feels im any way organic. I'm not looking for a guitar solo or piano line - even her voice sounds like its part of the assembly line. Lauren Hill, Missy Elliot, Taylor Swift - all escape being just a product because there is real character in their voices. They all have real expressions of who they are woven into the music. I have no idea what is trying to be said with this album. Some tracks were enjoyable - Jealous comes to mind - but overall I was a little confounded by this obviously very expensive, very shiny object.
I get it if you like it, it is extremely hair salon core Will I listen to again: 0%
There's some great production here. Plus some catchy pop, I guess I can see why it's on here... I'm not listening to disc 2, only the original release tracks.
This album is not bad, I like some of the songs but some of them aren’t that memorable to me or aren’t really my style
Sorry, I'm not into this.
Dope
Overall a good album but a lot of the themes are definitely lost on me.
Yeah I don't know about this one..
It did kinda surprised me, but still a boring and massive album to listen to!
I don't want to repeat what many others have already written here but to put it shortly: Beyonce is overrated, overhyped and this album is just a pop record written by dozens songwriters, produced well to make it a huge commercial success. I don't really find it real art, because it's not genuine. Beyonce's voice is good and the album is not entirely unlistenable, so it's a generous 2 stars from me.
This record is not without it’s moments - the Prince send-up “Blow” or the slow burn R&B of “Rocket” are both real high points, but on the whole it feels like antiseptic, manufactured pop carefully assembled for mainstream success (perhaps its the 44 writers, directors, and producers that were involved in its production). Just not my jam, even if I can appreciate the spectacle of it. But on the whole it leaves me cold.
okay thats bad af
Beyonce is undeniably a talented singer and performer, but nothing about this connected with me. Pop music written by committee and produced to within an inch of its life. There's obviously catchy tracks on here, but it all feels so sterile to me.
Really well produced. Majid Jordan, Pharrell, Caroline Polacheck, Timbaland etc. contributing some good ass songs on here. Also enjoyed Beyonces performance on here. Forgot how much I enjoyed the song with Drake
I kinda understand the mass appeal that she has but I really don’t care for this rap/R&B fusion here.
Not for me but it wasn’t horrible.
That's not my taste in music - But ok
Beyonce's Beyonce by Beyonce is pretty decent. Nice intro to beyonce and what she's about 82/100
People like this? It's very boring
Haunted // Drunk in Love // Blue
Donderdag. Het weekend staat voor de deur. Echter moet er eerst nog ruim een uur naar Beyoncé geluisterd worden. Om Beyoncé zelf maar even te quoten: Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-no-no. We beginnen bombastisch en precies op de manier waarop ik zin krijg om af te haken. Vijfhondermiljoenmiljard ad libs in een track van 4 minuten. Het is eerder een afsluiter dan een album opener. Daarna knallen we er wat trap-achtige beats in, wat ik wel liever hoor dan R&B. Manlief HOV komt natuurlijk nog even langs op track 3. Het voelt allemaal aan als een soort Louis Vuitton tasje, een soort te duur luxeproduct waar vooral heel veel eenvoudige mensen die het eigenlijk niet kunnen betalen mee rondlopen. Oppervlakkige, zielloze schijn. Daarna achtereenvolgend per track: Kreungeluiden (één van mijn vele pet peeves), iets met seks, iets met dat ze naakt eten voor je maakt en daarna nog een track die begint met 'let me sit this ass on you' en teksten als 'you rock hard, I rock steady'. Waarschijnlijk geschreven door een heel marketingteam inclusief mannen, maar omdat Queen B het zingt is het vast empowering voor vrouwen wereldwijd. Louis Vuitton tasje. Ik vind het een beetje flauw van mezelf, maar ik kan hier gewoon niet zo heel goed naar luisteren. Ik heb zin om het af te zeiken en dat doe ik dan ook maar. Ik zet na track 10 nog even Crazy in Love aan en dan geloof ik het wel. Ik laat me vandaag een keer volledig kennen en ik geef een hele flauwe 1 ster hiervoor. Ik zet nog een keer de nieuwste Linkin Park aan om aan te tonen dat ik wel gewoon open sta voor vrouwen in muziek.
Kinda bloated, a lot of the middle parts really sounded exactly the same (lyrically and sonically). wasnt terrible but still think shes overrated. Good pop/rnb mix that i liked at the beginning
she ate
Not my cup of tea
Honestly better than I expected it to be. I was surprised that I was enjoying it a couple tracks in, but that waned as the album went on and it started to fade into the background. Still, as a pop album, not bad at all. It has an dark electronic sound that I like. Favorite: Haunted 3.5
Dunno what everyone is complaining about, this was a fun listen.
No
Meh. Boring but sounds nice.
Pretty solid album
# Album Name: beyonce # Artist: beyonce # Rating: 1/5 # Comments: Honestly, this is an absolutely awful album. Beyonce has an amazing voice and is no doubt a talented artist. but this album is clearly influenced by others around her. The songs are awful. Jay Z has clearly had a big influence on this record. Others have mentioned the number of songwriters. I had a look and its quite shocking. But what is worse is how is it possible for so many people to make such a bad record. # Top Tunes: drunk in love # Would I listen to it again? No
-this one’s pretty great, actually. my first time hearing a full Beyoncé album, i had no idea she was so good at atmosphere -i was gonna give this a 4 but imo it’s VERY front loaded and kinda lost my interest toward the very end, so 3.5 for now. that could change ig. but my gooooddd those first six songs… chills. -Favorites are Haunted, Blow, and Partition
I ain’t listening to ts it’s over an hour long of Beyoncé I rather stab my eyes out maybe in the future but for now no. UNRATED
No doubt that this is one of the greatest
Two things. This record has been out way longer than I thought and 2 I've played the hell out of this album and didn't even realize it. It's such a great point in her career. She still is conscious of a pop sensibility but the album is personal and her own. I think this album allowed her to do anything she wanted after this. It's storytelling and music at it's best. Blue ivy is a teenager??
Didn't get a single focused listen through (listened a couple of times but interrupted and distracted.) definitely want to give it more chance. There is something about her voice that (unfairly) signposts to me that this is peak pop and therefore hasn't really been made with art in mind and isn't worth my focus - want to avoid preconceptions like that for this project so want to try again.
Thinking of all the reviews that point out how many writers are credited on this record, which does, on the face of it, make you wonder how personal any of this can be. But the thing is, it really does sound personal. Not like I hang with the Carters, so who knows whether the story she's telling is true, but does this matter? And shouldn't we be impressed that with, or despite the whole big machine, the result feels so real?
Drunk in Love
I don't like hip hop. But this was better then most
This is #day350 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… how about some shopping mall music? Or, hair salon music, as other reviewers aptly pointed out? Anyway, one thing this does perfectly is breed bad taste. There's just no way I'm sitting through an hour and a half of Beyoncé. I barely made it through two and a half tracks. To my ears, it's the definition of disposable plastic pop. You mustn't hear this before you die. This is a 1 out of 5, of course. Looking forward to #day351.
I remember this coming out my senior year of college and it still hits. XO, Flawless, Partition!!!! Incredible album, a little long. There are a few that I could live without. It's not quite a perfect album for me but the highs are HIGH
This wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. For the most part, it’s a pretty cohesive album all the way through, especially considering how many different producers were involved. What really gave me something to connect with was the production and overall vibe. It leans heavily into an electro ambient soundscape layered over smoother, modern trap beats. There’s even a section where she experiments with chopped and screwed style production, which I usually enjoy, but I didn’t think it worked here. That style just doesn’t belong in polished pop music, and it felt out of place compared to the rest of the album’s sound. Overall though, for a massive pop release, it was pretty solid.
Clearly, she is talented. However, her music is not my cup of tea.
I don’t really like Beyoncé’s whole deal but the production makes this a kind of ear candy that’s not unenjoyable. The sexy parts are fun too.
It was so fun to listen to this in full again after so many years! Second guessed giving it a 5 because lemonade which followed is the better album but a 4 wasn't enough.
There's a few good ones on here but tbh I don't really get beyonce... except for the renaissance album obvs.
Some goodies but not her best
Meh. I’m sure someone out there would see this as a classic, but it’s not for me.
Just goes to so you can fool a lot of the people some of the time.
This one took me days to fully absorb. What an ambitious and well structured project that seems to show such a progression. The first half exploring identity/lust is just non stop bops. I was floored by Beyoncés rapping on the first half of partition before the beat switch. Unfortunately the love/infatuation era was pretty weak: jealous and rocket were just OK, Mine was garbage with a shit drake feature, and XO is an abysmal early 2000/2010s era poprock throwaway ala imagine dragons or kings of leon. These four tracks really did this album dirty. Flawless is pretty good with a nice meaning, superpower is pleasant and the frank ocean feature is well used, and Heaven really starts to bring everything to a close. But Blue is an absolutely outstanding closer. All around this was an intricately crafted and well produced album with a few duds (and one skip) in the middle. 4/5
Love. Classic Beyonce. Joy in that full-throated singing.
This one was OK. Always makes me wanna dance, but I often find the lyrics a little lacking
And the award for the most overrated R&B artist goes to…
It's wild how Lemonade, Renaissance, and Cowboy Carter should also be on this list. Giving this a 5 because the rating on here is way too low.
I can see why it's on the list, but her music just isn't for me. Personal enjoyment: 2/5 Relevance to this list: 4/5
Fine for what it is, but not my thing
Fav: Pretty Hurts Least Fav: Blow Beyoncé’s voice is so good as usual, but I think this was the wrong album to showcase her talents. She needs at least 1 more
Pretty good album, doesn’t connect with me but she’s got great vibes and jams. Way too long though.
I am not a dance/pop listener so my initial reaction to having to have to listen was closer to burdened than excited. I gave it my attention, though, and had to take a step back. The progressions are a little more complex than I expected and the lyrics dark, moody, brooding at times. There are strong sexual overtones to most songs and sometimes outright "gratuitous" lyrical content. I guess it was edgy at the time. A few songs reminded me of Drake circa Take Care and I think I heard a few samples or similar lyrics cited or copied. 1 - 10? I give it a 7. I think I will give it another listen, since I was fiddling with the new subwoofer I added to my sound system and had to step out at a couple of moments.
My first experience of really listening to the Queen B. She’s incredibly talented, great vocals and nice flow on the raps. The production value is off the charts & the rhythms are varied and interesting. But the subject matter —lust & drama— is for a younger crowd. Also, it doesn’t sound very empowering for women, which is interesting coming from such a powerful female presence. I love her voice and rhythmic intuition, but i’m not likely to listen to this whole album again. It’s a 3.
This was just pretty bland pop tbh. Nothing special and I got very bored before I even finished disc 1. So I didn’t finish the album because I just didn’t want to listen to an hour and a half of Beyoncé
Solid pop record with r&b flourishes but then she referred to her "fatty, daddy" and I feel dumber for listening. The lyrics didn't get better either (turn that cherry out)
This isn’t really my thing
Sigh... fine. I resigned myself to listening to the original version (not the platinum edition - second disc) As I'm not Queen B's target audience. Polished? Well Produced? Sure. Took a peak at the full Wiki article and I'm not sure I was surprised to find the amount of song writers for some of the songs, Drunk In Love and Blow have 8 credited. Is this a problem? No, but it probably ties in with the excess of the album. Its Catchy, Poppy, Thoughtful.
I would've told you this was 5 stars when I was in high school. It does not hold up
Wow, this was so dull. It's so badly overproduced with hardly any interesting substance. If she wanted to show how much she likes sex with Jay Z, she could have saved everyone's time and released a sex tape
Queen!
Meh
Beyoncé wants you to know how bad she's been, and will continue to be, and how you better give her some serious deep dicking, but she ain't gonna take your buster ass to Red Lobster yet, that come later... after she does...
I looked hard for interesting things here. It didn't help that she didn't really "sing" until the last three tracks. Her voice is so high up in the mix it might as well be acapella. She’s just quietly singing or rapping, and then they blow her voice out on top. (I don't know what you would call it but she kind of raps on some tracks). Overall I looked hard for good things here. The Frank Ocean track actually seems to be somewhat soulful. But the majority of this is pop bullshit. Before listening my perception of Beyonce was that she was a talented singer and songwriter. After listening, I'm pretty disappointed with what I found. Maybe it's just this album?
I believe I am being truthful when I say I am not sure if I have ever heard a Beyoncé song prior to listening to this album. Having now listened, I believe I am being truthful when I say I am not likely to ever listen to another Beyoncé song.
Not for me - SC
I went into this convinced I was going to like this album and buck the trend of the boomer haters on this album - unfortunately that was not the case. The production value is as good as you'd expect for the corporatized pop at the time and Beyonce has a great voice. I started out appreciated the darker and more dramatic pop feel, but it tires out so fast. This album really suffers from a lack of variety. It's got the singles that were all hits at the time and those are pretty good, but the rest of it is just tired and repetitive.
Not a genre I normally listen to, but I appreciate the creativity and growth here from Beyonce's earlier music.
This is what passes for polular music in the new millennium, and everything I can't stand, overly manifactured product singularity to sell product.. Let’s just say it’s not my thing and leave it at that. Started out 2 Star but got bored, this has zero integrity, music produced via focus groups, easily done today you can just use Ai, it's a hollow advert, sex sells use it, manufactured soulless synthetic rnb - 1 Star, guessing she is a good singer but with all that production what's real.
Favorite songs: Drunk in Love, 7/11, ***Flawless, XO, Blow, Pretty Hurts Least favorite songs: Haunted, Superpower 3/5
No idea why a record written by 583 different people belongs on this list.
Liked the pop stuff, not the rap, and the ballads were a bit painful
All I get from this is that her songwriter/s like Prince and Janelle Monae and I'm sure a bunch of other people and that rich people can in fact be horny.
Musical drivel.
Mostly pretty good. A ton of variety throughout and Beyoncé does it all quite well. Production is also very cool. 7/10
I haven't listened to this in maybe 3/4 years after being a regular listener in HS and college. I'm specifically listening to the platinum edition, which I correctly remember being much worse than the standard edition. Even the standard track listing is more bloated than I remember. Pretty Hurts - Partition remains an elite run, and Haunted is probably still my favorite B song. But god, Jealous - XO just bounces me so hard, and XO has become one of my least favorite of her singles in recent years. Its highs remain high, and its lows remain low. God 7/11 is objectively an awful song but that shit goes HARD. 7/10
Surfboardt! Surfboardt! I sneezed on the beat and the beat got sicker. No further explanation needed!
Listen, I know there’s art out there that’s straight up Not For Me, and Beyoncé is the epitome of that. Production pretty immaculate, first few songs I was like oh I get why people are rabid. Then the rest of the album hit and holy shit someone needed to cut this thing down.
Not bad. Not essential either, in my opinion. 3? 3.
SHE KNOWS
I found it quite dull to be honest, like some of the songtexts
I don't know to what extent I can blame myself for the disappointment I felt about this album. She's a great vocalist but this was just not showcasing it at all - it got boring pretty quickly and it just made me feel like I was in any clothing shop
Honestly - I found 90% of this album boring and uninspired; completely forgettable except for Heaven. I won’t be back around to this one.
3.4
ja ze heerft een engelenstem maar het is niet mijn genre
It’s not as good as some of her others. But I did like it.
Great voice. Too much rap singing and screaming. Synthesized music is terrible. What a waste of a voice in the league of Etta James, Nina Simone, Mary J, and Whitney Houston.
Some bangers, but they didn’t carry the team. 3?
Some good tunes, some self indulgence; would have made a better single record
Strong singing overall from Beyoncé. Feel the genuine emotion of love when it’s up and down as well as added societal expectations for a woman in todays world. Didn’t need the Drake feature but liked the Frank Ocean one
Love Beyoncé! Not my favorite album of hers but definitely has some good songs
not tragic, but very skippable for me, I appreciate the themes and vocal performance, the whole concept is amazing, but musically it's just not my taste, it's also beautifully produced
Banger after banger
Great voice, but don’t love the album. I liked Pretty Hurts, Drunk in Love and XO.
This was not good at all. Y’all must be drunk [in love]
I heard bits of Single Ladies and a couple other songs, but I've never actually given Beyoncé a chance and listened to her stuff. Not sure where this sits in her discography, but it was pretty good.
And a half it’s not my style of music but I did find some of her songs enjoyable
Maybe the worst Beyonce album to start with? I don’t think she has a bad album, but this is bottom two or three. That said: 12 liked songs
Boreoncé
Beyonce's self titled album is her fifth studio album, which was composed, produced, and released as a "surprise album." The album was release with no promotion, no singles, and no prior announcement. As Bey collaborated with writers, producers, and a video team - it's released as a "visual album," a feature-length film was produced with the album - maintaining the "surprise" is a significant accomplishment. Nonetheless, it topped the album charts during the first week it was released. The album includes a number of experiments into electro-soul - a range of dance beats as structures for Beyonce's incredible voice. These tracks are of an impressive range, leading many to suggest that this is the best of her work.
go bakc?
I would give this album zero stars if I could. Beyonce is terrible and an overrated hack.
I tried...honestly. But it doesn't work. It's just uninspired babble. I haven't understood the hype surrounding Beyoncé for years. I'd rather devote my time to her sister. She clearly makes the better albums.
Love her range, sounds and attention to detail in the production, a bit bummed most if not all of these are about Jay-Z.
Great album - because of the production. If Beyonce can do 2 things, it's sing and choose incredible producers.
Beyoncé's voice is one of the greatest there has ever been, and there's no denying it, but I think an 1 hour and 8 minutes is a bit too long, specially when the greatest songs are in the beginning, offering some weaks tracks after these ones. I'm not saying that these are bad songs. They're very decent, but they don't come as powerful as the first bunch, which makes this album harder to get through.
My first time knowingly listening to a Beyonce song, much less a full album. God, I'm so glad my formative years were the 70s and 80s!
Not gonna lie. My taste is more funk than offered here. She's just not my bag, baby.
I've never sat down and listened to Beyonce much, this was fun, lots of sex and booty lol. A few real bangers on here. Always glad to hear JayZ. Flawless was really good.
Okay so I don't love this. BUT I can appreciate the fact Beyonce does have talent, and if I ignore the lyrics (since I'm not great with songs explicitly about sex) I honestly really like it. Side not: It's unfair, speaking as a girl who enjoys playing music herself, how underrepresented female artists are on this list, and I think Beyonce is a great artist to include. Overall, I'm gonna give this a 3/5. I wouldn't listen again as I don't love the content, but some of these reviews are just unfair to pop music. You aren't cool or edgy for disliking pop music, by the way. You're just pretentious.
Lyrically tends to be throwaway inuendo more often than not and falls into a slickly packaged pop-dance frame. A few bits of music/beats that are interesting. But too stylized without much to really say.
Langweiliges R&B Gedudel ohne sinnvolle musikalische Ansätze. Schade mit der Stimme wäre mehr möglich.
01) Pretty Hurts - 10,0 02) Haunted - 8,5 03) Drunk In Love - 10,0 04) Blow - 8,5 05) No Angel - 8,0 06) Partition - 9,0 07) Jealous - 9,0 08) Rocket - 8,5 09) Mine - 7,5 10) XO - 10,0 11) Flawless - 8,0 12) Superpower - 8,5 13) Heaven - 7,5 14) Blue - 8,0 TOTAL: 8,64 (86/100) Current ranking: 87/564
I listened to most of this album. She’s good at what she does, though this isn’t my favorite of hers; I wouldn’t likely revisit it.
Dope
Great voice, shitty songs
1 - not for me. Completely over produced and lifeless
I get that this was revolutionary as a release in its day but it's not art that resonates with me personally.
Objectively not good. I expected more from all the hype
Every Beyoncé album I've ever heard has been somewhere between average-good. This is definitely at the 'good' end of the spectrum, but I'm still baffled when I see it appear in places like Apple Music's 100 Greatest Albums of All Time. There are a couple of weaker and more forgettable tracks (e.g. Rocket).
I guess I can't appreciate R&B music. For me this album was... It just was.
For me this is the very best of Beyonce. I had already forgotten, how i used to have most of these songs on repeat. Great album. 🩷
Some of the best pop music I’ve heard.
Not my cup of tea, did not like.
She changed the game with that digital drop.
Not my style but she’s the queen for a reason, and there are some absolute bangers on here.
Worst album I ever listened to with a half-chub.
Not my thing at all. Very difficult to even rate her voice as the album is very produced
пуснах го ама не разбрах кога свърши и почнаха рандъм спотифай неща
I don't understand why this woman is so famous when her music is so boring and uninspired.
I did not need to listen to that before dying. Solid production, but soulless.
Objectively, this is a very good album. I don't know why people have issue with it. If you want to listen to the same shit you've listened to thousand times then maybe you shouldn't go through this list.
Beyoncé has a phenomenal set of pipes but there’s something about the production of this that makes it sound really flat Can’t hate Beyoncé but absolutely nothing stood out either
I added an extra star because I used have a crush on her
It works for what it does. Also Babak should have put a ring on it 😂
Seriously the people that put this list together over rate too many albums.
pretty good
Way better than i expected
For this being pop music, I really didn't find any song interesting musically. It's really well produced but after listening to this 2 times, I can't remember any song. So everything is a big meeh to me. I remember liking a few catchy songs from Katy Perry and Sia from this time. I'm not against pop music production. It's only that I find Beyoncé fake as fuck, totally unlikeable and wasn't she involved on the DIDDY case as well???? Anyway, I think this is like a music version of the Kardashians. It's not art, just a bland superficial product. And it's unsufferable.
I'll admit that my biases are definitely not going to help me fairly review this album. I cannot stand Beyonce, her husband, or most music that requires 12 songwriters and 32 producers on each track. I guess in a way this album was a lot less annoying than I thought it would be, but I kind of feel like it has more of a mellow, laid back, and maybe even darker vibe than most of her other music. I don't really plan on listening to more to prove this, just a speculation. At the end of the day, it's just soulless pop that I really cannot stand. It just feels entirely manufactured to make money vs. being a true artistic expression. It appears that Beyonce only contributes vocals. Well this is totally fine, I just really appreciate musicians (especially those who go by their name and not a band/group name) who branch out and try other things. Look, I'm not expecting her to become a talented pianist, guitarist, whatever, but I mean can't you contribute ANYTHING other than just your vocals? Play around with some instrument and have your producers make it sound perfect in the mixing stage. Clank around on some keys, whack away at some percussion that can be put barely audible in the mix. It's your damn album with your damn name all over it, why wouldn't you want to have more of a part in it?! And how much of this songwriting is actually yours when you share credit with a dozen other people on each songs? It's just so contrived and fake to me that I cannot really truly judge this music for anything other than a product to sucker lazy and uncreative people into giving their money away. I mean, aren't Beyonce and Jay-Z practically billionaires? I picked up some line in a song about "working a 9-5"...as if these people have absolutely any clue what that's like. It's just all so fake. The stuff I found myself enjoying the most (see: not very much) just sounded like a really crappy pastiche of something Prince has already done a million times better...and likely ALL BY HIMSELF...all instruments, singing, production, songwriting, etc.. Not a million producers and co-writers. Not modern recording technology to fix every mistake. Just the polar opposite of an artist to me. In that same realm, this album is just way too horny, and if anything it's more hilarious to my ears than anything I could call sexy. Cringey, lame, and basic lyrics everywhere. Doesn't feel like there is much of an attempt to poetically weave these concepts and feelings into the music in any way, they're just all seemingly expressed point blank and as simply as they can. Make it as easy for your audience to "get it" as you can, don't require any real thought or challenge your listeners in any way. I'm really hoping there aren't many more of these kind of modern, overproduced garbage-for-the-unthinking-masses type albums on here.
Как-то совсем не пошло.
Very good. Very clever. I actually prefer her more recent stuff but this gives you a sense of where she started. Not my thing thought. 3/5
Was surprised here. I never really gave Beyoncé a chance, but people seem to love her or hate her. The album may be produced, but you can’t deny its good production. I kinda felt like she wasn’t the most interesting part of her own album. Anyway, I was getting into it for sure, but 1.5 hours is far too long
Quite good I see why people love her. Not something I’d usually spin but very much enjoyable and I am glad I had an excuse
Way more horny than thought it’d be. It’s got some bangers, but it’s got its share of duds too. Supposedly there’s some videos that go with this but I’m at work and can’t watch them. I’m sure they would elevate this tho. Musically it’s definitely a product of its time. So produced. But would this work as well otherwise? I’m not so sure.
Not much to say other than Beyonce is talented but I won't be back
I've never heard either of the Beyonce albums on this list. This one way pretty wildly inconsistent - there were some tracks I really enjoyed and some that were pretty big flops. I think it probably balanced out as a 3. I was surprised at how few songs I'd heard - I knew the name Drunk In Love but had never listened, so I actually only recognised XO.
I wonder if this was included because of the companion short films. It’s an enjoyable listen, but I feel that I may have missed the intention without the visual concept.
It’s a bit of a shame that THIS album is how Queen Bey is represented on here. After this album she really caught her artistic stride and has put out three PERFECT MASTERPIECES. And that’s a hill I’d die on.
Despite this being huge when it came out, none of the songs rang a bell with me, which I was surprised at. But then again, none of them seemed very memorable to me either. If I had to choose a standout, I quite enjoyed Blow. My goodwill with this song was eliminated when Drake turned up later in the album though.
Boring. Nothing even Top 40 catchy. This one makes no sense to be on this list.
= the Beatles
Good but not great. She’s got a great voice though!
I saw this album draws haters and lovers. I agree with both. She has a great voice and can make good music, i liked the cowboy Carter album. But this one has messy compositions. I guess the wealth of collaborations killed any consistency for the album. She should try less hard to be original and just make good music.
R&D team-created corporate product masquerading as personal statement.
I like getting an album like this recommended. It gives me a glimpse into the type of music that normal people, who are in-tune with culture and trends and that sort of thing, are into. Granted, I’m like 12 years behind the curve on this one, but Beyoncé is still relevant in 2025, so it’s kind of like putting a piece of a puzzle into place - except I have little interest in ever finishing the puzzle. Maybe in another 12 years, I’ll get around to hearing the country record she recently put out.
Beyoncé fronts a team that makes very polished, fairly catchy, mostly forgettable music. I have nothing against her, but absent a few songs over her long career, I could not care less about anything she has ever done. I also feel like the majority of her fans are fans of her as a “yass queen” icon than as a musician. I could have lived without hearing this album.
I’ve always enjoyed Beyoncé despite pop not really being my go to. I enjoyed this album but not enough of the songs were memorable enough to merit a 5 star.
Fire!
Mediocre at best which is disappointing. Clearly Beyonce (and previously Destiny's Child) love an 'intro' (I recommend the Writing's on The wall for a fake Godfather scene headed by Beyonce). I felt like the songs were all first drafts. She obviously has a great voice but I found nothing stood out. The only song I sort of liked was the disco 'blow'.
Those three most popular takes at the top of the overall 'reviews' list are really telling of the type of people that a list designed in this way will hold the most appeal for. Great album that easily stands alongside OK Computer and Man Machine.
Not sure if it's my thing Liked a here and there song Didn't really ring And it's too bloody long
I have always felt as though I should like Beyonce more than I do. I respect what she has done and the arc of her recent music, but, I have struggled to find any song or album I listen to when it is no longer "the moment." This album is very produced - not necessarily a bad thing in 2010, but, it does put some distance between the listener and the audience.
Well. Can’t say I expected this. The Grateful Dead and Beyoncé in one week. Hell, in two days. Hell is a recurring theme in my reviews and in my mind Beyoncé’s name bellows through the caverns of Hell as you’re dragged through the gates. Yes, white man doesn’t like Beyoncé. Think what you will, but I’ve always found her voice to be grating, and the songs to lack structure and musicality to the point where I’m baffled that it appeals to the mainstream. Now, with my biases laid bare to my nonexistent readership, let us take flight and ascend to the rarified air held by pop’s most overrated songstress. Let me get my air sickness bag ready. Pretty Hurts - My aspiration is to get past this as soon as possible. Right off the bat, this reminds me of having panic attacks in high school and not knowing what they were. That’s a fun place to start. 100% unlistenable garbage. Generic lyrics written by some generic writer spit out by somebody whose cult of personality far outweighs their musical contribution. Haunted - Death metal song title. Song makes me wish for death. Hey if this song was by Death Grips, I’d probably like it. Rub in that your fans have to work. Queen. Oh she’s asking How come? How come we have to work? Because you and your doofus boyfriend need to be billionaires. Everybody you associate with and their hoarded wealth are direct contributors. See, when one person has more money than they could possibly ever spend, there needs to be somebody to prop up that system. That’s probably why we need to work all day to stay alive. Somebody has to be at the back of the human centipede. Anyway. This is lyrically disgusting and the song itself is incredibly boring. Drunk in Love - Oh boy. A song about sex with the grossest man in the planet. Hey my big body has also been drunk outside of a jet ski rental, saying SURFBOARD repeatedly. I was politely asked to leave. I was very agreeable and got right on the bus. This story, like the story in the song, is not true. I hate Jay-Z. I hate Beyoncé. Blow - Yeah errrm it sure does!!! Got her. I’d like to thank professional wrestler, Tugboat/Shockmaster. Couldn’t have done it without your perseverance. I’d also like to thank the concept of divorce for when these two eventually invoke that sacred rite. This sounds like she’s in her bedroom, singing over funk preset B, oh and then funk preset C from her Casio keyboard. No Angel - JESUS. What are these vocals?? You can’t sing. Too many people have propped her up. This is no good. No angels left. I’m sure there’s a satanic poem in there somewhere but I can’t go two days in a row. I have to get some better material. So does Beyoncé. Partition - There was a part of the limo we weren’t allowed to go to. A hand kept coming through and it had a Super Bowl ring. TK Jewellers is a scam. This was another R & B song about sex. Crash this limo, would ya? Jealous - Why are you cooking, naked? That seems unsafe. Also, your love interest wouldn’t even appreciate that if he wasn’t there? This song is sickening. Not in a “girl this is sickening, I’m gagged” kind of way either. The absolute worst song so far, and just imagine the territory that takes in. Rocket - Man, I may be repressed, but is this really what people want to listen to? Why would you sing this and then release it?I am literally a Canadian man sitting in front of an excel document while she sings about her sexual exploits. What was the intended audience for this? Say this in private. Whatever. This is the worst song so far. Mine - Oh boy! Drake is going to be here!! I can’t wait to suffer through TWO massively overrated singers for the price of one. Actually, price of two. I pay both prices like the dead pay the ferryman. He’s so cringeworthy. Holy shit. Growing up in Canada, you know kids like this. Wannabe rappers are around every corner. This guy somehow fleeced the planet. This is an overproduced staccato monstrosity, and guess what? The worst song so far. XO - Think of this song title as a millennial emoji. That way, he looks like he’s vomiting. Holy shit. This plays on the elevator to hell. THE CLAPS. What are we doing here? This is a failed submission for a World Cup song. This song was found graveyard of musical expression, dead, next to a group of half exhumed corpses. 4th straight worst song so far. Flawless - hey, the feminist speech is the best part of this whole album. Says a lot of unsaid things. Unfortunately it has to be interrupted by a woman who spent the previous 9 tracks destroying my ears and brain. If this is her rapping, I can see why she sings. Superpower - Drop Frank in the ocean, bin laden style. I kid the man, but I can’t take anymore of this. I’m breaking over here. Starting to have fractures in my vision. Heaven - Spirals cut through the sky. Streams of molten blood flash behind forms clad in white. Blissful sky scarred with unknown aberrations. Sickening thuds. Angels fall, crumpled in their human forms. Earth beckons their mangled vessels back beneath. Black smoke rises as the bell peals. Populace frozen in panic. The ritual has begun, and so goes the world. I said I wouldn’t do it, but when an album outs you in a headspace, you have to ride the wave. I’ll do a fun one. Blue - Once upon a smiling dew-soaked toadstool, there lived a family of gluttonous hogs. These hogs ate all that they could see. One day, they decided to invent the concept of parties. They shifted the kaleidoscope, and trumpeted the bugle they had invented the week before to call all the animals of the forest of gluttony. Even the lowly gerbils were at the hog shindig. When the police finally stopped the party, the hogs had discovered truths of their own; alcohol poisoning. So goes the fable of the gluttonous hogs. Remember kids; drink responsibly. What can I say? What do you want me to say? I hate this. I hated this worse than I expected to. Call me corny, call me repressed, but this just doesn’t fit my tastes whatsoever. The lyrics range from erotica, to ham-fisted romance that sounds like a forced instagram Valentine’s Day post with your partner over your shoulder. The music is where this really goes to die. Each song is barren, washed out club music that sounds like a Pepsi commercial mixed with that millennial “edge” that has coffee shops use “fuck” in their Facebook ads. The singing is brutal too. Overblown with an unpleasant tone throughout. She’s so completely unlikable. I cannot fathom why she is popular, or seen as so “iconic.” Everything about this makes me feel like an extra terrestrial. Enjoy your death trap, earthlings. Take me to Glognard-7. The noxious celestial swamp gases are a bummer, but at least the music is better. 0 HIGHLIGHTS: I ❤️ MUSIC 🎶
One's final indifference to this record, despite their being a good bit to like (at least theoretically) is likely a function of not being the target audience. One senses there is authentic emotion here but it feels buried under heavy slathering of production gloss and off-putting celebrity aura, which makes the whole thing feel massively synthetic. "Blow" is cool enough and "Rocket" also, but they are both undone with needless filigree and excess. One likes some of the boldness but less would have been so much more .... too much ego and posturing (which she seems to think necessary to stand up to the boys – see the triumphalism of "Bow down, bitches" and the own-her-own-sexuality challenges of "what you gonna do with all that ass") suck a considerable amount of the potential soul out of the music. Rounding down because what else to do for the woman who has everything.
Drunk In Love changed the mold of my outlook on life in 2013. What a song. What a song. Timeless, that one.
Not for me
nekad neesmu sapratusi beyonce hype, tāpēc mazliet priecājos, ka bija iemesls beidzot noklausīties kaut ko no viņas pilnībā. kaut kas jau tur ir, bet laikam nav man. daudzas dziesmas, protams, zināju (bet vārdus gan ne, kas izsaka daudz….). BET man patīk, ka beyonce izstaro tik confident enerģiju, un ka tas ir lipīgi, translējoties viņas mūzikā – tas ir forši un laikam daļa no pievilcības citiem
She's not for me
🔥🔥🔥🔥
One of the biggest surprises of this project for me is how much I liked this. This album is sexy as fuck, in every sense of the word.
5, very listenable and fun. Incomparable.
1.5 how is possible to have this album among The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and others...my god
4,75
Never been a big Beyoncé fan. Like her in Goldmember though. This album is almost alright. Some big highlights, others that I just don't at all care for, couple bad tracks. But the real problem I have with this is the length of some of these tracks. They feel like they go on forever, should have cut some of those down to 3 and a half minutes instead of them being 5+
Not really a fan. Came at it with an open mind and...it's fine I guess? Pros: Coming after a long run of 70s rock, it was so refreshing to hear something different. Production is great. For something over a decade old, several tracks still stand up today. Partition is an absolute certified banger imo. She clearly has an incredible voice, and it's used like a weapon. Haunted, in particular, suggested something really different - rap, anger, historical awareness. I'd like to hear more of this from her as she matures as an artist. Cons: Some very, very dated production - pretty hurts immediately dates it as an opener. The faux-feminist politics irritated me. Don't open with a song criticising the superficial nature of society and then spend the rest of the album promoting the same standards you just criticised. Sing about sex, enjoy your sexuality no problem - but Jesus, there's like 6 back to back tracks purely about fucking, and so much of it just felt like male gaze wish fulfilment. It got really fucking boring. Speaking of which, how do you make such a dull song with Frank Ocean? For such a supposedly personal album, it felt a bit 'focus group written by committee' in places. Conflicting views. I see why it's important to some and can't complain about it being on the list. From what I've heard of Lemonade, perhaps that might be more to my tastes?
for the sake of time, i'm only going to be rating the original tracklist Pretty Hurts - 2/5 Haunted - 4/5 Drunk in Love - 3/5 Blow - 1/5 No Angel - 2/5 Partition - 3/5 Jealous - 2/5 Rocket - 2/5 Mine - 2/5 XO - 1/5 ***Flawless - 4/5 Superpower - 3/5 Heaven - 3/5 Blue - 4/5 Average score: 2.5/5 (rounding up for production) i'm no puritan or anything, and i don't mind more explicitly sexual songs when they're done right, but i was unimpressed by how much this album mentions sex. i'm halfway through the album as i'm writing this and i feel like i've pretty much heard all there is to hear about her riding and throwing ass i had higher hopes going into this that there'd be a little more empowering messaging besides sex, but i suppose the saying "sex sells" applies here. i will give her a bit of credit with the last 1/3 of the tracklist, those songs were more up my alley i wouldn't call myself a Beyonce fan, but she's obviously a talented artist and her production has always been top-notch. i just think she's released far better material since this album that could've been showcased on this list
I’m mixed on this album because there are songs on here that I love. My favorite thing about Beyonce is her voice, it’s an instrument to me. I think some of the more pop leaning records over power her voice and it takes me out of the record. But the records where the production is simple and her voice is carrying us through the records are simply beautiful. But this is definitely not her best album by a longshot. So ultimately, I give it a 3.7/5 but I’m bumping it up to a 4 because it’s fucking Beyonce, cmon!!!
Great album with some legendary tracks. A little long for me but still enjoyable. 6.4/10
Das fünfte Studioalbum der US-amerikanischen Sängerin Beyoncé wurde in mehreren Studios aufgenommen, darunter Jungle City Studios und Oven Studios in New York. Die Produktion erfolgte in Zusammenarbeit mit unterschiedlichen Produzententeams, unter anderem mit Timbaland und Pharrell Williams. Das Album bewegt sich stilistisch zwischen R&B, Pop und elektronischen Einflüssen, mit vereinzelten Elementen aus Hip-Hop und Soul. Auffällig ist der experimentelle Aufbau vieler Tracks sowie die teils reduzierte Instrumentierung. Zu den bekanntesten Titeln zählen „Drunk in Love“, „Partition“ und „***Flawless“, die sowohl klanglich als auch textlich zentrale Aspekte des Albums widerspiegeln. Der visuelle Aspekt spielt eine zentrale Rolle: Jeder Song wurde durch ein Musikvideo ergänzt, was dem Album eine zusätzliche Ebene verleiht. Inhaltlich befasst sich die Künstlerin mit persönlichen Themen wie Selbstbestimmung, Intimität und Geschlechterrollen. Das Werk zeigt eine Phase künstlerischer Neuorientierung und betont individuelle Ausdrucksformen jenseits konventioneller Albumstrukturen.
I feel like this is the album where Beyonce when from safe(ish) pop star and started experimenting a bit more. Obviously those types of songs are still on this album, but the beats are more interesting than previous albums and got more peeps into her.
I know I’m supposed to love this album… but it’s just ok…
Vapid, empty, shit. Lowest form of pop written by white dudes for the radio. Total trash. And FUCK you for making me listen to this shit for an hour and a half.
Not my cup of tea but some great ones. Too horny
Overproduced and self-indulgent. I’ve never listened to an album that so desperately needed an editor to step in and kill half of what’s going on. Every song seems to have 20 things happening simultaneously, making it impossible to pay attention to anything. I’m sure there are great songs here, and I wouldn’t mind listening to a stripped-back version of some of them, with more focus on Beyoncé’s voice and less layered synth, tinny drum sounds, random background vocals, samples, and pounding bass. The whole thing gives the effect of trying to listen to multiple radio stations at the same time. Ultimately, this is one star because there’s not a single song I would include on a playlist, and as an album, it just a tedious bore that goes on and on and on.
They call her Queen B for a reason. Kind of awkward listening in on her discovering sex, but hey....
It's a pop album, in the Michael Jackson model. If you like this kind of music, I'm sure you love this. Not really my thing however.
Beautiful - Impactful - Powerful
71% Best: Pretty Hurts; Blow; Blue Must-Hear? Nah
If you got a meal deal sandwich with this much filling you'd be delighted.
I just want to thank Beyoncé
Felt like this album was kind of all over the place. Wasn't all that good.
Never got the appeal of Beyoncé. Sure, she has a good voice but imo that isn't enough to make her the stand out she is. Maybe if you see her live, she's a great performer? Idk. This was just meh. More engineered than created iykwim.
Inert and lifeless. I don't get it.
A triumph of presentation over content. (That said, Lemonade is good. Which isn’t quite the question being asked here…)
I think this is a proper album. A body of work, a project. It's not a set of pop songs with a load of filler. It's not my scene but it is something worth listening to as an album.
This is one of these albums where I'm going to put my "objective" hat on because this R&B is really not my thing but I also appreciate it has quality. Not 5* quality - it's just not creative or novel enough and it doesn't move me very much. Not sure how involved Beyoncé was in the songwriting either. BUT she can definitely sing and the album is quite varied. Lyrics aren't daft. Beyoncé is also a role good model too. Actually, I ended up liking this album more then I though I would. It is a totally un-cool album but I don't care. My enjoyment of listening to this is a 2 but if I were an R&B fan I could easily see this as a 4. There, a 3 it is. Beyoncé is alright!
There are better Beyoncé albums.
Fattar faktiskt inte storheten. Det är väl ... ok. Så är jag iofs ingen R&B-kille. Trea.
Couldn’t do it.
Misschien het leegste album dat ik in deze lijst heb gehoord. Heb een bijzondere afkeer tov Beyoncé, en 1,5 uur dit moeten aanhoren helpt absoluut niet. Zij is de belichaming van kapitalisme en hebzucht. Ik geef haar nog een paar jaar voor iedereen echt klaar met haar is. Zal me ook niet verbazen als er wat uitkomt over haar of jay z
I really wanted to like this more than I did. Drunk in Love, Partition, and Flawless are all fun to listen to but on my repeat listen they were the only song I could make it through (and Drunk in Love still feels overlong). I like the front and center female sexuality and think this album got a lot of hype for that but it's not groundbreaking (Missy Elliott did it and everything else better on her albums and with way less personnel). Beats and features feel hollow and as for my own bias I just am not moved by Beyonce's vocals - when she gets rawer and puts some emotion forward like in Flawless I can get behind it but when a voice just sounds "clean" I can't really get into it. This isn't a part of my score because it's not the original album but only the platinum version was available on Spotify and the second disc really has some terrible features that have not aged well. Kanye's verse on the Drunk in Love remix is genuinely both gross and uninspired: "Woo, you will never need another lover Woo, 'cause you a MILF, and I'm a motherfucker Told you give the drummer some, now the drummer cummin' I'm pa-rum-pa-pum-pumin' all on your stomach, yuh" and "Yup, on the 35th of Nevuary Yup, you love the way I'm turnt After all the money you earned, still show daddy what you learned That cowgirl, you reverse that cowgirl You reverse, you reverse, and I impregnated your mouth, girl" Which you know - if the flow is good I can forgive a lot but it's just a lot like something from the cutting room floor of MBDTF. Speaking of which - Nicki Minaj references Monster halfway through her verse on the Flawless remix which reminds me of a better song I could be listening to. This is the most tired Nicki flow I've ever heard and includes a weird long full multibar rest that is reminiscent of Drake just trying to "yeah" his way through his Sway in the Morning freestyle. These two tracks are worth listening to because they're a time capsule of everything wrong with mainstream rap in early to mid 2010s.
Not my thing but bonus cause 7/11 is a banger
cant get into it
Didn't really care for this.
How is this the only Beyonce album???
Very unremarkable. Too synthetic and overproduced. Lacking soul.
She's a good singer and has fascinating visuals/videos/imagery, but man I do not like her music. Too many writers can indeed spoil a song.
One of the worst on this list so far - Have listened to 556. "No Angel" falsetto parts are especially grating.