BEYONCÉ

I haven't listened to Beyonce extensively, and I am far from an expert, but this album doesn't have any of her good songs on it? There's not much in here for me if I'm being honest. The songs are all a little same-y, the production style is super played out (although maybe it wasn't when the album dropped), and the lyrics aren't doing anything for me. I guess I know Beyonce for her jams, and there were none to be found here. Nothing offensive in here, but I wouldn't listen to it again. 4/10

Oh great...an hour and a half of pop music. Slickly produced but bland as hell. If Beyonce the diva icon was not in your mind when listening to this it would be completely unremarkable.

SHE HAS BETTER ALBUMS BROOOO (already listened)

Not my cup of tea

First listen to any Beyonce. Production very good. Some nice tunes

I didn't mind Partition as the backing had a bit of oomph, but this generally was bland, over-produced and under-thought.

Just not my shit.

I disavow my previous rating. Most of this is boring as hell. Bonus tracks are better than the album.

Idc

I find this Beyonce album embarrassing, which is how I feel listing to Swift. Obviously, Beyonce can sing, but the content of the songs and the overall content feels so trite and juvenile - but not in a cool angst or rebellious way. I am not a fan of voices like Beyonce, already. I can recognize the skill and talent, but I already don't like most soulful, gospel-rooted singing. Then, on top of that, many of the songs just sound like they were made for a CGI movie soundtrack or are just embarrassing with bad lyrics and repetition.

Barely ever listened to anything from her before, and I feel like what I have listened to outside of this was better. Some of the lyrics were very personal and autobiographical (and not ridiculous like Drunk In Love), but the rest of the aspects of the album/songs I couldn't really get into. XO was the only song that stood out to me in a good way.

3.25

As much as I love pop and R&B, Beyonce just isn't my jam. More of a Kelly Rowland type of guy

Je suis désolé, j'ai essayé mais c'est juste vraiment pas pour moi.

Great singer, great dancer. Star quality when she performs. But the music really doesn't do much for me, unfortunately. Like other reviewers, I was a bit bored 🤷‍♀️

Enjoyed this way more than I expected to. Will it make me a Beyoncé fan? Doubtful.

Not bad, but also not exciting to me

One good track is ok

I'm not a fan of pop in general, and although I know Beyoncé is widely considered to be wildly talented, I just don't understand it.

No no no, can't handle this, sorry Lady.

What's with the goofy intros. And what a surprise a 'pop/r&b' album from the 2010s that I dont like. 2010s luciferian r&b is way worse than 90s gansta rap.

Good production. Bloated. The stuff she sings about is so boring

I just find her so average and tedious. So overrated. There are no less than 6 versions of this album in iTunes. Why? I feel sorry for fans of these kinds of mega artists who just get abused by "editions: to generate false listens and income.

Maybe I’m off-base with this, but this felt like the type of thing you need to already be a fan of Beyoncé to appreciate. It didn’t feel accessible to someone like me, who is only really familiar with her hit singles and old Destiny’s Child stuff. Boring but not terrible, and a couple of livelier moments.

alot of explicit

meh. 2 stars.

low side of meh

half of one track was more than enough

Not my kind of music

same song over and over again

Surprisingly intolerable. People listen to this?

Best Song: XO. This felt like the kind of pop anthem that Beyoncé really excels at. Worst Song: ***Flawless. I like the general theme of the track, but samples of children are really tough to get to work right, and it sure doesn't work here. Overall: It's really cleanly produced, but it also feels like each track tries too hard to be its own "story", pulling from various samples so much that it lacks any predictability or flow. You never have enough time to enjoy any particular groove before the whole track has moved on to something else.

It's.... okay... Not as good as some of her other stuff.

It’s rare for me to get an album as recent as this. I think I have only had a few others that came out within the last decade. And Beyoncé as an artist is not a mystery to me. I am very aware of who this woman is. But I’ve actually never listened to one of her solo records. After looking into the background info, it’s clear to me that there was a lot of ambitious ideas behind the creation of this album. It was huge on release. For something that came out near the very end of 2013, it performed incredibly well and pulled some of the highest streaming numbers ever on Apple Music up until that point. And I think this just has to do with Beyoncé herself. It seems like everything this woman is involved in goes global. And she is definitely one of the most successful talents of the 21st century. So of course, a woman like her would be able to pull together a star-studded list of people to produce her record. And pull it together she did. It’s actually crazy how many individual producers and writers featured here. Maybe the most I’ve ever seen on one record. She got the likes of Mike Dean, Pharrell, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Miguel, and even Caroline Polachek. Plus this ambitiousness is also aided by the creation of a short film for each song. And she was even working with some big names on that front as well. But from a music stand point, how does this hold up? The production is obviously amazing on pretty much all of the songs. How could it not be? I love all of the unique sounding instrumentals and cool beat switches. They are actually a ton of beat switches, which leads to this album feeling overwhelming sometimes. And Beyoncé herself shines through as a performer and singer so beautifully. She can obviously sing her ass off. But this is also a very tense, sexual, and personal album. That’s something I’ll always appreciate about her music. It’s apparent she puts her heart and soul, and truly a piece of herself, into every project she puts out. But when put up against other contemporary R&B music I’ve heard, it’s just not the same. There are stand out songs for sure. The closer Blue is an incredibly heartfelt tribute to her daughter, and the perfect way to end the album. But the songs that don’t stick out to me feel like a lot of filler pop and R&B music that I would rather hear from other artists. I wish I could speak more positively about the content of this, but some songs are just uninteresting and lacking. Rating: 6/10

Beyoncé is the fifth studio album by Beyoncé, originally released in 2013. This record was HUGE when it came out, so I was only familiar with the hits prior to listening to it for this project. I was honestly surprised at record's sonic variety. The producers really did their thing on this; there's a good mix of uptempo songs and slower tracks that make for a good balance. One of the things that holds this record back in my opinion is the reliance on electronic instrumentation, particularly electronic drums. I think a lot of the 2010s fell victim to that, a lot like the 80s. Beyonce's voice is as powerful as ever on here. A lot of people were complaining about the freaky lyrics saying she was in her 30s by this time and too old to be doing all that. She's fuckin Beyonce, man, she can do whatever she wants.

I'm sorry I have a strong grudge/bias against Beyonce ever since I had to do an entire unit on Lemonade my junior year of college. ok so this review turned out to be more of a rant. Is this album quiet? It felt way quieter than I am used to, I had to double check everything was set up properly. I'm not a fan of the 808 and synths (especially on Drunk in Love) they sound like default garage band synths. The synths in the background of Jay-Z's verse sound like wet farts. Partition also has annoying synths. Rocket really didn't need to be 6 and a half minutes. Actually a lot of these songs feel way to long and never really go anywhere dynamically. Flawless is a terrible song (I am really considering a 1 now). Superpower is so long and boring. (yeah I can't do this this is getting a 1) I tried I am sorry, there is very little I found enjoyable here. This is now a contender for one of my least favorite albums so far. I couldn't stand any thing past the first couple of songs. They all just meander for way to long and the production hurts this album so much. The last 7 songs all sound exactly the same and have no drive or anything to keep me interested. Overall, some very generic pop songs with some truly awful synths. The second half of this album just drags on forever there are like 0 choruses or anything engaging and they are just SO BORING. I also expected more from her vocally, everything seems pretty reserved (which is fine, but when the rest of the music is so boring I would like something to grab onto).

Not a fan of those

I used to be a big fan of Beyonce as a teenage girl, since I mostly listened to pop music back then. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of anything that followed her album '4'. It may be a controversial take, but I feel like she was at her best in Destiny's Child or while making pure pop stuff as a solo artist. It may not have been 'ambitious' music, but it was fun, catchy, and suited her best. With this album, she was clearly trying to become a 'serious' artist by breaking up with her pop starlet image, but did it truly work well? There are some odd creative choices in there—from her frankly unbearable rapping to some collabs that feel extremely forced. In addition to all that, the album is extremely overproduced and surprisingly poorly-written, considering the fact that each song has at least a couple of writers credited on it. I'm not saying everything on this album is horrible—several tracks have the potential to be epic, but none of them truly hit the mark. 'Pretty Hurts' is an incredibly catchy tune with a nice message, but it suffers from the horrible, outdated production. 'Drunk in love' is a decent single that gets ruined as soon as Jay-Z comes in. I'm really digging the melody and production on 'Blow', but what the hell are those lyrics...? 'Heaven' and 'Blue' aren't bad ballads, but both feel unpolished, like a last minute addition. I don't want to say Beyonce is overrated, because she's truly one of the greatest performers of her generation, but does she deserve all the recognition she gets as an artist? I'm not so sure. 2.5 stars

No thank you.

Mm. I think this is one where I hafta blame my expectations. Like, as far as I've seen, this is supposed to be the bestestest Beyoncé album **ever** forever and ever. I'd always assumed it'd be LEMONADE, but, no, it's the one she surprise dropped in 2013. And I'm just wondering, "Is it actually that good, or are people still being blindsided by its release method?" And it **is** good, don't get me wrong. But the greatest Beyoncé album of all time? I don't have enough context to really answer that, though I feel I'd still fall back on LEMONADE. And is it really that amazing? Eh... I won't say "No," but it just didn't hit that level where I can fully agree. Like, I know what a 5 for me sounds like, and this just ain't it. Beyoncé's got the voice and whatnot for a 4 at minimum, but I just didn't find that certain intangiable element that'd make me 5 it like the rest of my group. Just how it goes. (Also, even if I did, "Mine" would still be boring. Take that, Drake—I guess.)

The hype for this album following its' surprise release was legendary. As for the music, yeah, it lives up to the hype. Beyonce's voice is always a treat to listen to, plus the fact that some of these beats are stellar makes a very easy 5 for me.

I think I'm at a 4.5 that I'm gonna very graciously round up to a 5, even though I don't think it's /quite/ at a 5. It’s probably unfair, given that I listened to RENAISSANCE and COWBOY CARTER earlier this year, and I think those albums are absolutely spectacular, so I’m being a little biased in comparing this release from 9 to 11 years earlier to those albums, but… yeah. It’s very clear to me that this is an absolutely fabulous album, but for my tastes, there's just /something/ that falls a little flat on this album, and I’m not sure what it is. It’s not her vocals; her vocals are great. It’s not her lyricism, because her confidence after having Blue Ivy shines through brilliantly on these lyrics. I don’t even know if it’s the production; I thought there were great beats throughout this album and some stellar production work, especially on the Pharrell-led tracks… but there are a few songs with that sort of early 2010s pop feel that hasn’t aged as well to me, for some reason. I love Counting Stars, for example – Ryan Tedder produced XO – but if it came out in 2024, it wouldn’t feel as good, you know? In other words, I’m looking at these through a 2024 lens, which is a bit unfair, but ultimately, most of the tracks succeed at keeping a super contemporary feel, even now. Regardless of anything I just typed out, I REALLY liked this album. It’s super enjoyable, but for some reason or another that I just can't place, I’m just stuck on a 4.5, but I'd be a little rude to not round it up -- it's certainly higher than a 4.

Just not my jam. I tried. I tried hard to listen to it all the way through. Just couldn't do it.

Not in my wheelhouse. Innocuous but almost modern bubblegum pop with lots of drum machine/techno background.

Sexy, sensible, slay queen energy

While I’m a poptimist through and through, Beyoncé has always been an artist who I wish I liked more than I do. Her strongest work – outside of Destiny’s Child’s entire discography – is either her debut (which I like because again, I adored Destiny’s Child) or Renaissance (which came out after the latest edition of this list, and will most likely be included in a future revision). There are many great Beyoncé albums, but there’s no such thing as a flawless Beyoncé album. Normally, it’s her ballads that ruin it for me. Some attempts are better than others, but a piano and adult contemporary vibes don’t flatter her. Sure, maybe they’re commercially flattering, but she needs bass, she needs off-kilter grooves, and she needs either a DJ or a funk band behind her, preferably with other vocals to play against. It’s why “Single Ladies” slaps, it’s why the bridge on “Say My Name” kills, it’s why Renaissance gave her another career renaissance that went beyond music critic circles and the Beyhive and had tracks that were actually played in public, from the club to the coffee shop. From a History of the Album Era™️ perspective, Beyoncé’s Beyoncé deserves to be on this list, if only for its unique release method. I was an avid browser of hip-hop blogs at the time, and knew “Bow Down” (later retitled “Flawless”) was getting praise and chopped and screwed remixes, but the album release was still shocking. And I remember listening to it when it dropped, and liking it. Yet as the years went on, I rarely revisited this album, and almost barely remembered it, aside from “Flawless” and the meme of “Drunk in Love” with lines about surf borts and eating cake. Its recent retrospective praise on lists like Apple’s Top 100 made me wonder why I overlooked it, so a relisten was overdue anyway. Instantly, the first half really had me thinking I’d lost my mind for not remembering this better. “Pretty Hurts” is not my favorite flavor of Bey, but god, does she slaughter you with that hook, and I think the dynamics give her a lot of space, to her benefit. Then “Haunted” kicks in and we start to get into the album proper – a moody yet groovy take on 2010s sounds, sultry yet tell-all, filled with the mystery of wearing sunglasses around the paparazzo. Sometimes it’s more dance (“Blow”), sometimes more electronic (“Haunted”) sometimes straight R&B (“Jealous” and “No Angel,” the latter written by icon Caroline Polachek!!!). Most often, it’s 2010s hip-hop with dashes of Houston rap embellishments, especially on “Drunk in Love” and “Partition.” The former has aged a lot better than I expected, if only because Jay’s verse isn’t the worst and their chemistry saves it; the latter, on the other hand, is the album highpoint, and debatably the best song not only on the album, but of Beyoncé’s entire career – solo, as a feature, or with Destiny’s Child. And throughout, the vocal snippets flesh out themes that, while celeb-obsessed, at least communicate a theme. And then there’s the second half of the album…Truthfully, the cracks start to show on “Jealous,” but they really become evident on “Rocket,” which reeks of a mid-tier Miguel song because, well, it is exactly that. Then there’s “Mine,” which I can stomach as a 31 year old woman who was starting college when Take Care was released, but the song’s Drake-ness™️ is still an issue. And here’s where I come in with my biggest critiques of this second half: A.) this half is overpowered with feature artists, which makes it feel like B.) all these songs are not Beyoncé songs, but songs meant for the feature that have Beyoncé added on, which is bad because C.) all of these features are very specifically 2013, which D.) makes those songs feel extremely 2013. None of them are bad – all the features are great songwriters – but none of the material here is their best work, and that forces Bey to drop down to their level. Why aren’t the features at the top of their game here, for Beyoncé?! This run from “Rocket” to “XO” is tolerable and still good, and saved by the immaculate “Flawless” (which is lesser than the “Bow Down” demo, but that’s splitting hairs). And then my age old issue comes back, this time with this new problem of features with the Frank Ocean cut. From here on out, it’s ballads, it’s somber, it’s sophisticated. And I have to ask….Why? It’s so tonally and thematically out of step with the rest of the album. In many ways, it feels like ending a break up novel with a loving reunion; it feels saccharine in a way that makes me roll my eyes as a listener. So while I don’t hate this second half, I also don’t adore it; it’s more a casual like, a respect, a don’t turn it off but also I’m not going to flip it over. But the whiplash between this and the immaculateness of the first half confused me. How on earth do I rate a record that feels like 2 separate albums that I have two differing opinions on? (If I’m being pedantic, though, the Platinum Edition’s bonus tracks give me exactly what I want again, and would elevate this to a 5-star if I counted them, but that’s not the album proper, so no more words, except that “7/11” still slaps.) This album made me reassess my own rating system, where I would argue all my 4 stars are great, 60-70% loves that I would own on vinyl, and spin nonstop because the bad songs are sprinkled throughout. This album has a clear dividing line, and I had a hard time thinking about what that means – do I like only half the record (3 stars) or is the weighted enjoyment enough to elevate it higher? And what if I still enjoy the back half, just not as much as the first half? I also had to not let opinions on this site influence me. Looking at how grossly low this album is rated and some of these reviews, it was hard for me to not just give this a 5-star rating and say shut the fuck up, weirdos. This album is also in my wheelhouse for genres I enjoy and eras I lived through, so I also had to accept that my harsh criticisms are coming from a place where I want more, not less. And would I feel better about being harsh if there were more Beyoncé albums on this list? As I looked at my past ratings and revisited some albums, though, I realized that Beyoncé’s Beyoncé is 110% a personal 4-star album. It’s very good, I would own it, and while I don’t think it’s flawless, I wouldn’t turn off even the bad songs. It’s just harder for me to see it as that because all the weak songs are on one side, not sprinkled throughout, so it’s harder for me to praise it, but also harder for me to deny how much I adored Side A. This might be a line in the sand for me between a 4-star and a 5-star – above Sign O The Times, neck-and-neck with After the Gold Rush – and I still really, really, really like it. But it has too much holding it back, and I doubt I’ll ever get over those elements to elevate it higher. But I’m also so glad to have rediscovered it, because now I know how much I do enjoy it, and can replay the parts I adore frequently.

este álbum no es mejor que el sexo este álbum ES el sexo. really strong 9/10.

I’m a huge Beyoncé fan and a few years ago I got all her CDs to listen through in car rides. I really enjoyed this particular album and I’m not sure if I would have when it came out with the visual album and all that but I liked it. She always had something fresh on her albums and this one felt like she was reclaiming some power which was great.

Somehow I don't think I'd heard this album in full before now. I know some of the big hits, like "Drunk in Love" (great but the Jay-Z verse kinda sucks) and "Partition" (fantastic song), but most if not all of the rest was new to me. And, yeah, Beyonce delivers. Enough bangers on here to tide me over. I'm still not a huge fan of Beyonce - she's definitely talented and makes a lot of great stuff, but sometimes I'm just not that interested. Still, great album, glad we got it. Favorite tracks: Partition, Haunted, Heaven, Blue, Drunk in Love, Jealous, Superpower. Album art: Beyonce. It's bold, memorable, and boring as hell. 4/5

This album was decent, had some good production to it but it isn't my style of music so I had a hard time getting into it fully.

Great modern pop/R&B album, but it has lots of filler tracks.

Probably my least favorite of the Beyoncé albums I’ve heard, but it’s still very good. The majority of this album is made of absolute club hits, and they just keep coming. I always seem to think “Formation” is on this album, I feel like it thematically fits in a little better on this album than Lemonade, although obviously it wasn’t recorded when this album was released.

This album has extremely high highs, and while there are some definite lows, the highs dramatically make up for it. Side note: I really dislike people who hate pop music for no reason. Just because you dislike pop music doesn't mean you'll dislike every pop album. Take a fucking chill pill and stop being so pretentious.

Pahallalailla.. Puolikeuhkoilla viekutellaan.. Heh...

Not something I’d listen to again, not a criticism of the artist, just not my kind of music.

Déjà pas fan de Beyoncé et cet album ne m'aide malheureusement pas à plus aimer sa musique. J'ai trouvé cela vraiment drabe et monotone. J'ai trouvé plusieurs moments très clichés RnB. Je sais qu'il y a d'autres albums d'elle dans les 1001, j'espère qu'ils seront plus intéressants. 4/10

Damn, Beyonce. TMI.

'Pretty Hurts' opens this album and it's actually pretty good which caught me off guard as I wasn't expecting much when this dropped. 'XO' is the only other song I enjoyed but I guess 'Drunk in Love' is decent up until Jay-Z crashes the party. 2- stars.

Not for me. As a late 30s dude, I can't exactly relate to the "Let me sit this ass on you ... Ooh, my shit's so good" lyrics.

Beyoncé makes music that I only rarely hear on the radio. However, I read in an interview that her voice and vocal volume are truly remarkable. So I thought it would be worth giving the album a try. I quickly came to the conclusion that the attempt was fruitless. It may be that the voice is great. But what does she make of it? Really boring pop with a lot of squawking. What do people like about it? What are they applauding for? I can think of a quote from Dangerous Loves. The tenor doesn't get applause for clearing his throat. I thought there was a lot of truth in it, but I'm obviously wrong, at least with Beyoncé. There is no zero rating, so there is a second point for the certainly great voice. 2/5

Love this album! Her unique combination of singing and rapping is wonderful, and the variation in instrumentals makes this album relentlessly entertaining. Bordering on four stars.

Var helt ait

I've always thought Beyoncé was a food singer, but good god this is such a dull, repetitive, watered down, bland, over-produced, unoriginal, unimaginative pop album I've ever heard. It has the personality of a cucumber. I'm not someone who automatically dislikes pop music. I enjoy plenty of 2000s mainstream pop from the likes of Lady Gaga and such, but the songs I do enjoy have personality. This album does not. Please just go away. It's like music for people who don't like music.

Really good! Really horny. Beyonce is amazing but the songs as a whole aren't the strongest. 3/3.5!

Bey has a beautiful voice but i felt like this album was a complete disaster. I couldnt follow what was going on in a lot of songs, they were not cohesive or well put together. No flow. Her voice, a couple of ok songs (better enjoyed by their 3eb and john mayer cover versions - mine and xo) and the remixes saved it from being a 1.

I have many thoughts. But before the haters come for me - Beyonce has an amazing voice, I just don't like her music This was just bad. The rapping (not sure I can call it that?) was not good. I grew up listening to destiny's child, and I think Beyonce has some great songs from earlier in her career. But this album is a big no for me. I'd have enjoyed it more if she sang ballads rather than this generic radio crap Everytime I start getting into a song, the beat changes and it seems like a complete different song. Odd choice "I sneezed on the beat and the beat got sicker" - sounds like something a 13 year old would come up with. Speaking of the lyrics - so many people co-writing, and thats the best they could come up with? I hated drunk in love when it came out, and can confirm I still hate it now Flawless was particularly offensive on my ears. Terrible The only song I like is XO - and only because I love the John Mayer cover and I thought it was his original song Also the thought of her getting it on with Jay Z makes me unwell. I don't want to hear about it (blow comes to mind) The whole album seems like she's overcompensating and telling everyone how in love she is and how much sex she's getting. Like we all don't know her husband was cheating the whole time 2 ⭐️

Si bien entiendo que este homónimo fue un proyecto bastante ambicioso, acompañado de cortometrajes y mensajes más comprometidos, no dejo de pensar que está muy por debajo de otras de sus producciones donde sale a relucir su talento y creatividad. Coincido con las reviews de acá, se siente pretencioso, demasiado pensado alrededor de un concepto político (? pero desde lo corporativo y vacio. Sobreproducido y sin el alma que otros discos demuestran.

The singles are good, but I just hear it as radio music

As a Houstonian for over thirty years now, I believe I'm legally obligated to write a lengthy review of this album. I don't have a lot of experience with Houston's patron saint, but I'm pretty sure I listened to this album a few years ago when I was working through Rolling Stone's best albums of the 2010's, but I haven't revisited it since then. I did check out Cowboy Carter a few weeks ago, and I intend to revisit it soon. I may lose my Houstonian card for saying this, but I've always found Beyoncé's music to be fine. Outside of "Schoolin' Life," (that song is on my workout playlist because it is a J-A-M) I don't really seek out her music a lot. I think she's a great performer who's certainly cranked out some hits, her projects are inventive and ambitious, but I'm just not big on R&B. As for the album at hand, I'd compare this to The Beatles' White Album. This album is massive, its overall sound is an evolution of Beyoncé's sound, and the lyrical themes are massive as well. But unlike the White Album, this album is much more cohesive and not weighed down by a bunch of weird shit. The explorations of feminism and black feminism are really powerful, and as a white guy, this album is a reminder that women, and especially black women live a completely different existence than I do. Beyoncé dives deep into motherhood, beauty standards, sexuality, and her own personal insecurities, and she weaves her own personal experiences into these topics expertly. I really loved the overall sound of this album, especially the use of more electronic elements that allowed this album to explore the pop music sphere really well. The more upbeat songs were fantastic, and the production work here creates a sound that's incredibly accessible and enjoyable to listen to. What kept this album from being a five-star album for me was the slower songs that relied on more traditional R&B. Those songs weren't bad, but amidst a slew of songs that relied more on traditional pop music, they kind of stuck out like a sore thumb, and were kind of a drag on the pace of the album. I really didn't care for the over six-minute tracks "Rocket" and "Mine." It probably doesn't help that I don't care for Drake. Overall though, this album is really good, and it's a big moment in Beyoncé's career and popular music.

Beyonce She makes great cohesive albums that tell stories. I like how she has interesting forms and transitions. Drunk in love is so great. Other favorites are Blow, Haunted, superpower, rocket. Great album but least favorite is the Drake song- I think it’d be better without it.

I found it really hard to stay interested. I’ve never liked the sound of her records, it feels flat and lifeless to me. The guitar noises on blow were the only mildly interesting thing to me. Hot take but I think she’s one of the most overrated artists of all time. And I think the featured artists on this record are overrated too (drake and frank)

It’s so interesting listening to this album knowing that in 2 years she drops Lemonade. This whole vibe of this album is like “you’re bad, im bad, look how sexy i am but also maybe you’re cheating on me but look how sexy I am we can get through this”. She is honest and trying to hold it all together. then she loses her mind in Lemonade… starts to explore other parts of her identity and allows herself to get mad at JayZ. Favorite songs: partition and flawless (which almost belongs in Lemonade). My only criticism is that sometimes the songs seem to stretch out unnecessarily but I imagine that is purposeful because that’s how she’s feeling in life at this moment

It's okay. Flawless is great, Drunk in Love is pretty good despite Jay Z, Frank Ocean is a good guest, Drake is a PDF file. It's a bit dated, it has some good songs.

Why is this on Apple Music’s top 100? It’s good. But it’s just good. The pop anthem Jealousy is great, the doo-wop revival Superpower was a much-appreciated change of pace, and the penultimate Heaven gives a beautiful emotional conclusion to the album that I think Blue misses to an extent.

I think she has a beautiful voice and I do enjoy some of her bigger hits, however this album was sooo boring and tedious to get through.

Not as good as I hoped it would be, quite dull

When did Beyoncé really become Beyoncé though?

Powerhouse of a record aimed at a taget audience that I am clearly not part of.

Let’s not kid ourselves and pretend like every Beyoncé record is a life altering. This is a good pop record, but it’s really not that special compared to some of her other achievements. About halfway through someone maxed out the volume of the bass - and that’s when this album really gets going. Other songs rely too heavily on plain electronic ideas, without offering anything new or exciting. It’s not a bad record. It’s just not as groundbreaking as people would like you to believe.

This one has some solid tunes but goes on for too long

I still don’t really understand the fanaticism. Blow in particular was a bop, but overall just fine

Hernia dat ze knap is

Though Beyonce isn't my style of music. She has absolute kicks when it comes to musical talent. Beyonce exudes power and lust through the whole album. Shit slaps, I can still enjoy it deeply.

Nope. Really not for me. The only thing that's stopping me from rating it 1 star is because I do recognize that Beyonce is at least a skillful singer. I don't really care for her personally. And I hate this forced global worship of her. But I can recognize that she is good at what she does. But this album, and her work in general just feels so by the numbers.

An album can only be good if you can imagine the writing process as a bunch of wizards concocting a potion with the eye of newt and wool of bat. If you can only imagine a group of businessmen in suits sitting around a whiteboard, that means something's wrong! The balance of the universe is wrong, the end is nigh. Beyoncé, you have doomed us all. "The Rot" approaches. (It's actually not that bad. Like a 5/10)

кайф вкусна вкусна алкоальбом: мексиканский коктейль с мескалем

Я раньше всегда думал (ну, примерно с возраста 12-14 лет), что вот подобная музыка это кринжатина попсовая, чисто для масс и тд. Что я мол такой любитель эксклюзивов и умной музыки, а попсовики все ничего не понимают. Но написать крутой альбом, чтобы вот так вот без анонсов его жёстко нараспродавать и вписать себя в историю - это круто же, и требует огромного количества усилий. Поэтому да, попсу ненавижу чуть меньше. Бейонсе надо послушать... Особенно трек Blow, епта, это что ващеееее

An easy listen! Not the biggest fan but I can happily listen to her and knew quite a lot of this album thanks to my girlfriend playing it. Really wish you could give half stars cause 4 seems too much but 3 seems to low. Oh well, 4 it is!

I don't understand that hate on this album. I've never really understood idolizing pop stars but I can accept that people do. Taken on it's own terms, this album has a ton of merit. First, the production is excellent. The queen hired top tier talent in spades and it shows. All of the tracks are multilayered with interesting breaks and changes. The balance is noteworthy for sounding just as clean in my ear buds and phone speaker as it does on my higher quality speakers. The singles off this thing are great. Drunk in Love is a banger. I was out of clubs by 2014, but I know droves of people were getting down and dirty to it. Partition is a wild ride. I don't know if I like that ride, but it's interesting at least. ***Flawless and Blue were the other standout tracks to me. Okay. Talked about the merits, now the flaws. The number of writers on this thing is obvious. It is all over the place. The standout tracks have Beyonce at the center doing the vocals that Beyonce can do (Drunk in Love) but stuff like Pretty Hurts, No Angel, Blow, Jealous feel like they could be literally any other popstar's and I'd barely blink. Mine was the absolute worst. Get out of here Drake. For people who are fans of Queen Bey, I get how the sexy tone of this album was a turning point, but I don't think it escapes the confines of the 'made by committee' pop albums to be anything special for those of us that aren't already fans. Both Cowboy Carter and Renaissance are both significantly better albums. Those albums didn't exist when this was added to the list, but I do think either of them (Probably Renaissance) should replace this one in future editions.

Not for me...

Could not wait for this to end! Not for me 1/5

Popowo nijakie, produkt marketingu. Ale kilka piosenek nie najgorszych. 2/5

Suprisingly good! Some adventurous decisions made for such a pop superstar. Slay

alltså inte är det medryckande... känns som att ja sku villa ha typ tre instrument till på varje biisi

Désolée c'est juste pas trop le genre de chose que j'aime bien mais en vrai c'est quand même sympa

Too long, not interesting. I expected better from Beyonce, like her when she was in Destiny's Child.

Not her best album, but there are some bangers. She and her writers were very horny writing the hits of the album.

Parts were good and interesting. Parts, not so much

Must admit I struggled to get through this - its just so boring

Great

Not really feeling this one, no major bops grabbing my attention. It mostly felt awkward and weird (maybe I am getting old) but I don’t see what’s so empowering about being on your knees with your mascara running down your face. I don’t wanna get into manplaining a feminist icon but honestly, the “message” here seems all over the fucking shop to me.

It's nothing special about this album. Too many "skits" before some songs. Beyonce's "Self Titled" album isn't terrible but her brand of R&B doesn't break any new ground. It's an average album with nothing to write home about. Beyonce's done better songs. 2 stars for mostly forgettable tracks.

Great voice but just not my type of music.

Rithm & Blues comercial. Escuchable.

Ytterligare en skiva som folk tror är bra men inte är det.

I'm sure this is well produced and she is definitely a good singer, but I'm not feeling it.

Hard to listen didnt enjoy it

Fluffy cotton candy pop bullshit. I don't like it, but its not necessarily painful to listen to.

One of the albums I’ve been most disappointed to see come up so far. I do not like Beyoncé. So I went in with very low expectations. And for the most part, it met those expectations. It wasn’t anything special. I was going to give it a 3 or 4 out of 10. But then the last two tracks really brought it back for me. Heaven is actually a pretty good song, and I hate that I’m saying that. I still don’t like this album, or Beyoncé, but this wasn’t a terrible experience. 5/10 Top 3: 1. Heaven 2. Blue 3. Drunk in Love

please God take me now

Some of the songs a kinda hot but otherwise didn't do much for me

B was horny asl in 2014. All bangers.

I didn’t really like it.

This album is such a 2014 time capsule. It’s features, the themes of self-love and new-wave feminism. The trappy production choices. I think it’s aged pretty well though, the composition and writing stands on its own especially in the most memorable songs to have come from this album. A 1.5 hour album is such a slap in the face to the listener, she just did it again with the Cowboy Carter record. I am one of the few people that has the time and attention to listen to albums at that length, most people don’t! Streaming has ruined the succinct album experience. Very solid 3 for me almost a 4.

Sucked.

It’s fine for what it is, but what it is is not for me. Bubblegum pop.

Some strong songs but maybe because this was the platinum version with videos it all got a bit long winded and self-indulgent.

I honestly am not sure what to think here. It's obviously great and super well produced and everything. I just don't think it's for me. I love the Beyoncé hits for sure. But I think this is a solid 3.

I love Beyoncé’s music! I think this album has some bangers and incredible slower emotional songs that she’s known for. Since this album came out, all three albums that she’s made are better than this one but this is still a strong 4!

Genius move by the list owner if he's fed me this in line with the release of Cowgirl Carter last week, cause I fucken loved that and was very happy to dive into this. Wishing I paid any attention at all to this in 2014. Interestingly triple j have evolved to playing Beyonce now but weren't at that point in 2014 (at that time triple j was my primary source of new music so this never came across my radar). To be fair 2014 me would've spat the dummy at jjj playing Beyonce anyway. Glad I (or at least my music taste) has got to a point where I can appreciate this without the "I hate all pop without exception" shtick because there honestly isn't a bad song on here. Partition holds up to any heavy hitters of its time (Rocky, Clipping etc), Blow is sexy af, the work on Rocket is perfection. I instinctively want to hate the Drake verse on Mine but even that's pretty good (especially the juxtaposition it brings). XO has got 2014 Kevin Parker/Tame written all over it too - based on this and Cowboy Carter she's a master at capturing the sound of the time and making it absolutely her own.

I can't believe this album is over 10 years old at this point of listening! It feels like a world away from when it was released, with many of the singles released now absolute classics. This album was probably the first time Beyoncé was able to assert her full artistic freedom served as inspiration for the album's dark, personal subject matter, which incorporated feminist themes of sex, monogamy, beauty standards and relationship problems. Best: Drunk in Love Worst: Rocket Note: Spotify had the deluxe album I only listened to the songs from the original album. 4.5 Stars

Not for me

Did not listen

For the praise it’s gotten, this album didn’t really seem all that special to me. Beyoncé can really sing, and this actually has songs I remember, unlike a lot of other albums, but the production is basic and the lyrics aren’t always as deep as described by critics. Overall, I still like it, but it’s not outstanding.

3.75

Beyoncé is the Kardashians of the music industry. I hate the fucking Kardashians.

Love this album. It feels very personal and vulnerable. It was ahead of its time.

I've never listened to this album before, "Drunk in Love" is probably the only song I'd heard prior. I love the dark, clubby vibes on some of these songs, especially "Haunted". All of the instrumentals are top notch, as expected for an A-List artist. And Bey is obviously an incredible vocalist. It's a solid album, though not every song is my cup of tea. It loses me a bit after the first few tracks. Favorite tracks: Pretty Hurts Haunted Drunk in Love Blow

Beyoncé is one of the best singers of all time. Undisputed talent. I hadn't heard most of the songs on this album before and I like almost all of them, love a couple of those. I read the production page on the wikipedia and if anything I wish I was a part of it. Multiple worldwide talents coming in and out to co-produce a song or 2, all in a 40 bedroom mansion in the Hamptons. On and off the track Yoncé knows style and class. Favorite song: XO 8/10

Easy 5.

Don't come at me but I'd only really heard Beyoncé's radio hits before this, but I still knew she is queen. Even so, I was very surprised how much I enjoyed this album, it was way more atmospheric than I expected (again, after only hearing her radio hits). Her voice is obviously killer. Like Lauryn Hill, I enjoy the storytelling intros to some songs. I liked the backing tracks, they were often grandiose without overshadowing the vocals. Disk 2 has some fun bonus additions but I will be mainly rating the album as Disk 1 from start to finish, as I feel it really wraps up into a perfect little package. Top songs: Pretty hurts Haunted** Partition XO Heaven Blue Ring off

It’s so fitting that we’re listening to this right as Cowboy Carter is released, as this album solidified for many, myself included, that Beyoncé can simply do whatever she wants to and it will end up as magnificent work. That is a testament to Beyoncé’s very apparent insistence and obsession with forming each detail of each track to be exactly how she envisions it alongside her co-conspirators. This album is a fabulous exploration of women’s sexuality, love, insecurity, and confidence. Due credit must be given to Beyoncé for centering and celebrating black female sexuality in particular in mainstream music and hip hop, where the male gaze has historically dominated how we see black women and their bodies. Musically, the album is beautiful, powerful, sensual, electric, and commanding. Bey’s vocals are, as usual, stunning and magnificent. Despite all of the experimentation this album contains and straying a bit away from her previous music, Beyoncé succeeds once again is creating art that can be described as nothing less than iconic. Faves: Pretty Hurts Drunk in Love Blow Partition Rocket XO Flawless (and the remix, of course) Superpower

This is perhaps Beyonce’s horniest album. Surfbord. 🏄‍♀️🏄‍♀️🏄‍♀️🏄‍♀️🏄‍♀️ Drunk in Love Blow Partition Rocket ***Flawless 7/11

This album is iconic. Every song slides into the next like butter and it’s even better when paired with the visual album. Bey sings about womanhood, motherhood, sex, and infidelity?? This album shocked the world in many ways but most notably the way she dropped it at midnight on iTunes with no prior announcements…and it still went number 1. Beyoncé not only inspired dozens of trends from this album but also dropped bangers that I still listen to frequently. 9.8/10 Faves: Pretty Hurts, Haunted, Partition, XO, FLAWLESS REMIX!!

I'm going through something of a Beynaissance right now. I was sure she wasn't for me, for decades. But post-Lemonade -- and especially now, after the release of Cowboy Carter -- I'm really paying attention. She's certainly a versatile performer, even when I don't love the styles she's presenting. Such as on this album. This very much sounds like a 2010's pop album, and beyond the first few opening tracks, much of the rest didn't stand out very strongly to me. Beyoncé sounds great, especially when the soulful elements of a track are being accentuated. The electronic elements don't quite form a successful hybrid though, and instead will cause this album to age quicker. I recall how big of a deal this album was on release, but I think she's since outdone herself, and retrospectively, this album is just pretty decent. This could've been a 4 on a better day.

It's sort of weird to rate a Beyonce album. Her albums feel like such massive productions, rather than being the work of one artist. It's great, however. Lots of depth to the album. The music is great, and her voice is incredibly powerful throughout 4/5

fun

listened to again still a really strong record

A masterclass of production. I'm indifferent to Beyonce as an artist, but this album is a marvel of hip hop and R&B, with swooping pans, background synths and vocals fading into the background, each track doing unexpected things. Truly a marvel of modern pop production. While I only listened through fully once, this is an album that warrants multiple play throughs to digest.

I enjoyed it. 4

Whoa-oh-eeee-ooooh-oh! There's actually some decent music hidden under the unbearable vibrato. But it is most certainly not for me.

Drunk in love best horny song ever. Blow is a close second. Rocket! What a great track!

Seems paper-thin in artistic quality. The soul seems hyper-processed out.

Part record, part memoir, this includes a lot of autobiographical themes and snippets about Beyonce. Good use, therefore, of the eponymous title. Music-wise, it's fine. Lots of colabs (as the cool kids call them). Very 21st Century. Cute that she did a song called 'Drunk In Love', featuring her husband. Not massively my thing, but I didn't mind it. Rating: 2.5/5 Playlist track: Drunk In Love Date listened: 19/03/24

Honestly at first I was excited to listen to this album since I thought I liked Beyoncé. But after a couple of tracks I got extremely bored. Just not my things I guess.

It’s was good for background and chill music

Solid pop album, really takes you inside the mind of a strong, powerful, confident woman

I liked the tracks where she sang. I liked less the rap/talk tracks.

Easy listening sound.

Powerful opening track. I didn’t really ever listen to how great of a voice Beyoncé has. Drunk in love is ok but Jay-z almost ruins it all with dumb lines like “I have your breasts for breakfast.” Luckily “Blow” is a banger of a Prince track. Album starts dragging a little bit until a gem of a pop song “Jealous”. “Rocket” could be a lost song from D’angelo’s “Voodoo” (probably because that is where the sample is from. "Heaven" is a beautiful piano ballad and I loved the "Flawless with Nicki Minaj" remix better than the original. A bit up an up and down album but she does have a wonderful sound.

just not my thing tbh

not my vibe tbh

3.5. This album was well done and lyrics are good. The music on some of the tracks is not very compelling to my ears, however.

Gran voz pero flojas canciones. producción con todos los adelantos de los 2015.

This felt like two different albums. Both could be great in their own right, but together they felt somewhat unfocused.

Some of the songs are mid but the ones that aren't are great. You already know Beyonce slays. - 8/10

Last album of day 1 and first album of day 2. I like a few Beyoncé songs(none of them r on this album) but I feel like she has a very big pop culture presence and ppl are like queen bey can do no wrong and I don’t really get where that comes from. This album was not really my thing, I think my fav parts were the other artists that were featured. I don’t really like the thing she does w her voice that’s not very descriptive but yeah. 5/10 capa#11

Really great. Beyoncé has the kind of vocal agility I dream of — I feel like she can do anything with her voice, strong like Adele or floaty and dreamy. And it was fun to have a modern one. Side note, for some reason I thought Beyoncé made wholesome family music, but I guess not. 9/10

4/10 - Rocket is so sexual, and it is not the vibe for doing homework. Most of the songs were not things I was that into. XO was pretty good though.

Was expecting better, this was all pretty generic sounding and kinda boring 4/10

I was expecting a little more going into this since I'd heard a few of the songs and liked them, but the album had a lot of bad/ok songs with just a few standouts. 6/10

Trying to make up for what I missed in the past—I’m only hearing this now, on September 8 - and it gets a 4 out of 5… even though it’s not really my kind of music, Beyoncé has won me over with this album

Has its moments

Let's see. Let's do a vocal gymnastics song....check! Talk over that horrible bass hum...check! Now be really dreary over boring drumbeat....check! What about talk/sing really quickly over combo hum and boring drumbeat....yeah! Let's try sexy. The secret is to make it so glaringly obvious that this song is "edgy." Fuck off, it's just crass. I've heard her do some good songs, but this is every bad pop cliche thrown in the blender. Hard pass.

Filth. FILTH. Absolute filth. Can’t get over the filth enough to enjoy the music. Stop normalising calling your partner Daddy, it’s weird.

To be fair, she did wake up like this

Meer moody Beyoncé Drunk I. Love heeft (te) stevige bas, wel leuke song structure

I see what all the hype is about.

Some decent stuff on here, though it doesn't feel overly cohesive with the way it dips in and out of different genres. Some decent songs, bit slower than we were expecting.

Not for me, managed 3.5 songs

Ok

While this isn’t my favorite Beyoncé album, she is a generational artist whose popularity and influence will live on for decades

" I can't wait till i get home so you can turn that cherry out".."He Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown" and "I cooked this meal for you naked"is one of the plenty alike wonderful lyrics you will listen in this Platinum edition album and 1001 albums is recommending you to listen before you die of.... hard on boredom i suppose. 2

it's a 2.5, at the back end of this in XO, Flawless and Superpower there's a lot of stuff to like. But to get there there's a lot of quite boring stuff, immaculately sung and produced but which does nothing for me. Other opinions are available.

Heard this one before. Love Beyoncé to death.

A clear cut above the competition both in terms of voice, performance and ambition, Beyoncé by Beyoncé has a clear theme and concept - female sexuality and empowerment - and delivers consistently. The album feels like a response from the feminine perspective to Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On, unabashed and unashamed of its sexuality. And although a few tracks drift - the album suffers from an expectation that r and b / hip hop albums must run at least an hour - with this album, Beyoncé really comes into her own as an artist, whose talents would only be further enhanced on subsequent and even more significant albums.

Was kind of excited to listen to it, put it on this morning very hungover and realized that I know exactly what it's going to be and I'm not in the mood for it

Two discs is a bit much. There’s no doubt Beyoncé has a wonderful voice. If I were a teenager, I’d probably be impressed with the production and range. But it is mostly written from the standpoint of a rich, famous beautiful woman. So, not exactly relatable. Drunk in Love is fun. But Jay-Z doesn’t really add anything. References to Ike Turner abusing Tina, and lamenting how they ruined a Warhol, are less endearing than they might think. Rich people singing about rich people problems, has never been a good look. Blow is cute. First two songs are skippable. Partition is fun, from 2 min in. Like most hip hop, the lyrics are mostly fantasy. Sex kitten Beyoncé is a character constructed to sell records. Real life Beyoncé is too busy to be grinding up in the clubs or cooking dinner naked. None of that has ever happened. Second half of disc 1 gets a bit slow with ballads. Her voice is great, but the music is dull for my taste. Disc 2 doesn’t really add much, unless you’re a fan of the guest stars. Again, Blow is cute and easy pop. Pharrell knows how to make hits. But, at this point in time, Kanye, Drake and Minaj are hard to listen to.

I'm struggling trying to review this fairly, so I'm going to divide into good/bad aspects. Good: The mixing is absolutely top notch. The guest artist appearances are spot-on. The instrumentation is really good for a (mostly) hip-hop album. There's a lot of nice variation in this so it does't grow particularly stagnant at any point. Bad: I just don't like it. Beyonce has some really good tracks in her catalog. Shame none of them came from this album. It really just comes across as a self-absorbed person writing narcissistic songs about how awesome they are. The instrumentals also get incredibly repetitive within several tracks. So while the album itself never grows stagnant, individual tracks could've used with some more dynamic development. So there ya go, that's why I'm struggling here. I guess it gets 3 stars because I feel like less does it an injustice. It's a fine album for people who like this style. I just don't.

Never been a Beyonce fan so I enjoyed this album as much as a I expected it to. YMMV Best Song: Drunken In Love Remix Worst Song: No Angel (Becuase-You're-No-An-Gel-Ei-Ther-Baby x1000)

It's like Dunkin's butter pecan swirl. Who can hate scientifically crafted artificiality?

Trash

2 - didn’t click with me

So. Many. Bangers.

Surfbword This album is full of bangers, don’t try and fight it. Not sure there’s a miss on here. Fave Tracks: Pretty Hurts, Drunk in Love, Blow, Jealous, XO, Blue 4.8/5

pretty hurts - 10/10 I Haunting - 9/10 Not a fan of the other songs

This is not my kind of music at all, and yet it was ok to listen to. It didn't move me much though.

By any measure this is a remarkable piece of work - 14 tracks accompanied by 17 videos and a slew of other bonus features, dropped as a surprise release with no pre-publicity. This is immaculately produced, with lots of interesting audio samples and flourishes, she has an amazing voice and the lyrics are interesting, but polished pop isn’t really my thing.

The genre in which Beyoncé is evolving is really not my cup of tea, and I'm pretty disarmed to assess the quality of such an album. I gave it a try anyway and: (1) it's really not my jam, (2) I was surprised by the music that is not always some boring/simple rhythms, there are actually pieces of electronic music in the background that are not so obvious (and that makes it interesting), (3) I respect Beyoncé's fights and the way she uses mainstream music to push her agenda (she talks about feminism, racism, sexuality in ways that are not really customary in pop music). Not as bad as I feared, not my jam, but there are things to get out of it.

I never before listened to a Beyoncé album before. I get why many people like her music. It's not a bad album, but it's not for me.

First Beyoncé I’ve purposely listened to. I can see why people love her, it’s just not for me.

This took ages to get through - just not a Beyoncé fan for whatever reason. Some good songs, but nothing that I’d ever really go back too. The concept of a visual album is fun though. Drunk in Love (the version with Kanye too) is the highlight.

cool

Such great production and performance. Almost her best…

I appreciate Beyonce is very popular but listening to this album I fail to see why. I found it dull and boring and some tracks a bit of a dirge, I could find no redeming factors that would keep my interest throughout.

I recognize her as a fantastic singer, I’m just not a big fan of her music is all. There’s a ting of heavily overproduced sounds and beats that are mixed in (which is expected), but overall if you like her music more power to ya. 2.6

Jay-Z's rapping is trash and I'm not a huge fan of albums that are clearly an effort of a massive team of corporate song writers. Some songs were fun but this album was just okay.

This was massively hyped when it came out and I didn't really get it at that point, so thought I would at least try and see what the critics loved and consider some of the themes as I listened: - Surprise release = no relevance when I'm listening 11 years later, so what - Visual elements = I'm just listening for the music, no relevance - Personal / intimate subject matter = is it? All of the songs are co-written and I just don't think she says very much of interest for an apparently personal exploration - Exploring sexuality = Fair enough, this is there. Some highlights: "Oh yeah, he's so horny and he wants to fuck" and "Let me sit this ass on you, show you how I feel". I'm all for a strong woman being comfortable in her sexuality but is this good writing? It's not exactly poetic - Great vocals = Agreed, she can belt out a tune - Interesting / innovative production = I suppose it has quite a lot going on, although if anything I find it a bit overproduced. Some of the tracks just break down into electronic sounds that don't really need to be there She was (maybe still is) the world's biggest pop star but I don't get much in the way of catchy hooks along the lines of Halo, Irreplaceable, Single Ladies which are great songs. In conclusion, despite my best efforts, I still don't get this

Misses the mark with me. Tried to listen with fresh ears but I just didn’t really care for most of it. But I really liked the song Rocket.

Obviously she’s a powerhouse performer and colossus of the music biz etc but I’ve paid very little attention to Beyoncé’s music since Crazy In Love (which is excellent, ofc). Is anything on here as good as that? Probably not, but I quite liked the first 3 tracks, the last 3 tracks, and also Jealous and XO. I guess I like slightly sugary pop choruses with big, cinematic, bass-y chord changes, but also some more experimental production here and there? Less keen on the R&B/soul stuff in the middle, but I knew that already.

Nothing out the ordinary really.

Two!

3.5

I'm sure these songs are fun live, with a heavy dance bass and Beyonce being Beyonce - but I can't get into it here. I'm generally not a fan of her voice, and the rapping makes me cringe.

Unpopular opinion - I cannot get into Beyoncé's music. The lyrics are corny and no matter what style is included - rap, hip hop, soul, r&b - its all mediocre.

I remember the day this album came out. A major surprise. The first time I heard an album while watching the visuals simultaneously. I still picture the videos when I hear the songs. She changed the game with this album.

This is a great album. I’m surprised there isn’t more from Beyoncé’s solo career on this list.

I'm not sure if there is any single song that stands above the rest, but really truly very quite rather solid as a whole.

This is a pretty decent album. You can definitely hear the influence of other music popular at the time (some of the rap rhythms, some dub-step sounding elements).

Important, no doubt. Just not my taste

3/4

Strong but I'm not so huge on pop. Horrrrny

While I have a slightly deeper appreciation for her talents, I still don’t get the big deal about Beyonce. This is nothing special, just conventional R&B. I think there are much better singers out there too. There are some falsetto sections on a few songs that frankly don’t sound great vocally. “Haunted” is the only song on here I found interesting.

Geeatness

I mean...its beyonce

First album listen for Beyonce - such a solid production and great tunes. I'll want to listen to this more to appreciate.

Amazing when you understand what she’s trying to say

IDK why she's such a big deal. It was alright but nothing that amazing

🎤let me hear you say heyy ms. carter 🗣️ hey ms. carter🗣️ 🎤say heyyyy ms. carter 🗣️heyy ms. carter🗣️

Never would have listened to before and from the start was grating and repetitious and without real musical value. IMO a couple of songs had some merit and the voice is beautiful, so 2 stars

I kind of like Blow

couldn't finish it...

She's got talent and a great voice, but I can only handle a little of her music at a time. Thus the 3 star rating.

Rithm & Blues comercial. Escuchable.

Not my type of music and it didn't really pull me into it. It was fine, she's a good singer but ... meh.

Not sure what all the fuss is about

Couldn't get past the first three tracks. Not for me. I find it difficult to believe how popular this woman is.

I really wanted to like this more (XO is a song I already love), but I didn’t like a lot of the other tracks.

Nothing stood out.

Love her voice, cadence, pitch. The great thing is that it doesn't seem like she's trying too hard to be dramatic, like Christina. They're both great, but Beyonce seems more natural. but this album doesn't really have any songs that grab you.

I don't really get the thrill of Beyonce. Destiny's Child crafted some magical pop songs, but Beyonce seems to deliver more attitude and less pop. This album helped me get a bit more understanding of her approach... this definitely has some Big Dick Energy... she has got swagger. Its coupled with polished, smooth and deliberate tracks. Though i'd like something a bit more catchy and melodic, it certainly stands strong.

This transcends generations. A great album.

"BEYONCÉ" is the fifth studio album by American singer Beyoncé. The album's music combines contemporary R&B with electronic and soul music. The album was released as a complete surprise which changed the days albums are released from Tuesday to Friday. I did not know that. It is a visual album with each song accompanied by a short film. There are dark feminist themes of sex, monogamy, beauty standards, relationship standards and criticism of capitalism. Multiple producers were involved. Commercially, the album hit #1 in the US and #2 in the UK and had wide-spread critical acclaim. The first song "Pretty Hurts" starts out with a speech in which Beyoncé proclaims her aspiration in life to be happy. Pulsating keyboards and a snappy beat. Beyoncé's strong and beautiful voice comes in. The music and vocals then soar. The song was written by Sia, Ammo and Beyoncé and originally intended for Katie Perry or Rihanna. Their loss. A high pitched voice begins "Drunk in Love." Beyoncé states that she's been drinking and thinking. Swirling keyboards and somewhat a ballad but also has a hip hop feel at times. Jay-Z comes in midway through. Lust and love. The first half of "Partition" is hip hop. Beyoncé rapping. There's a break and the music comes back with a heavy electronic beat. We're in clubland. This is an interesting trip. The first single "XO" opens in a controversial way with a sample from NASA public affairs right after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Wobbly keys then begin the music. Beyoncé's echoing vocals. Beats come in. This is a love power ballad. The music builds throughout with more electronic elements added. The album closes with another love ballad in "Blue." This is more of a simple love song. Piano and subtle electronic beats and synths. It's good to end of a positive note. This album is quite a listen. Every song does feel like it's own story. Dramatic. Great production. Some songs are easy to listen to with a chill and R&B/souful feel while others take you to the dance club. Elements of hip hop are also ocassionally present. It's quite easy to see why she's a superstar; the music is well-produced as mentioned but Beyoncé's voice takes it to the next level up. This is a good place to start if you have no idea what "good" and relatively current popular music can be.

A bit long and samey

Many of the tracks felt like I shouldn't be listening to them at work? Otherwise, it was what I have come to expect from a Beyonce album. I think I generally prefer the production of most tracks to the lyrics, but that's okay, too. Definitely felt the Timabland production on certain tracks. Fav Tracks: Drunk in Love, Blow, Rocket, Blue

Songs are too long

Not to my taste and assume it's aimed at people that buy one album a year because they don't really know what they like.

I love a bit of Bey but I’m a singles girl when it comes to her. The albums have never really done it for me. That all changed at Lemonade but up until that point I could take or leave. A track or two stood out from the pack and it was a joy to hear songs like 7/11

Terrible

Great voice and production. But is seems to be a collection of non-songs that rely on voice/production to do the heavy lifting. Sorry Bey. No for me

This album feels more about production and attitude versus music. I'm glad to have listened to this and feel like it's more about the entire product of who Beyonce is versus just the songs.

Maybe too produced for my taste, that being said it sounds like a couple million bucks. Sounds like a summer blockbuster movie.

As far as pop artists go, I tend to hold Beyoncé in fairly high regard. She's undoubtedly come out with some bangers in the past, but this record didn't set me alight. Maybe it's the lyrical subject matter (it should've been called Beyoncé - BEYONCÉ FUCKS). I'm all for sexual expression, but I don't particularly need to hear about having her cherry turned out. Almost every track seems to be about getting it on. And when I release an album about knocking one out at every available opportunity, suddenly it's 'problematic' and 'gross'. Double standards. Favourite tracks: Haunted, Drunk in Love, Rocket, Heaven.

I mean, it's Beyoncé

Beyonce is extremely talented and some of her songs I like. Most of this album was just hard for me to get through though

Surprisingly I've never listened to any of Beyonce's stuff beyond what came on the radio.

Nah Didn’t really enjoy any of this

Each album of Destiny's Child / Beyoncé solo always contained a couple of killer songs but I always struggled to listen to their albums in one go. This album is different - it is great from start to finish.

The album started off okay, and kept me interested for a few songs in anticipation of some really good tracks, but as the album went on I slowly realised there was not going to be a single track on this that I would actually like. Clearly a talented singer, and the production sounds like someone put in some effort, but the songs simply don't work for me.

Rich and diverse music with excellent vocals

Rating: 10/10

This album was good, one of the better modern R&B albums I've heard. Great voice, and so confident with some of the lyrics there. Went on for a long time though, could've trimmed it down. I'd like to watch the whole video to the album and see if that makes me like it more.

Like someone else said, I don't know how you can throw so much at an album and have it do pretty much nothing special? Beyonce at her big and bold best is magnificent but this doesn't get anywhere near to that.

This really washed over me. Probably not in the right state for this sort of music at the moment, but it didn't really do anything for me. It's just quite boring - impressive that it's this short of ideas despite having so many people involved in its production. There's not really a bad song, but there's not one I'd particularly go back to either. 2/5.

nahhhhhhhhh

4.0 - Impressively dynamic - this one starts with some huge, stadium fillers ("Pretty Hurts", "Drunk in Love"). Then, Beyoncé goes into X-rated territory with "Blow" and "Cherry"). She gets a little dark and introspective in the middle ("No Angel", "Jealous"). For me, the album's highlight is "Superpower", the amazing collaboration with Frank Ocean.

Gros retour au lycée j'aimais trop pretty hurts et la chanson avec chimamanda ngozi adichie... Son nom crie Tumblr (fin elle a fait plein d'autres travaux aussi mais vous comprendrez) Gros flashback des vines sur ces chanson en 2016 J'arrondis a 4 pour pas donner tj les mêmes notes... Plutôt 3.5

Ooooh ça m'a débloqué des souvenirs : -J'étais fan de Pretty hurts, je l'écoutais en boucle -7/11 passait dans mes premières soirées

Je suis surpris, mais j'ai vraiment bien aimé. Alors que j'écoute jamais sa musique. C'est pas la meilleure bande-son pour jour à Zelda, mais c'était cool.

This is either completely shit or it’s just not for me. I can usually see the appeal in pop music even if it’s not what I’m into, but this feels like it’s lacking. The beats are nothing special. The lyrics say almost nothing. She’s never been a particularly interesting vocalist and some of her choices on this album are nothing short of irritating— “No Angel” comes to mind. It leaves one desperately asking, “What was the fucking point of this last hour of my life because there was certainly no point to that album’s existence.”

aktuaalisesti tykkäsin 2010-luku kaupallinen poppi marketointi kikasta.... puolet albumista kuuntelu kivikovana kun beyonce kuiskutteli rivouksia korviini... hyvin se laulaa... siihen loppuu akolaadaus.. poppipaskaahan tämähän päivän päätteeksi on. koskaan tälläsiä rupeisi kilpaa kuuntelemaan (ja pretentious herrasväen mukaan, ilmeisesti) partition

I enjoyed this at first but then it just got repetitive.

It’s fine. This is the first Beyoncé album I’ve ever heard start to finish. Seemed kind of like the same over produced song over and over again.

Good. But not mind blowing.

First time I've listened to one of her albums and it was a lot better than I expected. Some genuine good tracks here, especially at the start. A bit of filler too, and let's just ignore the Jay-Z bit and pretend it's not there

Lyrically it is pretty strong, but musically it it isn’t anything special. Of course, this is well outside of my wheelhouse so take my perspective with a heap of salt.

Don't think this is perfect, but the highs are so good and it's such an ambitious piece of work that it's hard to justify any less than the full 5

Pretty standard generic pop fare, but with some awesome booming bass. The songs really lack the great hooks you expect from pop though.

Not my type of music. Beyonces voice has become the template for female singers and it sounds nice but has no uniquness and sounds very bland in the long run. This came out when i was listening to more mainstream music so i was really surprised that i never heard any of the songs. I like the production more than the songs itself.

The amount of 1 star reviews with ignorant as fuck comments this album got is appalling to me. People calling it 'Department Store' or 'Hair Salon' music.... are you for real? This was the first album where Beyonce stopped caring about number 1 hits and just did what she wanted to do creatively. She has continued this trend in her career ever since. Also folks saying other people do all the work and she just shows up to sing.... literally watch 5 minutes of any documentary about her and you will see she is one of the most hardworking women in the industry. She's a perfectionist. She has final say on everything and is an incredibly savvy businesswoman. This isn't even my favorite album of hers and it's fine if this isn't everyone's cup of tea....but to completely dismiss it as 'top 40 pop' is absolutely ridiculous. Drunk in Love and Partition are two of the most iconic songs of the last 2 years without a doubt. Where are all my girls and gays at ffs

Liked this a lot, especially the first half of the album. Would give 3.5 if I could.

Somehow both better than I thought it would be, but also exactly what I thought it would be. For one, too drawn out.

Slickly produced with unabashedly intimate lyrics. TBH, the tone gets a little too horny at times for my taste, and that aspect if the album wears thin pretty quickly. But there are also some really lovely and heartfelt ballads that I enjoyed. The album is really well made, to the point where it feels slightly inauthentic. But it's pretty entertaining, and Beyoncé sounds like she's having a lot of fun. That's more than you get from a lot of pop artists nowadays. Fave Songs: Heaven, XO, Superpower, Blue, Haunted, Drunk in Love

Great voice and some standout beats/vibes, but not my thing.

Wow, sounded great on a home stereo. Rather dig her brand of feminism. It's more than a little distracting that the object of her un-self-conscious adoration is such a d-bag, but life's complicated. The music on the album is superb if I tune out the context.

This album is so bad it started to make me feel angry! Beyonce wails and moans for over an hour of synthetic R&B pop with zero originality, merit, or any actual music. I know this list is supposed to bring me music out of my comfort zone, but this is just a waste of my time. The lyrics are embarrassingly awful and seem to keep running out, resulting in more pointless wailing, baby noises, and strange moans. I think you would need to be mentally challenged to actually enjoy this. Also, whoever or whatever "creative" team produced this monstrosity obviously just discovered some electronic bass effect and loved it so very much that they felt the need to layer it over just about every single track on this abominable mess.

Not my style.

Its a bit dated and a bit long, but it does work pretty well and the songs are fun to listen to. Altho I do realise the music is not the main reason this is here; this album was a surprise drop, which was pretty much unheard of at the time, especially in the mainstream. This album made stuff like that a lot more common. I also think its cool that every song has a music video. Reviews on this one show how insecure a lot of these classic rock dudebro's are about their music taste lol

Pop comercial. Ni fu ni fa.

I’ve heard this before. It slams.

Oh fuck.. OK, let's get this over with.. Pretty Hurts - Beyonce laments the superficiality of society. The next time I see Beyonce court-side at the Lakers game without makeup and her hair immaculately done, I'll take her message seriously. Haunted - Beyonce laments the soul crushing effect of 9 to 5 work culture through the prism of a worker turned ghost, or something like that. The producers did a good job of creating a "ghostly" effect. Drunk in Love - Beyonce turns herself into a drunken "I have sex" meme, Jay-Z contributes a cringy verse. Blow - Beyonce is asking you to eat her out. Was one of the better songs so far, catchy and groovy, but there were too many beat switches, the bridge completely ruined the mood for me. No Angel - Beyonce laments her and her lover's imperfections. This song was painful. Partition - TBF, "I sneezed on the beat and the beat got sicker" is a dope line. Then a continuation of the "I have sex" meme. Refer to Prince on how to make a sexy song about sex. This ain't it. Jealous - Beyonce laments her role in her relationship. The lyrics seem to be deliberately vague and obscure. Probably for the best. Rocket - After lamenting her jealousy, Beyonce is back at attempting another sexy song. Doing her worst to knock off every Prince technique and still coming up woefully short. Mine - God this song is too long. XO - No idea what this song is supposed to be about. Random generic lines strung together over a generic pop beat. ***Flawless - Beyonce laments the role of women in society. The exert from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the best part. Superpower - Admittedly Beyonce and Frank harmonizing sounds pretty good. Heaven - According to Genius, Beyonce laments the loss of her first child due to miscarriage. A legitimately sad and personal song. Blue - Beyonce writes the most generic song possible for her daughter, repeating the phrase "hold on" countless times in multiple ways. There.. I listened.. two laments out of five

2+ pretty hurts, heaven, blue

"Music made by committee for hairdressing salons" says that other review. There's some truth to that hilarious negative take, I'm not gonna deny it. Yet if that's the case, that means that Beyoncé's salon is the most extraordinary hairdressing salon that has ever been built on the surface of this earth--with inviting nooks and crannies where all sorts of fun and kinky stuff may happen ; with lush decorations and night club lights that can elicit the most relaxing bliss in your mind or conversely thrill you enough to dance all night long ; with endearing memorabilia hung on the walls relating to Beyoncé's life course from Houston to New York; and with time-travelling portals transporting you to the most fascinating hip places, from NYC to Paris--all of this run by young nymphs and ephebes doing all they can to make you feel comfortable. This sort of salon is worth visiting, at least once. And if you can get a fresh haircut around your elated ears in the process, it's a win-win situation, clearly. More specifically, and all metaphors about hairdressing salons aside, this album is a playful exploration into groovy styles of all stripes : R'n'B, electronica, soul, hard funk, hip hop... The first three tracks create a perfect first act: opener "Pretty Hurts" displays effective soul-infused earworms from get-go, with quite interesting turns of phrase lambasting "perfection-at-all-cost" ; the Timbaland-produced "Haunted" is a nocturnal gem, with a simple melody that eventually turns into epic proportions, with many sonic details suggesting a cyberpunk, Bladerunner-like landscape found in the most expensive sci-fi flicks ; and "Drunk In Love", produced by the same Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, and propelled by a weird, Eastern-flavored sampled vocal hook, offers a shameless and immodest peep into Queen Bey and Jay-Z's intimacy--which could have turned out ridiculous if the music wasn't so sexy. After those three tracks, Mrs. Carter shifts gears several times, loses the thread at some other points (a flaw that's found in all of her last three blockbuster LPs--indeed written by committees and therefore a little haphazard as a result)... and yet she always gets back on her feet somehow. "Blow/Cherry"--with that striking one-liner about "turning cherries out"--foretells the post-disco endeavours of *Renaissance* ten years later or so. "Partition/Yoncé" is a two-part snapshot about lust and celebrity whose narcissitic impulses are redeemed by its dark yet pristine EDM flourishes--amazing how the digital basslines slap in this record, by the way : my hi-fi system is not high class, and yet those bass frequencies rumble like in almost no other record in my collection. As for "Jealous" and "XO", they are pop jewels that could have actually been expanded way beyond their short time count. In between those highlights, there's a couple of more meandering or demonstrative-for-their-own sake compositions (including one with a featuring by Drake where he somehow manages not sounding *too* ridiculous, lol). Yet fortunately, the last act is as strong as the first. *Flawless* is an trap-inspired, bombastic partytime dirge boasting about "perfection" with opera-like vocals in the background (maybe in a part-ironic fashion, just as in "Pretty Hurts"--given the snippet concluding it). "Superpower" is a subdued, "doo-wop 2.0" ballad that goes to interesting minimalistic places. And "Heaven" and "Blue" are other heartfelt cuts whose straightforward simplicity (foretelling the more intimate moods of Bey's next LP *Lemonade*) make them both memorable and endearing. Everything after "Blue" on Spotify are bonus tracks that are part of the record's "Platinum Edition" (mostly remixes and some extra featurings by Nicki Minaj and Kanye West). Nothing essential there, except from "Ring Off", a lively yet quite subtle number dedicated to Beyoncé's mother after the latter decided to part ways with her husband. So how should I grade this? 4/5? 4.5/5? The "writing-as-a-commitee" nature of this album often yields great results, but it's also probably the root cause of the few underwhelming moments in its middle section. Yet if you took away those underwhelming cuts, you'd still have a great album with a pretty satisfying length. My best guess is that the only problem Beyoncé has as an insanely rich artist curating and partly writing all these songs is that no one in her entourages dares question some of her choices, hence the "all-in-the-pot" nature of her LPs. But honestly, it's a very minor flaw for anyone interested enough in modern African-American music. I'm gonna round up my 4.5/5 grade to a perfect 5, then. Number of albums left to review: 381 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 281 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 146 Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 199

This album surprised me. I didn’t think I would like it but the whole album works. Each song is unique and fits together.

Not in my regular listening but it exceeded expectations to be honest

At many times this felt like I was listening to an album directed at teenage girls. But at times this also felt like an album that made some interesting creative turns. By all means not an album I will continue to listen. But not bad at all 6 out of 10

I was in my final semester of undergrad when this album dropped unexpectedly and I remember how much of an event it was. Beyonce was seemingly freeing herself from her curated persona into something that was more feminist, unapologetically black, and more in control of her music. This, from one of music's biggest stars, was huge at the time. This album takes influence from hip hop, classic soul, R&B, and pop and blends them together well. The first half is the strongest and most interesting but overall the album is cohesive. I will point out that despite the persona altering nature of this album, it was written by committee.

I liked this album more as it went on. I think B may be the most overrated generational talent I know of, but she’s undeniably a master of her craft. Some unnecessary raunch, some perfectly placed raunch. Killer vocals and beats for her to shine. 3/5

It seems like the commercial impact of this album might be even bigger than the musical impact. I guess Beyonce released this with no promotion and it was pretty much out of nowhere. She also released music videos with each song all at once, so it was a full production that no one was expecting. This is also the same year she performed in the Super Bowl, so she really was clicking at this time. I'm a casual Beyonce fan at very most, and this album actually doesn't have a lot of her more recognizable songs. Drunk In Love was the only one I think I really knew before. She tackles a lot of big topics on this one in a very blunt way. I think this is pretty clearly a strong feminist stance, and she does not shy away from explicitly sexual themes. Like that's a good bit of the album. There is a song called Blow. It's about exactly what you'd expect it to be about. I'm probably never going to be a huge Beyonce fan, it's a bit overproduced pop music for me, but honestly I liked it more than I expected. It's at least real and there's a few softer songs that show off her talent. Jealous was a winner for me, I liked this one a lot, and the Frank Ocean song ("Superpower") is also great. Not my favorite thing ever, but I'm confident saying that it's a very good album from one of the few true modern stars at her peak. Favorite song: Jealous Other: Pretty Hurts, Drunk in Love, Partition, XO, Superpower, Heaven 11/7/23

Shit

I absolutely cannot listen to this album

At the risk of sounding like I live under a rock, I’m not sure I could name more than 5 Beyoncé songs. It’s never really been my type of music so, despite being aware of her highly revered status, I’ve never given her much of a chance with music. Let’s give this a listen and see if it’s any good. Songs I already knew: none Favourites: none I expect that a lot of people won’t like this opinion, but I honestly thought this album was pretty naff. It’s uncountable that Beyoncé is a great singer, but the music is just unbelievably dull. There isn’t a single song here that I could say I enjoyed, and I just can’t wrap my head around the appeal here. Each to their own, but this is certainly not for me.

Iconic, love her and it’s awesome to hear a song like Haunted turn into Renaissance 10 years later. Crazy crazy

OH my goodness. Having only ever heard singles from her + Lemonade, I always thought she was great but holy shit this album was so interesting. Her vocals are fantastic, and I love the whole live sorta feeling to this album with all the clips in the beginning of songs, production was fab with tons of interesting choices sprinkled all over, no song structure was predictable and it was groovy as heck. Also, was profusely sweating during some of the more sexual songs. I had no idea Beyoncé could make me feel that way. If I hadn't had a sexual awakening already this one would be it. Very good album.

My first reaction. AN HOUR AND A HALF? JayZeesus My second reaction. I wonder if Beyoncé fans are as cult-y as swifties are. Actual thoughts about the music. I'm not the target audience here but I can see the appeal. I enjoyed it as a one time listen, and she clearly has a great voice. Some of the songs have catchy pop vibes but not enough for me to go back to it. I think she might be a touch overrated but don't tell the die-hard fans that lmao Standouts: Blow - particularly liked the muted guitar riff Rocket

She's a embarrassing hornball

Niet voor mij. Te gelikt.

This album being on this list has to be some elaborate joke that I can’t get

A defining and landmark album both for the artist and for how albums are released.

Not that great