BEYONCÉ

It took 14 people to write "Drunk In Love"!? Lol.

So bland she couldn't even come up with a proper album title. It's a "no" from me. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ part Revisit ❌️ ★★☆☆☆(3/10) Total reviewed : 459 Already owned : 100 Purchased : 25 To buy : 3 Nope : 331

Vapid mass-market slop designed by greedy execs. I'm sure this will one day be replaced by AI and digital idorus - and for once, nothing of value will be lost. The whole thing also felt unbearably long (but I guess it's not hard to churn out lots of songs when you have a gazillion people working on each one). I had to hit pause half a dozen times just to keep my sanity, and listening to the entire album left me exhausted and hating humanity. 2/10

This is really cool. Its vibey and groovy, but also really nuanced and fluid in genre and storytelling. She keeps it interesting and flows in and out of genres while keeping it grounded. The lyrics are really visceral too. Sexy and honest, but also kind painful and soulful. You can really hear how this influenced artists like SZA or Doechii.

Beyoncé is a 5 star artist. All ten of my toes are down. Though I will say, if we're really only going to include one of her albums in the list, this is not the one I would have picked. Both Lemonade and Renaissance should be included at bare minimum. Either way, she absolutely deserves to have more than a single album here. But s/t does have hits like Drunk in Love and Partition (which I can't hear without seeing Zendaya bopping along in the car), and I think it's the start of when her music really starts to flourish. There are so many details in the production; there's literally never a stale moment. Just ear candy start to finish. No Angel is my playlist pick since it features the pen of my girl, Caroline Polachek (well, both members of Chairlift, but Caroline is my star).

I tried to listen but couldn't lake it to half disc 1. When the singing isn't annoying the music seems so poor to me.

Appreciate the quality, but not my cup of tea. I could easily enjoy a track or two but can't spend an hour

I liked it. But sort of saving space for Lemonade.

I believe this album tried to be too many things at the same time and ended up being a bit of a nothing burger. There are interesting ideas and themes in here, but it doesn't feel fleshed out enough anywhere. Unfortunate, because I truly believe Beyoncé is one of the most talented artists of our century, but this isn't her best album by far. 2/5

The production and the way how it sound it's a lot more of course we can't deny that the autor has a top notch voice

i'm just here to piss off all the dudes who hate this record but refuse to acknowledge that their hate is caused by their racism and misogyny (it's a good record tho)

Day1025 - i’m a beyoncé hater so it’s hard to be impartial. i do like john mayers version of xo

Peak slop

I enjoyed this play. Thanks

NEEDED THIS. Thank god, really. So many white British men!! Could automatic five star for having one of my favorite lyrics ever: I sneezed on the beat and the beat got sicker. But that’s not necessary because I love this album so much! Such a nostalgic one for grad school. I remember where I was when I first listened to Lemonade, whereas this was more of a slow burn for me, but a constant presence. Core memories include: driving friends home, listening to Partition, and I quietly replied “hi Beyonce” under my breath at the intro. I remember how this album solidified my understanding of Beyoncé as an absolute star. In a way that (ha! Bear with me) her role in Dreamgirls had me interrogating my biases about her when I’d compare her to say, Whitney or someone. She is just such a fucking artist. I recently rewatched Homecoming and got to beam over some of these songs and yeah, what an honor to exist during her timeline. My one critique: I do struggle sometimes with intrusive images of Jay Z. Will report back after I rewatch the visual album bc fuck it’s so good.

Only Bey album? Lemonade is better but this is still a strong display of talent, but a few songs do suffer from clearly needing that radio-friendly sterile sound.

I love Bey but this album isn’t quite my favorite enough to warrant a 5. 4.5 rounded down

I gave this a thorough listen and while I liked a number of the tracks that were less R&B/rap (Blow, XO, Superpower, Heaven, Blue) that would have not been out of place on a Janet Jackson album in her heyday, the rest of it was just OK. Rounded down.

I don’t return to this album because I love Lemonade so much, but I had a good time with it today. My main complaint, which is not about the music itself, is that a lot of the songs feel to me like they should be two three-minute songs instead of one six-minute song — not a big deal when you’re committed to listening to the whole album (who cares about the number of tracks), but I’d casually listen to a lot of the superior halves more often if they were separated out from their lesser halves.

strašno naporno, mislio sam prvo da će bit za dvojku, no ubrzo su uletjeli repniški momenti, sve u svemu nije mi bilo ni najmanje dobro. kad usporedim s lord i lanom del rej, kojima sam dao dvojke, ovo ispada još lošije. jebiga, ne sviđa mi se apsolutno ništa [odslušao i napisao 20/10/26]

I’d listen to it again.

I skipped every Bey album from Dangerously In Love to Renaissance; I went through it in anticipation for this album, and I'm glad it build up to this. I like some musical elements she started incorporating on her 4(th) album and it translates just the same for this one. A problem I did have is that the album experience is very confusing since there's so many versions. I chose to use the original version, which was the visual version and it works out great. Blow, Mine, Haunted and Partition are great, and of course Drunk In Love is legendary (in spite of Jay's Idosaysomyselves).

ну это, конечно, легендарный абсолютно поп-альбом. Бенгер на бенгере, стиль сумасшедший

just a pop album 5/10

50

Типичное РэНэБэ. Ничего выдающегося

Favorite Song: ***Flawless Least Favorite: Drunk in Love

Acceptable pop. I’ve gotten used to it since it gets played regularly at home. This album is far from my favorite (I much prefer the previous one), but the overall vibe is alright, as long as you don’t listen too closely. Those booming basslines get irritating pretty quickly. I could survive another listen.

Horniest album ever.

4/5 Probably one of the greatest albums of all time. Just not one of my 5/5:s, but that’s ok. This gave me the motivation to download her two latest albums and give them a listen.

No va

nah

I like Beyonce and enjoy her singles when I hear them on the radio, but I don't think I've ever felt compelled to listen to a full album of hers. I really enjoyed this and was bopping along at work while I had it on, so I get why people go hard for this who are fans of hers and RnB in general.

Nope

It was okay. Some of the music was quite good. I think it was on Rocket that I thought the guitar and overall sound was cool. It's quite an explicit album. I suppose that's partly the point, as there's a song at the end advocating for feminism but I felt a bit odd listening to some of the graphic descriptions of what she gets up to.

Just ok. I like some of her songs but this album didn’t really do it for me.

Bleh

Number: 277 Familiarity: Aware (2) Rating: 2 Before: ======= Beyonce? Really? And, if they just had to put something on here by her, why choose one that's an hour and half long? After : ======= I listened to the version on Spotify and only made it through Disc 1 but that was a solid 2.0. Favorite track was XO which I gave a 4 and in the interest of inclusivity added to my 2013 list, not sure it will stay there the next time I evaluate that list. Least favorites were Partition and Flawless, take your pick, but I gave both of them a 1. All the rest were 2 with the exception of one 3 for Pretty Hurts. Now my ears are itching to hear some Water From Your Eyes, should put my head in a better place after what I just endured.

While BEYONCÉ offers some interesting stuff outside of the standard pop song structure and even has a couple of great hooks, it's an overall wildly uneven album that bores more often than excites. I have much more appreciation for her subsequent two albums, where the themes of empowerment, self-love and equality were conveyed in a much better, sharper way. I feel like this one already didn't age well in a couple of places, which is telling for an album that isn't even old enough to drive. Favourite track: Haunted

Meh. Pop as pop gets.

I used to love Destinys child, but this is terrible.

Considering all of the snobbery on this site, this review will maybe be a bit of an outlier. I like Beyoncé, I was born in 2004, sue me. She's incredibly good at doing what she does, which is providing a great vocal performance and visuals to go along with her music. I hadn't listened to this yet and it isn't my favourite of hers (that would probably be Renaissance) but it is still pretty damn good at doing it's job.

not exactly the most fulfilling listen for me lol obviously great vocal performances, and i definitely liked a couple songs, but generally not an era/sound i'd be partial to, so after a while it just felt like continually eating a jar of sugar by the spoonful for the length of the tracklist favourite songs: drunk in love, blow, no angel least favourite song: love

yea frick beyonce

Good. But not great by any means. No real highlights or wow moments you would expect from Beyoncé

Better than Coldplay

Pop music at this level of poppiness is just never going to be my thing.

No no no no most overrated artist ever

No.

I would definitely take her vocal styling over the likes of Mariah Carey anytime. But at the end of the day, pop divas just aren’t my thing.

I preferred listening to my car falling apart.

Horrible crap.

I’m not interested in listening to this.

leave off treacle

ofc the mainstream pop and many prominent names for features. good.

Very well made but apart from here big songs Beyonce has never quite clicked for me, but you can't ignore the talent on display. 3.5

I was really impressed by the production on this when it first came out. A decade later I’m more evenhanded about it. There are some tracks that are sweet or sexy, but also some that come off as tacky. Instagram gets name-checked at least twice.

In a weird place with Beyoncé where I think she's genuinely one of the all time greats but I'm lukewarm on most of her actual music. I love her poppier stuff, a lot of what she did with Destiny's Child, her duet with Shakira, but I'm hot and cold on a lot of her songs. This is unfortunately mostly cold, but I don't think it's bad. It's partly because I find Jay-Z incredibly boring and I'll never understand what she (or Kanye) sees in him. There's too much Jay-Z here. It's partly because the album's a little all over the place. Lots of different writers and producers. Like let's be clear, Beyoncé the artist is a five. Lemonade or Cowboy Carter would probably get the five. B'Day or Renaissance probably a four. Beyoncé the album I think peaks at a high three but I'm rounding up to a four because some of y'all in the reviews section clearly have issues with women.

Not even the best of Destinys Child. Always just middle pack talent

Won't say anything bad about Beyonce...

has some classics but not really my style.

I’m glad it’s a really great album because I’m kind of scared as to what would happen to me if I said anything disparaging about it.

Two great songs on this album (the flawless blow and the fun 7/11). The rest are directionless and a bit tubeless which is a shame. After a really good run of solo albums this is the first misstep it feels.

I’m really trying to hear something great here. I just don’t see value in this record as a piece of art.

My chronicles so far is listening to Beyonce backwards- Started with Renaissance and Cowboy Carter to Lemonade and now- self titled. It's a bit of an unfair way to listen to an artists catalog, if such a thing exists. While I think this one lacks the originality and concept of Lemonade, and the unstoppable musical power of Renaissance, you can't deny this is an impressive pop album. Lying stylistically between rnb and hip-hop, I gravitate more to the rnb side that captures Beyonce's incredible vocals. Partition, Rocket, and the closing three songs are among my favorite Beyonce songs. I was also impressed with the quality of the production throughout the record, not sounding at all dated while being 2010's. Still, not an equally balanced collection of songs for me. Still, very high highlights. A 3.7.

nah, just bad. What is this garbage doing here anyway

No thank you

Beyonce by Beyonce is some solid Beyonce

She has some decent pop songs, but none on this

Yeah it’s a modern pop record - high production values - little actual substance.

2.9

exhibitionism for the monogamous lady

Some absolute bops on this

Very good. Features are insane on this album. Not as good as her earlier stuff, kind of a weird time for her but still is a very well made album

Not nearly as good as her later albums, but still holds up pretty well. Love the production and aesthetic of this album, but definitely a bit dull and feels unfinished at times.

Not bad, I’d just rather watch paint dry

Hahah dit een dag na The Wall krijgen is wel lekker hoor. The Wall is, hoe goed het ook in elkaar zit, wel een pretentieus stuk vreten. Dat idee heb ik hier een stuk minder bij. Tuurlijk ken ik hier de singles van, iedereen ide wel eens in een winkelcentrum is geweest kent ze, maar benieuwder ben ik naar de 'deep cuts' voor zover die er zijn met minstens 40 miljoen plays op Spotify. Valt me wel al snel op dat in tegenstelling tot huidige albums de nummers hier best wel lang zijn. 5 minuten plus is eerder regel dan uitzondering, nu toch niet meer voor te stellen in onze TikTok verrotte aandachtsspanne. Er staat best wel wat 'standaard' R&B op, maar gelukkig word dat afgewisseld met meer elektronische productie. Las ergens dat iemand vond dat dit wel wat aan Yeezus productie deed denken. Daar vind ik het ff te clean voor, maar duidelijk is wel dat dit haar eerste 'flirt' is met elektronische muziek. Ver voor Rennaissance daar dieper in duikt. Productie is clean, maar moet eerlijk zeggen dat buiten de hits om dit album me toch een beetje tegenvalt. Misschien hou ik toch niet zo van die bombastische R&B zoals je dat ook op het Mariah Carey album zag met veel grote uithalen. Het is niet slecht, zeker niet, maar het doet me niet heel veel. FAVO: Drunk in love, Partition, Flawless

Won me over in the end, was all blending together a little bit at first, but eventually I was movin and groovin

thank god its over

I'm not really a pop music fan but thought this was great. A good variety of interesting stuff and obviously great vocals

2013: Oh Kanye and Nicki Minaj are on this, cool! 2026: oh Kanye and and Nicki Minaj are on this 😬

Although I got respect for Beyoncé as person and individual with relevant achievements in life, this album as an industry product I care little for. It doesn’t really feel coherent, it’s ultra polished, not my style. Also, collabs on this thing are very weak, especially the drake addition.

This is a very vanilla album overall. Beyoncé's voice is obviously fantastic, and the production is polished, but the songs themselves don't really stand out to me. There's nothing particularly bad here, but there's also not much that makes me want to come back to it. It's a well-made pop album that just doesn't leave much of an impression on me.

Listening session: september 10th, while getting ready in the morning Listened to before: heard a few songs before Thoughts: I can see that Beyoncé is a great singer, but for some reason her music never really stuck with me. This album is not bad, but not something that belongs with the greatest of all time in my opinion Favourite tracks: Drunk in Love & Rocket

Riri>B

This is more in the want to like category than actively dislike. The hype around BEYONCÉ at the time and for the rest of the decade was so thick and loud, it took me some time to jettison and peer pressure concerns and give this a full listen. The production and Bey’s vocals are a standout, if a bit dated even back then, but there’s a striving for perfection that Knowles aims for in every facet of her public life that I find difficult to relate to. Which she comments on here (and elsewhere), but it’s more of a having it both ways vibe to me. It’s tricky, I mostly have favourable feelings towards her project, even if it sometimes falls too heavy on the side of “I AM THE GREATEST TO EVER DO IT” and I don’t have much time for that in any part of life. Ultimately, there’s nothing here as compelling production-wise as Single Ladies and a winsome moment like XO feels like the coopting of indie-pop a la .fun or Coldplay, rather than improving on that aesthetic. None of this is bad, exactly, but the obvious money spent and stellar performances given are in service of material that just...isn’t that great (despite insisting on how great she is, etc).

Hip hop, not my jam

One thing about good pop stars is they can sense where the wind is blowing, and this is the one where I feel thay Beyonce got a little ahead. Respect the change in direction but most of it wasn't to my taste.

I mean sure, but you could have put the infinitely more superior Lemonade or Renaissance on here and lost nothing. The self titled is fine, but it’s not Beyonce’s best and it meanders more than anyone admits.

This has moments of real excellence. It seems to resist being a true pop album, though, which I found a bit frustrating. I wanted more hooks. I'd happily return to this in the future, but I don't really think I will. 3.5, rounding down.

I'd question why this album is on this list - it feels more of a popular option rather than one that's pivotal to the history of music, and that really pushed the performer forward as an artist and a creator. While I accept it's the first time that Beyoncé started following her own path, so to speak (and as the Apple Music description states), I'd argue the case stead for something Lemonade or even Cowboy Carter as the more representative Beyoncé options - the latter especially in its deliberate play against type and on aiming to break down boundaries between a genre that could be argued as being more closed and hostile. That being said, I enjoyed the act of a close listen - not least given my prior associations of this album and songs like Drunk in Love as something blasted at me while shopping in a big box retailer for some trivial item.

I’m not the biggest Beyonce fan & prefer her older stuff so we’ll see Not bad but it’s super long; I wouldn’t be rushing to listen to any of it again but it’s not bad

4.4

I'm more familiar with Beyoncé's higher energy pop hits. This is a very sleepy and meandering album. It's pleasant -reminds me of a coffee shop on a rainy day - but it's pretty boring and all the songs sound basically the same.

Going to be pretty hard for me to write an in-depth review as this isn't really typically the type of pop music that I gravitate towards. But, I do love Beyoncé, as a performer, as an entrepreneur, as a globally influential person, and as someone that's taken over more and more artistic and commercial freedom since this album's release. For starters, the information about this album is pretty overwhelming. So many names of producers and contributors that I barely know (except maybe Jay-Z and Boots), and really impossible for me to know who really did what overall. So, let me review it without all of the filler. This is a solid pop/R&B album. I enjoyed this a whole lot more than the Echo & the Bunnymen debut album listened to the day before. If that makes me stupid or in "poor taste", whatever. I know a lot about and mostly listen to underground and alternative music and I have nothing left to prove. This album is actually a lot more experimental and varied than expected, so it's surprisingly quite appealing. Lot's of interesting vocal mixes, production choices, and compositions that are quite varied and diverse, sometimes within the same song. Can we thank everybody involved for simply making a solid pop/R&B album here instead of stuffing it with auto-tuned vocals and cheesy production choices of the day? Beyoncé has incredible pipes and all of the different ways she expresses her moods is quite impressive. I'm particularly a fan of how she delivers in "Rocket" - it's a bit throwback but new and interesting take on the genre. "Mine" is jazzy and then becomes quite atmospheric and immersive. It's like post-R&B! "Flawless" is like female (but feminist) version of G-funk. "Haunted" and "No Angel" are pretty thick and dark as well. I also think it's cool that this was "visual album" release alongside the regular release. Very, very meta and creative. I have to admit, I'm not very impressed by the guest appearances from Frank Ocean, Drake, etc. They don't seem to add much to the songs, but Beyoncé shines every time. There are some throwaway ideas, but with so many contributors, there was bound to be a problem sorting out the good ideas from the bad. As an album, though, it flows quite well and changes up a lot. I also enjoy the background on this album - she had just had her first child, Blue Ivy (featured on the album), and wanted to communicate to women that they didn't need to lose their career aspirations or even their identity when having children. It celebrates a lot about motherhood, the joys and challenges of being a woman in society, female sexuality and emancipation, as well as other feminist themes. She would continue to explore this is the far more groundbreaking Lemonade album - a pity that one wasn't included over this one, as it's when she started to write her own songs alongside the songwriters. So, yeah, that's a for real 4. To all the snobs on this website: get the shit out of your ears and enjoy an honestly good mainstream release. This album changed a lot of music at the time, and added a breath of fresh air commercial releases needed. Remember 2012 and how the horrid songs from Fun's Some Nights played all of the time on the radio? Jesus fucking Christ. So glad this came out to shake things up.

Rating: 4.8/5 Short Review: This is the album where Beyoncé sounds completely in control of her own world. What surprised me is how dark and strange parts of it are. “Haunted” barely feels like conventional pop. “Drunk in Love” is hypnotic and ridiculous in exactly the right way. It is long, and there are moments where my attention dips, but the highs are enormous. More importantly, it feels like an album, not fourteen attempts at making a single. Favorite Track: “Haunted.” Moody, sexy, unsettling. That production got me immediately.

I don't hate her or anything like that at all and I think she has great pipes, however... This was such a overproduced slop that I couldn't even finish it, boring through and through, I just don't see any merit here at all, it's just so so dull. Initially I thought surely she can get 2 starts, but nah..

Beyonce is a phenomenal vocal talent and performer. Where I get lost is most of the songs tend to drag with slow tempos and the same vibe. That makes this hard for me to listen to.

Lemonade and Renaissance are better

Instant 5 like are u kidding me