Beyonce - 4

Yeah, she was talking about her love for Kuti in the same article where she posed "blacked-up".

At 0:28 in the video when the horse kicks up on his hind legs...that should be the lp cover!!

or not.

It's a cool bit, though.

haha this always happens with pop artists, you hear their new album title/see the new cover and your immediate reaction is THAT IS SO AWFUL, WHYYYY, and then you remember how bad all their previous titles and covers were

i'm really not sure how i feel about this run the world song

like i'm not offended by it but

yeah it sort of came and went without any impact.. extremely forgettable

if I was her I'd just scrap it and make it a "bonus track" or whatever... NO ONE likes it

it's just like was that a comeback

i like it!

imo it's kind of sad when people run from their own singles at the first sign of resistance -- good song or bad, if she put it out in the first place she should stand by it, work it for at least a month or two before moving on to something more radio-friendly

if I was her I'd just scrap it and make it a "bonus track" or whatever... NO ONE likes it

I actually like it. I was lukewarm on the demo but since they added the synth line from the original "Pon De Floor" it has improved the song big time. Plus, a lot of people hated Deja Vu and the accompanying video but I thin it's been accepted by as a solid song in her catalog.

it's just like was that a comeback

How can you call this a comeback when she has been working consistently since 1997? I'm not trying to act like a devoted fan but I feel like using hyperbole language like that doesn't base discussion of music in reality or context. Plus, since she has worked since 1997 the girl can be excused if she wants to experiment or a song doesn't hit right away.

*but I think it's been accepted...

I don't hate this song but Deja Vu >>>>

imo it's kind of sad when people run from their own singles at the first sign of resistance -- good song or bad

I still hate Nicki for bailing on "Massive Attack." It wasn't perfect but god damn it was the best Missy Elliot song that wasn't Missy Elliot in a long time.

I don't hate this song but Deja Vu >>>>

As a former bass player, that Deja Vu fucking owns!!! Darkchild should've kept that sound around before going all electro a la "Telephone."

If people still released albums every calendar year, comeback talk would hopefully go away and each new album would feel like less of a make-or-break event. That'd be good for pop music, imo.

xp both those songs are great tho

jf otm

I still hate Nicki for bailing on "Massive Attack."

SERIOUSLY

what would have made it perfect: kick sean garrett off the chorus, get busy signal on

If people still released albums every calendar year, comeback talk would hopefully go away and each new album would feel like less of a make-or-break event. That'd be good for pop music, imo.

This is the exact reason why I went through a 60s/70s Motown phase after college. I was so impressed that a label could steadily churn out albums and singles that were innovative and listenable. Even if the song or album didn't hit, they just went ahead released the next one with no big public crisis.

Even during the 80s/90s, when pop was really making money, a pop star could take 2-4 years between albums and not have the public (the media/industry is a different story of course) wait to see them fail or "comeback harder" (whatever the fuck that means).

imo it's kind of sad when people run from their own singles at the first sign of resistance -- good song or bad, if she put it out in the first place she should stand by it, work it for at least a month or two before moving on to something more radio-friendly

Generally I agree with you, but "Run The World" has no real redeeming qualities imo, and the reaction to it has been so cold that I can't really see it turning around. For the first single from a Beyonce album to be out of the iTunes 100 two weeks after release is kind of shocking and speaks to the quality of the song.

Of course the video could turn everything around, but I don't really see that happening tbh.

It's not like Beyonce hasn't had flopped singles before. Her very first single "Work It Out" flopped and she survived. She'll churn out another "Irreplaceable" and people will be all over her blond weave again.

well yeah, obviously

That's too bad because "Irreplaceable" has always blown and will always blow.

Both "Work It Out" and "Check On It" ended up being bonus tracks on their subsequent albums (although TBF both were also film tie-ins, from memory) so it's not like there's no precedent for Beyonce quietly demoting a track's status.

That's too bad because "Irreplaceable" has always blown and will always blow.

I always hated that song and never understood why that became the big hit but "Ring The Alarm" and "Deja Vu" were so alienating at the time. I've said it once and I'll say it again the R&B audience have shits for brains sometimes.

Both you guys are crazy incidentally.

it's fitting that this thread has led us into arguing over which beyonce singles are the most mediocre (hint: all of them except like four)

Add me to the chorus of Irreplaceable haters.

it was really weird hearing her remake of "get me bodied" on the radio

Destiny's Child should really reconvene with A+ producers/writers and blow the roof off.

yeah Beyonce is consistently underwhelming

but it is totally obvious why "Irreplaceable" was a huge hit and "Ring the Alarm" wasn't

Both you guys are crazy incidentally.

I'm known as crazy on ILM???

"Irreplaceable" is Beyonce's best single. I get why people don't like it but it's not "mediocre".

it's at least her best single since her first album

Still don't see it.

Or hear it to be more appropriate.

do we need to do a Beyonce single poll, or are we above this

let's do a lloyd singles poll instead

I'd place "Crazy In Love" and "Baby Boy" only very marginally below "Irreplaceable".

Off the top of my head:

"Irreplaceable" > "Baby Boy" = "Crazy In Love" > "Ring The Alarm" > "Single Ladies" > "Sweet Dream" > "Work It Out" = "Check On It" > "Video Phone" > "Deja Vu" > "Naughty Girl" > "Ego" > "Diva" > "If I Were A Boy" > "Me Myself & I" > "Girls (Who Run The World)"

Am I forgetting anything? Ordering of the last 8 or so is on potentially faulty memory.

What about Why Don't You Love Me? which is totally massive and wonderful and I didn't even know was a single until recently (or that it existed) but GODDAMN so good.

Both "Work It Out" and "Check On It" ended up being bonus tracks on their subsequent albums (although TBF both were also film tie-ins, from memory) so it's not like there's no precedent for Beyonce quietly demoting a track's status.

― Tim F, Wednesday, May 11, 2011 6:57 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

yeah they were both off soundtracks a good 9-12 months before the albums, so it's not a matter of demotion, they were never part of the proper promotional cycle for those albums. also "Check On It" was a huge #1 hit so there's no parallel there.

anyway sometimes people say "comeback" in the dramatic sense of oh an artist has been away a long time or is coming off of a flop, sometimes they just mean lead single of new album, which is clearly all surm meant

I can be very literal which repels hyperbole language. My mind is still stuck in the concept of "comeback" like Tina Turner came back a la Private Dancer after all her life situations, previous albums not doing well, and playing supper clubs.

Beyonce's "Why Don't You Love Me?" was released last summer so she still was around, plus considering that it can take time to create an album she didn't "comeback" from anywhere, she was working.

yeah but there is still a symbolic importance to the lead single from a new album, especially for an artist of her stature -- there's kind of an expectation that she's going to come with a "Crazy In Love"/"Single Ladies"-level megahit right out of the gate.

although, as i said, i think it's totally fine to not hit that mark every time it's expected -- not that i think Beyonce is the visionary or risk-taker her Billboard interview implies she thinks she is, but with every other artist in R&B running scared that if they drop the wrong single their album will never get a release date, she can at least afford a left turn or an unpopular 'statement' song here or there without her career really being at stake.

i never knew "work it out" was considered a flop, it was a solid top 10 hit here (and also i love it). always thought the beyoncé strategy of leading-not-leading her albums with ~soundtrack singles~ was quite canny, maybe she should've done it for this one.

lol "why don't you love me?" has been purged from her wikipedia list of singles. you can't fool my memory, b. (weirdly it was one of those songs i didn't give a second's thought to as a whatever bonus track, but started to really like when it had a video etc.)

baby boy > irreplaceable > ring the alarm > get me bodied > work it out > crazy in love > if i were a boy > déjà vu > diva > sweet dreams > run the world (girls) > check on it > halo > naughty girl > broken-hearted girl > why don't you love me? > single ladies (put a ring on it) > ego > video phone > me, myself & i > green light > beautiful liar

w/r/t "baby boy", i can't believe it took me until last year to realise she was singing "baby boy, let's conceive an angel" towards the end, which made me love it even more

i'm struggling to imagine a world where "crazy in love" isn't beyonce's best single by a mile

Hearing 'Diva' in a club the other week reminded me how exceptionally shoehorned and clumsy a record it is.