June 26, 201114 yr ^ I love I Miss You. I love it's simplicity and minimalism and I think it stands out from the rest of the ballads on what is a pretty ballad heavy album.
June 27, 201114 yr Such a fantastic album! My favourite at the moment is easily 'I Was Here'. :wub: 'Run the World (Girls)' doesn't fit the album whatsoever, though.
June 27, 201114 yr I have decided this is nowhere near as bad and disappointing as I orginally thought. I have also found a new found love for 'Start Over' and 'Love On Top'. I am still not keen on 'I Miss You', 'Party', 'Rather Die Young' and 'Run The World' though, which are all 6/10's apart from 'I Miss You' which is only a 5. Those tracks are all my least favourites too! great taste :lol:
June 27, 201114 yr Just got back from the shepherds bush gig. It reinforced the absolute brilliance of End of Time. it's possibly one of those songs that should only exist in the live format.
June 27, 201114 yr Just got back from the shepherds bush gig. It reinforced the absolute brilliance of End of Time. it's possibly one of those songs that should only exist in the live format. I'm so jealous you went! Jessie J, Adele, Alexandra Burke, Tinie Tempah and JLS were all there as well! I read that she didn't have a setlist and asked for suggestions. Is that true?
June 28, 201114 yr Yeah, I could see Jessie J, Adele, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jay-Z from where I was sitting...it was quite surreal. She wasn't really taking suggestions...it was more she was going with the feel of the audience. So, Best Thing I Never Had went down really well and everyone was singing along so she did Irreplaceable next to keep everyone singing. It was basically the same performances as Glastonbury, just less songs and a different order. It was a pretty amazing show. The majority of people there were proper fans but obviously concentrated into quite a small (for Beyoncé) venue and it felt quite special. The highlights were Run The World, End Of Time, Best Thing and Work It Out.
June 28, 201114 yr 8.0 on Pitchfork. Well done etc. Apparently that's the highest a female pop artist has ever received from them. The highest was Lady GaGa's The Fame Monster with 7.8. Full review here: Beyoncé 4 [Columbia; 2011] 8.0 One of the year's best music videos was directed by Jay-Z and cost about zero dollars to make. The camera phone clip shows Beyoncé rehearsing her new album's opening eternal-love ballad, "1+1", backstage at American Idol. There she is: eyes shut, standing in front of a mirror, singing her guts out while family and friends look on in quiet awe. The video has a similar impromptu charm to the many intimate, one-shot performance clips popularized by Vincent Moon's "Take Away Show", its appeal compounded by the shock of seeing such a notoriously manicured superstar without embellishment. "Help me let down my guard," she belts. And, as Beyoncé finishes the song, you hear her proud husband let out a joyous "woo!" It's all quite endearing and personal-- two words one might not often associate with this superhumanly talented and famous couple. "Sometimes you need perspective," wrote Jay in an intro to the video on his Life + Times website. "You've been right in front of greatness so often that you need to step back and see it again for the first time." It's a fitting sentiment and song to introduce 4, which largely deals with monogamy and all that comes with committing to one person for a potential lifetime. Which, like a bad marriage, might sound boring, repetitive, staid. But, in Beyoncé's more-than-capable and still-in-love hands, a relationship that lasts can seem as complicated and rewarding as anyone would hope. "If I ain't got something, I don't give a damn/ 'Cause I got it with you," she testifies on "1+1"-- potentially dubious words from a woman who certainly has "something," but her mainlined vocals quickly dismiss mere logistics. The song boasts some of her finest-ever singing laid over a bed of warm and flowing synths, strings, and bass that manages to connect the dots between Sam Cooke and Prince without sacrificing any Beyoncé-ness. "1+1" is that rare wonder: a wedding song that pleases but doesn't pander. The only recent pop ballad that comes close to its power is Adele's stunning "Someone Like You". But where that song-- and its massively successful corresponding album, 21-- wrung out the aftermath of young heartbreak, Beyoncé is aiming for something a bit more challenging with 4: love the one you're with, and have some fun doing it, too. The album's relative riskiness extends to its music, which side-steps Top 40 radio's current Eurobeat fixation for a refreshingly eclectic mix of early-90s R&B, 80s lite soul, and brass'n'percussion-heavy marching music. All of the album's best elements, thematically and sonically, burst ahead on Jay-Z ode "Countdown", a honking, stutter-step sequel of sorts to "Crazy in Love". The new track makes 10 years of loyalty seem just as thrilling as the first time, with Beyoncé offering her partner copious praise in that famed half-rap cadence: "Still love the way he talks/ Still love the way I sing/ Still love the way he rock them black diamonds in that chain." The album's carefree retro sensibility pops up on three more highlights, including the Kanye West-assisted "Party", which combines a pitch-perfect André 3000 guest verse, a Slick Rick sample, bubbly 80s keyboard tones, and 90s girl-group harmonies. The track has Beyoncé infatuated once again while its mid-tempo bounce provides prime summer barbecue background. "Love on Top" lilts like a lost Reagan-era smash, its light-as-air bop recalling Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Stevie Wonder at their sunniest. And "End of Time" is perhaps 4's most strident declaration of co-dependence; sounding like En Vogue remixed by a high school pep band, the song has Beyoncé finding the strength in two as she sings, "I just wanna be with you/ I just wanna live for you/ I'd never let you go!" That track-- along with most of 4's stand outs-- was co-written and co-produced by the star's other invaluable partner, Terius "The-Dream" Nash. The pair first combined forces on super hit "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", but their collaborative relationship fully blooms on this album's ramped-up back half, including the bombastic, Major Lazer-sampling empowerment tract "Run the World (Girls)". As a songwriter, The-Dream has a way of drawing out a side of Beyoncé that's both more personal and brash, and, as seen on his several brilliant solo albums, his production style routinely references past greats while standing in the now. Tellingly, without his help the album stumbles, as on the overblown "I Was Here", a faceless, theoretically-inspirational slog written by veteran schlockmeister Diane Warren. (Unsurprisingly, "I Was Here" is the only cut on the record that wasn't co-written by Beyoncé herself, too.) Elsewhere, Babyface spearheads the decent "Irreplaceable" retread "Best Thing I Never Had", which probably wouldn't sound out-of-place on a Vanessa Carlton album, and Sleepy Jackson/Empire of the Sun leader Luke Steele worked on the ungainly "Rather Die Young", which ruins its Philly soul vibe with a theatrical Broadway glaze. (Steele also contributed an awful hook on Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 trash-can bait "What We Talkin' About"-- can we get him away from this couple, please?) Ironically, 4's deluxe edition comes with three bonus songs that would easily count among the proper album's finest moments. Chiefly, The-Dream co-written/produced "Schoolin' Life" is an irresistible Prince tribute that's much more motivational than "I Was Here" could ever be: "Who needs a degree when you're schoolin' life?" struts Beyoncé. The singer has said she recorded more than 60 songs while making 4, and some of the wrong-headed inclusions are lazy attempts at re-creating her past hits. But they are few. And the lion's share of the album-- along with its excellent deluxe tracks-- has one of the world's biggest stars exploring her talent in ways few could've predicted, which is always exciting. After 2008's I Am... Sasha Fierce, which saw Beyoncé catching up to trends when she wasn't trying Streisand-wannabe ballads, 4 is more akin to her wily sophomore solo album, B'Day. But where that record was preoccupied with the club, 4 is happy at home; on Off the Wall-style bonus track "Lay Up Under Me", the contented 29-year-old gushes, "You ain't gotta worry 'bout a club, just come on lay up under me tonight." If anyone can make a quiet Friday night come off like an open-bar blowout, it's Beyoncé.http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15585-4/
June 28, 201114 yr Really loving this album. On the first listen now, and I'd say there have been only two low points so far (those being 'I Miss You' and 'Party'; although they'll probably grow on me). I really like the 90's R&B influences on some of the tracks, and Beyoncé's vocals are pretty much flawless throughout. My current highlight is 'Best Thing I Never Had', which took a while to grow, but now after hearing it performed at Glastonbury and now in the context of the album, it's just perfect, and I can see it becoming a future classic for Bey. I can definitely understand why one would call this her best album (and I can see it becoming my favourite of hers too).
June 28, 201114 yr Apparently that's the highest a pop artist has ever received from them. The highest was Lady GaGa's The Fame Monster with 7.8. No it isn't. They gave Justin Timberlake's 'FutureSex/LoveSounds' 8.1
June 28, 201114 yr No it isn't. They gave Justin Timberlake's 'FutureSex/LoveSounds' 8.1 Sorry I meant female pop artist.
June 28, 201114 yr I was in HMV yesterday and they had a huge display for her right at the front of the store and were playing the album in store :wub:
June 28, 201114 yr Beyoncé released 4 on Tuesday (June 28), and she's taking fans behind-the-scenes of her new album in the MTV special Beyoncé: Year of 4, set to premiere on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on MTV, BET, VH1 and Palladia (encore presentations will air on MTV.com, MTV Hits and MTV Jams immediately after the show's world premiere). The special was filmed during Beyoncé's year off, as she set out to discover what she wanted next in her career. It kicks off as B wraps up her I Am... Tour, and finds herself at a crossroads before eventually giving into her mother's advice to take some time off. "My life was award shows and tour buses and hotels and it kind of goes by so fast ... I couldn't even hear it anymore," she says of her whirlwind schedule. "I'm just thinking about the next shoot ... the next video ... the next tour." Fans are with Queen B as she travels, hangs out with family, friends and husband Jay-Z, and takes time to reflect on her crazy successful career. "I never even realized I needed a year off," she later says. "And I never realized I don't know how to take a year off." During this reflective time in her life, Beyoncé also began working on her most eclectic album to date, mixing genres and styles to make 4. The special also takes a look at her career as she takes charge of her business. "It was very risky for me to set out on my own," she says. "Sometimes we don't reach for the stars, sometimes we are satisfied with what people tell us we're supposed to be satisfied with, and I'm just not going for it." 4, B's fourth solo album, is a mix of sassy uptempo tracks like the lead single "Run the World (Girls)," soft ballads like "1+1," as well as sassy midtempo songs like "Best Thing I Never Had." She worked with producers and artists like The-Dream, Kanye West and André 3000 for the release. "Being able to take viewers behind the creative curtain of one of the world's most amazing and talented artists, Beyoncé, in the lead-up to her album release is a pure thrill," Van Toffler, President, MTV Music Group, LOGO and Film, said in a statement. "This honest and intimate special provides her audience and fans a rare opportunity to witness a true, musical genius at work and the stories that defined and inspired her incredible new album." Tune in to Beyoncé: Year of 4, airing Thursday, June 30, at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on MTV, BET, VH1 and Palladia. Encore presentations follow on MTV.com, MTV Hits and MTV Jams.http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666509/b...v-special.jhtml
June 28, 201114 yr Such a high score from Pitchfork of all places :wub: Of the big US 'returning' female albums (Born This Way, Love?, Femme Fatale and 4), I'd say 4 is my 2nd fave, behind BTW - so she deserves it! BTINH looking like a shoo-in top 3, maybe even number 1 as well :dance:
June 28, 201114 yr Glad people are appreciating this more now! Plus, brilliant to see it at #1 in the first mids (and 'Best Thing I Never Had' doing so well on iTunes!), really love the album. 'End of Time' has grown on me hugely, now joins 'Countdown', 'Run the World (Girls)', 'I Was Here' and 'I Miss You' as one of my favourites.
June 28, 201114 yr Does anyone have a decent quality pic of the Deluxe cover? :) It's in the group gallery. :) And the track on the Japanese edition of the album, entitled "Dreaming" has been put up on YouTube: A8VBhZvRT0Q
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