To any female pop star that is not Beyonce, y'all might as well head on back home and unwrap gifts and munch on sugar cookies under the Christmas tree because the woman has arrived and completely obliterated the competition.
Ever since the surprise drop of her fifth studio, and first visual, album "Beyonce" the internet has all but collapsed with everyone and their dog tweeting and reacting to it. This ain't just an album release people, this is an event. An unprecedented event that only one woman in music is able to execute so flawlessly. Its no small feat that an artist as big as Beyonce was able to quietly release an album with seventeen videos and not let it leak out to the public. This speaks volumes to her power, control of her image and music and the clout she asserts when going about her business. But that is the whole point behind her brilliant marketing strategy and the new album itself; Beyonce is an artist that plays by no one else's rules but her own and basically does whatever-the-hell she wants. As unorthodox as her strategy has been over 2013, who else in pop music has the balls and bravado to head out on a global trek without any new material and still sell-out stadiums across the world? Who else releases an album without any marketing or promotion? Further proof, that Beyonce is one of the boldest and bad-ass pop stars in the game.
And the result? 80,000 copies bought in 3 hours? Sales projected upwards of 200,000 units in a three-day period? In an era where illegally downloading music is the norm, those numbers are just stupid. Hell, Britney's last album couldn't even crack 180,000 over a seven-week period. That's called 'showin' em how its done' and Beyonce is showing that she owns the pop music arena. This is her turf and anyone stepping in better bow down.
"Beyonce" the album has, so far, received critical acclaim, save for one publication that deemed it too similar to other mainstream R&B acts (please child, go back and do your homework). Boasting top-notch production from the likes of Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, Boots and collaborations with superstars Drake, Miguel and of course, Jay-Z, the album is a slice of minimalist, futuristic, electro R&B that is a true departure from anything else on pop music's current frontier. It is a weird album, but not wierd-eccentric like Gaga, but subtle, creepy, ambient and walking a fine line between pop, hip hop and trance beats. It is certainly Beyonce's most sexually overt album, but nowhere near as skanky as Rihanna mainly because the X-rated tracks all speak to the unabashed joy of having sex in a loving marriage. There is enough pop on the album to make it palatable for mainstream affair, check the opening ballad "Pretty Hurts" and sure-to-be-singles "Blow" and "XO". But the real highlights of the album are when things get grimy, dark-and-funky-like-your-about-to-let-loose-in-a-basement-party on tracks like "Ghost/Haunted" and the almost nuclear chemistry on "Drunk In Love" with Jay-Z (can anyone else NOT get over how she repeats "surf board" on the track?)
Beyonce is no longer interested in being a pop star. As she spits on "Ghost" she's bored with the game, bored with record labels and trusts nobody with her work. She ups the ante by adopting a thug moniker on the track "Yonce" and spits and growls verses half-rapping and half-singing on many of the tracks. She asserts her focus on artistic integrity when admitting that "…I probably won't make no money off this, oh well." And just when things get too alien and grimy, she flips the script and showcases her glorious vocals on the haunting tracks "Heaven", "Rocket" and "Jealous". "
And we haven't even gotten to the accompanying videos. Beautifully shot across many international locations, with help from the likes of Jonas Ackerland and Francesco Carrezini, each clip is a continuation of the themes Beyonce has consistently explored throughout her music such as feminism, love, empowerment and strength. This time around, the only caveat is that there is a blatant and obvious demonstration of power and supremacy. The under-lying message behind the videos to "Partition", "Haunted" and "Jealous" are clear, Beyonce lives her life and struggles in a lavish, rich, jet-setting life that reinforces her desire to be seen as a music industry power-house, one-half of pop music's only billion dollar earning couple. Visually, she plays up to the self-created myth that she is pop music royalty. The standout clips would have to be "Haunted" and "Partition" because both explode with imagery that speaks to feminist, racial and sexual politics in a manner that has not been explored since Madonna was still relevant.
There is no disputing that this album is a game-changer for not only Beyonce, but for all other female pops stars in terms of how music can and should be presented. "Beyonce" represents the point where her career has inevitably been heading all along. She is the logical intersection where pop music royalty, namely Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Prince and Madonna, intersect. Every decade has one artist that defines that era and while it is too early to determine whether Beyonce will be remembered as such, the new album certainly makes a more-than viable and legitimate bid for that title.
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