Beyoncé 2013: "I'm more powerful than my mind can even digest and understand."

5th album maybe in April.

Permitting a football match to be attached to her grand comeback show.

This interview with the revelation that she's created a digital library of her every waking moment since 2005 just so she can summon any given incident up easily: http://www.gq.com/women/photos/201301/beyonce-cover-story-interview-gq-february-2013

BEYONCÉ! Be awestruck.

BeyonceCam premium membership

"Some people upload their photos and documents to the cloud. I'm uploading my long term memory."

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111109004117/memoryalpha/en/images/b/b7/Neural_scan_interface.jpg

i also imagine beyoncé not only has this database chronicling her past/present but another secret online database mapping out a detailed plan of every move she will make on every day in the future. she'd probably already pencilled in she was doing the 2012 superbowl when she was 10. DESTINY's child.

On the album's influences: "Mostly R&B. I always have my Prince and rock/soul influences. There's a bit of D'Angelo, some '60s doo-wop. And Aretha and Diana Ross."

it's a relief again that she's staying loyal to r&b, and not chasing guetta and calvin harris or working with sleigh bells or whatever. she talks about ~bringing r&b back~ and I guess if anyone can do so by the force of their starpower it's her.

beyonce is one of those singers that would be a lot better if she didn't talk

upcoming HBO special is, putting it mildly, completely unnecessary

["I'm more powerful than my mind can even digest and understand."

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/beyonce%20gif

["I'm more powerful than my mind can even digest and understand."

http://i.imgur.com/qHxPd.gif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O63dea1U33g

"Why did GOD give my this talent?"

hopefully there'll be more of this

i can't click on that for fear i might spontaneously throw up all over my computer

i refuse to believe she did not pop a molly before that was taped

"a football match"

popped a molly i'm beyonce woo

actually it would explain a lot of beyonce was just someone who was so "high on life" that they're actually high 24/7

of=if

i mean, let's be real, she's high on herself, not just high on life

high on the life god gave her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k072vQskGKM

I kinda feel like this level of introspective manic wobbliness is maybe the only realistic response to BEING beyonce?
See also Krapp's Last Tape.

haha beyoncé as krapp! for some reason that is perfect.

ahh just look at that teardrop coming down right on cue

she the best

how anyone can not find her completely and utterly entertaining is seriously beyond my understanding

i don't think "not entertaining" is a charge that's ever been leveled at her with any conviction

idk man surm's talking kinda greezy itt

she's extremely entertaining, she's made some amazing music, and her introspective manic wobbliness is all well and good

doesn't make her any less full of herself

wouldn't YOU be??

They should bring Timbaland out of semi-retirement to sample her baby into a song, a la Aaliyah.

And then credit her as a writer to get those mechanicals going early.

ha dude jay-z sampled their baby on a song last year (and a timbaland-produced justin timberlake album was just announced today)

Cool, I'm plugged right into the zeitgeist.

wouldn't YOU be??

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, January 10, 2013 9:01 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i would be full of myself but i would be better at hiding it

Obama's inauguration and that Super American football match

Sorry, you can't even type "2013" without Bey's expressed permission, lock thread

"I'm more powerful than my mind can even digest and understand."

Cool, let's see you dedicate all further music to world peace or feed the hungry or some shit and actually change the world. Some John&Yoko type idealistic concept art.

http://musicworldent.com/philanthropy

http://globalgrind.com/entertainment/beyonce-charitable-list-endeavors-belafontes-comment

I mean, that took literally 2 seconds to find

let's see you dedicate all further music to world peace

what on earth for

When "Love on Top" is playing, all crime in the United States stops. I mean, that's a fact.

I know, i know, I submit to the power of Beyonce. Ever since i was 16 and saw "Bills Bills Bills" on the Box i knew she was the apex of worldly creation.

i would be full of myself but i would be better at hiding it

― surm, Thursday, 10 January 2013 21:25 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

http://i.imgur.com/0UoH3.gif

Ever since i was 16 and saw "Bills Bills Bills" on the Box i knew she was the apex of worldly creation.

kinda think if we send people to another planet to start a new colony or something beyonce needs to be on the ship

i don't think "not entertaining" is a charge that's ever been leveled at her with any conviction

it's incredible to remember that in the mid-00s people actually levelled the "boring" charge at her

that "why did god give me these gifts" video is EVERYTHING

xp they still do! but that's more because of how tightly she controls her public image and private life. where I disagree with surm is that I think she hides her narcissism too well nowadays, it was so much more fun when she let her ego run rampant in destiny's child.

this 2001 village voice review of survivor perfectly encapsulates lots of the reasons beyoncé is so great

http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-05-01/music/beyonc-eacute-good-and-evil/

of course she's not as childish these days but the essence is still there

that "why did god give me these gifts" video is EVERYTHING

― lex pretend, Friday, January 11, 2013 10:03 AM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Forreal. Call me a sicko but she's so much sexier in that video than in those GQ pics it's not even funny.

those GQ pix are hott

terry richardson tho : (

can't be much of a challenge to take a good picture of her

no it can't

altho tbh i just looked at all of those pictures and was a little o_O

she looks good in that jersey tho

those GQ pix are hott

― surm, Friday, January 11, 2013 2:38 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh they are.

The sky is also blue.

if ever a picture called for a DAT ASS macro...

music blogs lost: http://mashable.com/2013/01/11/destinys-chid-new-song-nuclear-listen/

well I like this a lot

it's pretty good. i wonder what throwing one song out on an extremely arbitrary repackaging of oldies right before the Beyonce solo blitz begins again is about though. i'm guessing they thought about doing a full-on reunion, did a couple songs, then B changed her mind and they were like well let's at least put out this song.

i mean ... i just convinced my boyfriend to stop putting Destiny's Child tracks on at parties a year or two ago bc frankly i couldn't deal with it anymore, so i can understand not wanting to go full-steam ahead on the project

haha out of sympathy for you?

yah :-)

That new DC comp has only songs i don't think i've ever heard before.

#deepDCalbumcuts

WOW this song!

oh this new one is NICE

i like this a lot, but all the same, did they really just only record one song as a "reunion" thing?

This new Destiny's Child track is stunning imo

It's good but it doesn't scream comeback, which is probably all for the better

if you strike beyonce down, she will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine

Temporary suspension gives a diva a change of heart (8)

(Paul in Saturday's Grauniad cryptic)

This post, on the new DC track and a bunch of other shit, might be of interest to some of you:
http://cherryarea.blogspot.com/2013/01/awesomeawful.html

This new Destiny's Child track is stunning imo

― Yo! MTV La Tengo (Stevie D(eux)), Saturday, January 12, 2013 10:05 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.splicetoday.com/writing/more-choice-excerpts-from-beyonce-knowles-selected-letters-vol-1

yea the new destiny is really nice, i like it better than most DC

http://jezebel.com/5978008/beyonce-lip+synced-at-the-inauguration-breaks-the-worlds-heart

What kind of sad people care about the lip syncing? To me it seems like such a non-issue, but I guess Fox News needs something to talk about.

symbol of Obama's mendacity or something

i don't think she could have sung it for real people would have like fainted or something

true I hear she's pretty powerful

honestly i think i would have a heart palpitation

i heard my girl kelly sang live tho

What kind of sad people care about the lip syncing? To me it seems like such a non-issue, but I guess Fox News needs something to talk about.

haven't read the jezebel story and don't/wouldn't have fox news but "professional singer ought to be able to sing when performing publicly" seems a fairly innocuous opinion to hold

Singing is just one part of any Beyonce performance

yes. her hair is the other part.

I wonder if Kid Rock would have lip-synced if Mitt Romney had won.

- stolen from reddit

i think i'm more surprised by this than disappointed

From what I understand, lip-synching at huge events like these is pretty standard. Especially in those types of weather conditions.

I just thought it was obvious when I watched it. I also had no clue that people still cared about such things and didn't think it was totally commonplace.

^^
THIS

i have to say tho, that i just watched the kelly song, and it was so effective bc it was live. definitely more of an impact that way at such an occasion.

What kind of sad people care about the lip syncing? To me it seems like such a non-issue, but I guess Fox News needs something to talk about.

― Ulna (Nicole), Tuesday, January 22, 2013 9:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

First they came for Ashlee and I said nothing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p2MTKCLNsY

"any questions?"
<3

holy shit go america go beyoncé

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/Reizo777/GIFs/Bey/BeyoncePrince.gif

Question?

http://i.imgur.com/TKtVyrF.gif

idgi.. whitney houston lipsynched the national anthem and everyone was like "zomg best shit ever" but when beyonce lipsynchs twitter's all like "f u beyonce"

http://hellyeahbeyonceknowlescarter.tumblr.com/post/41995830816/caption-friend-met-beyonce-in-new-orleans-she

AMAZING

The trailer for her HBO special is so stupid ... "I always struggle with how much of myself to reveal" ... who gives a shit

mostly everyone

Ever since she was a young teen, Beyonce has been around large numbers of people who go absolutely apeshit over her. Often thousands of people simultaneously screaming like maniacs, sobbing, clutching themselves, hopping up and down like they're being electrocuted. Because of her.

Attributing all this to her superhuman powers is how she makes some kind of sense out of that fact.

Also a big part of being a pop star is titillation, "how much of myself to reveal" a good way to tease that.

That was ok

I sure didn't expect to be saying this, but Madonna was better last year.

no wai.

Too much dead air as she transitioned between songs, and the performance was not at all smooth. I didn't think she sounded particularly good either.

uh guys she was awesome

visuals were spectacular. not enough destiny's child material.

the dead air was filled by me going "holy shit, seriously, holy shit. this is awesome".

But at least no corny "world peace" ending

x-post

Was expecting more razzle dazzle, so nice that she had the sense to keep it focused almost exclusively on her. Lots of wiggling, not much singing, though.

Heard a rumor - rumour? - that My Bloody Valentine is doing it next year. Them or Van Halen.

pretty disappointing tbh

Who pays for the halftime show? Pepsi? NFL? Budget must fluctuate, though.

i just feel like ... she needs to start wearing pants

but i liked baby boy and the one right before it from 4. ballsy choices kept simple.

Pepsi better pay for a fair bit of it, given that I saw at least as much of the Pepsi logo in that ten mins as I did Beyonce.

the big lit up beyonce was p awesome

My mom said that she looked disgraceful because there were little kids watching ass shaking.

each one of those kids will grow up wanting to be president

at some point mega-pop music just became a big-budget aerobics class.

booooooooooooooooooooring

People who disliked this...I can't even.

surm would you care to explain the pants thing

"just became"

pop music hasn't been the same since John and Macca shook their bangs on Ed Sullivan and Elvis ate enough cornbread to develop hips.

i saw this w/ the sound muted and the Animals and Ramones on the jukebox of course

the dancing was awesome.

that crazy in love sort of contortionist crumple always slays.

Heard a rumor - rumour? - that My Bloody Valentine is doing it next year. Them or Van Halen.

What's with all these rumors lately about Them reuniting?

titanium hips replaced by large thighs

i didn't see the show but this gif startles and astonishes me:

http://img.gawkerassets.com/post/7/2013/02/dchq1.gif

like this is the way to fucking do it, no gentle trap doors that lift you slowly to the stage, i want to see destiny's child shoot up into the air like pieces of fabulous toast

http://img.gawkerassets.com/post/7/2013/02/dchq2.gif

there's a very real danger either of them could've fallen immediately, did beyonce plan it that way??????? i bet yes

i want to see destiny's child shoot up into the air like pieces of fabulous toast
i want to see destiny's child shoot up into the air like pieces of fabulous toast
i want to see destiny's child shoot up into the air like pieces of fabulous toast
i want to see destiny's child shoot up into the air like pieces of fabulous toast
i want to see destiny's child shoot up into the air like pieces of fabulous toast

most boring costumes ever

surm would you care to explain the pants thing

― manti 乒乓 (k3vin k.), Monday, February 4, 2013 3:21 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm just sick of seeing B in showgirl onesies, but i was just thinking for a straight guy it's probably different

this was great; switchblade destiny's child had me cracking up... like b had frozen them a few years ago and just defrosted them for this

I thought Kelly looked really hawt. But I kinda wanted B to wear pants too.

beyonce is my favourite Satanist

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/580699_526536534035063_685500407_n.jpg

kinda hilarious that beyonce didn't even let kelly and michelle turn their microphones on

all hail the quen b

Should have thrown "If I Were a Boy" in there.

‏@daveweigel

Sort of gauche for Beyonce to make the Destiny's Children sing her solo work. Like Beatles reuniting and singing "Mull of Kintyre."

sort of generous for beyoncé to allow two fans to join her on stage for one of her most iconic songs tbh

above and beyond the immense charity in allowing the football match to append itself to her comeback show

i loved that she opened with "love on top" even though it's not one of her best known songs (same with doing "end of time"), "baby boy" was probably the most impressive performance all-around, and unexpectedly i loved everything about "halo"

in summary:

People who disliked this...I can't even.

― Ulna (Nicole), Monday, February 4, 2013 3:20 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i kind of feel that i don't quite understand anyone who is not moved to relentlessly and hysterically stan for queen bey

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/02/03/beyonc_makes_rest_of_destiny_s_child_sing_single_ladies_insulting_them_yet.html

one of the dumbest articles I've seen recently

The last time I saw Destiny's Child was after Beyonce's first album, and there plenty of solo Beyonce songs.

Also, come on, she asked them nicely to sing it with her.

She's going to keep on not wearing pants, it would seem.

So unbelievably lame that her tour is called "Mrs. Carter." Who run the world, etc.

http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/news/49407/d6ba7df1.jpeg

I believe the new album is going to be called Mrs. Carter as well.

I can't say I love the name, but I always look forward to new stuff from Beyonce.

surm would you care to explain the pants thing

― manti 乒乓 (k3vin k.), Monday, February 4, 2013 3:21 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm just sick of seeing B in showgirl onesies, but i was just thinking for a straight guy it's probably different

― surm, Sunday, February 3, 2013 11:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i...could get behind...B in yoga pants, for sure

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/72987_10152559765140601_1270595700_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/530665_10152502496800601_463178343_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/598693_10152523455365601_125221919_n.jpg

I believe the new album is going to be called Mrs. Carter as well.

Fingers crossed for a Rosalynn guest-rap.

i kind of feel that i don't quite understand anyone who is not moved to relentlessly and hysterically stan for queen bey

― lex pretend, Monday, February 4, 2013 11:03 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

in my opinion Beyonce is an all around performer. she can entertain in nearly every capacity. but it's almost like she does it all so well - the package is so complete - that there is no one part of it for me that gives me chills. it's like a general intelligence factor - the b factor. it's a great dog and pony show, but it doesn't really get me in the gut.

I believe the new album is going to be called Mrs. Carter as well.

Independent Woman, etc.

you did that "joke" already

I kind of feel that I don't quite understand anyone who is moved to relentlessly and hysterically stan for anyone else.

aren't you the logical, objective one

I'll never understand having such a personal emotional reaction to a celebrity's death that snarkiness hurts or offends you. But diff'rent strokes...

― jaymc, Sunday, July 24, 2011 2:22 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

...yeah

hysterical stanning is a bit more dignified tbh

I'm watching the Super Bowl performance w MBV on instead of the music. 2 minutes in, Beyonce's thighs are more powerful than her mind can comprehend.

I want that guitar/flamethrower.

Independent Woman, etc.

― Walter Galt, Monday, February 4, 2013 10:15 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

rmde

@ you not her, she can call herself whatever the fuck she wants she's beyonce

can we implement an autohide feature for every poster who was not feeling this

^ new board description

Do we have a SB halftime show poll?

You guys seem kinda touchy about this. I mean she can call herself whatever the fuck she wants she's beyonce and all that. Sounds a little silly.

"Mrs. Carter" as a multi-million dollar worldwide global branding event seems kinda sad is all.

http://i.imgur.com/Kr58vQu.gif

totally rad halftime show!

at this point she's at a career peek and mr. carter has been past that for a long time, so i hardly think she's in his shadow in the least.

and mrs. carter is sort of her name too, so i'm not really sure what the issue is.

if anything, its probably a step forward to not be so much a knowles

they both went with knowles-carter tho

mrs carter is a great title but i suspect i won't be so into the old school R&B thing she seems to have an affection for. typically not what i've liked by her.

Haha okay, amazing:

“Friend met Beyonce in New Orleans, she said “Whatever face you make, I’ll make.”

http://25.media.tumblr.com/a62c01b83ad74f1e95546b1fbdd61654/tumblr_mhius90WOq1qkfs0wo1_400.jpg

great article

http://www.vulture.com/2013/02/nitsuh-abebe-on-beyonce.html

Nabisco otm.

Nobody but nobody (and/or Keyshia Cole) competes with Blige as queen of “organic,” in-the-trenches R&B. But what that quote reveals, mostly, is the gap between the Gen-Xers running nineties music and pop’s modern age, driven by millennials like Beyoncé. The nineties grew skeptical of the formal craft of show business, delighted in dressed-down rawness, quirk, and grit. Pop today seems to share much in common with the generation listening to it: It’s driven, hypercompetent, sensitive to public scrutiny. (Maybe it was overscheduled and helicopter-parented as a child.) It’s obsessed with achievement and esteem and has a fraught, anxious relationship with whatever personal fulfillment is meant to result from them. So what if, in a certain light, Beyoncé’s catalogue offers a rich examination of how it feels when drive and discipline really are your organic personality, and your feelings fight against layers of self-control and pragmatism, and the documentary you make about yourself shows you working hard to relax and experience your own emotions? “Stop pretending that I have it all together,” Beyoncé says in the movie. “I don’t want to never be satisfied. I don’t think that’s a healthy way to live.” What if plenty of today’s young women in particular have reason to relate to that dynamic every bit as strongly as 1992 related to getting beat up in the trenches?

It is, perhaps, bad news for the friend who recently told my wife she found that Super Bowl show a little depressing: “You feel like you’ve got it together, and then you look at her.”

ending an article with this subtle wife braggin... http://www.laughton.org/contest8/pow.gifhttp://fi.somethingawful.com/safs/titles/cd/e7/00152989.0001.gif

damn, is that what nabisco's sex life looks like?

Mentioning your wife is bragging?

He just said he had a wife to, you know, look like a big shot.

a writer with a wife... wow

haha this is like the thread where whiney got into trouble for daring to say "my girlfriend": http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?showall=true&bookmarkedmessageid=2978515&boardid=77&threadid=78581

Hey yo it gets even better: The person who said that to my wife said it at a NEW MOMS GROUP, which means I have a BABY too

That's right, I'll bet the haters feel pretty sad now with their little "free time" and "casual sex" and "vomit-free sweaters"

great article as usual but i was hoping nabisco would go deep on beyonce's whole 'recording her life 24/7' thing as mentioned in that GQ piece. it seems ripe for a DFW-ish essay.

oh hey

The only thing that I wondered about is the juxtaposition of blige who says she was ”knocked” around and her gen x audience versus beyonce's helicopter parented generation of fans.

I definitely think there's some truth to that but I kind of hate those generalizations because they feel sort of classist, as if millions of women in beyonces generation weren't brought up on public assistance not baby yoga classes

I just feel like this small subset of upper middle class parents and their excesses of over involved parenting gets painted on a whole generation, obscuring that for many kids their parents might be working two jobs not shuttling them to soccer practice or dance class

w0rd

hi nabisco!!

i shared that article the old-fashioned way (email) with a colleague of mine who recently gave a presentation to the entire department called "what would beyoncé do?" she thought it was excellent! (duh)

Great essay nabisco. Congratulations on the baby too - by flopson's estimate that makes you a heavyweight playa.

i'm going to my friend's on saturday and she's super into beyonce

and she's going to try and make us put on that "documentary"

and i'm going to say no

just say no

tbh not even i have that much interest in seeing the documentary

nice piece nabisco!

i shared that article the old-fashioned way (email) with a colleague of mine who recently gave a presentation to the entire department called "what would beyoncé do?" she thought it was excellent! (duh)

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, February 13, 2013 9:44 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's not old fashioned, that's DARK SOCIAL

omg baby nabisco

congrats to you and ms. nabisco!

ab3b3 with a baby

I definitely think there's some truth to that but I kind of hate those generalizations because they feel sort of classist, as if millions of women in beyonces generation weren't brought up on public assistance not baby yoga classes

I hear this, and am equally wary about generational blanket statements that apply strictly to the upper-middle class. But ... at least in terms high-expectation-having, insane-work-ethic, Practice-Practice-Practice parents and hyper-focused achievement-oriented kids, I really don't see that class distinction; if anything, I feel like those things are common in people who don't have a lot, and see more at stake! There are different flavors of the same dynamic somewhere in every class identity. (You constantly hear lower-middle-class versions in athletics -- you know, "my mom hand-built a basketball hoop out of old bits of scrap metal, and woke me up at dawn to practice so I could get scholarships...") (And then B's seems pretty particular, the one where a parent comes a long way on his/her own steam, then expects the children to use all the advantages he/she didn't have to hit whole new levels -- see also immigrant parents.)

But yes, I totally hear you; I feel weird and weaselly about age-cohort generalizations. I wouldn't want to take this one too far beyond "it's interesting that B has qualities that seem to feature more prominently in her generation than previous ones."

(I think the way certain research puts it is that at some point kids became "more central to their parents lives" than kids were previously, which can mean working double shifts to pay for dance class and sitting up all night sewing the costume you can't afford to buy as easily as it can mean baby yoga)

just read the article, nabisco. i liked it, it makes a v convincing case.

i understand why Beyonce would speak to ladies today in the same way Mary J did. I think perhaps this sense of transformation within her has explained the very different patches of sound she's traveled through as a solo artist. i do forget just how much some of her songs have impacted me. but even though she seems to be flexing different muscles along the way, there is indeed something about Beyonce, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston that does not resonate with me. Not like Mary J's voice does. what i hope is that she continues to bridge a lack of formalism with a bit of modernity, as she seems to have done gradually over the years.

and if she wants to incorporate more Tina Turner in her work, I am definitely ready for that.

i saw some DVD of Beyonce live on TV, i think it was in vegas maybe? anyway, smaller setting, smaller audience and it was in general sort of a bonkers weird performance from a human angle, she's so used to throwing these shapes and fierce facial expressions that scan really well to an arena audience but seem really overdone and offputting (and emotionally blank, for me at least) in a smaller setting.

not that it's not a skill in itself, i saw U2 once and came away sort of in awe of ILX punching bag Bono's ability to really "project" to a 25,000 seat arena, which Beyonce really did well at the superbowl, but the same thing in a smaller setting just read as phony and stagey to me, which might be what mary j blige is getting at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzsbzec-heI
the degree of commitment and lack of irony are why neal is my second favorite beyonce
fuck dude laughing btw

I'm still laughing at "wife braggin", great article though.

i heard a muzak version of "deja vu" in the elevator at work after reading this over lunch. i was like, damn.

nice work, btw, nabisco

hey n1tsuh, congrats on two counts!

i liked your article. i wish the comments were worthy of it; mostly just a lot of "she is manufactured"/"no she isn't" back and forth.

the one issue i had was that reading pop songs biographically can feel like cherry-picking. not that the song lyrics aren't a component of her star persona--some undoubtedly are. but on each album, as with many pop albums that strive to be "well rounded," are songs about breakups, songs about new love, songs about being in love, songs about etc. and only certain ones can be confidently or productively read biographically. so it can be too easy to (again) cherry pick songs that reinforce a particular narrative of beyonce's career and changing persona/interests. you could probably construct a counter narrative just as readily, using different songs.

also this might be an ignorant question but what might mary j blige _mean_ exactly when she talks about being "down in the trenches"? is she speaking of the music industry? of life experience? i felt that it's a quote that deserves to be interrogated/unpacked, since for me anyway it doesn't conjure up much more than a vague attitude rather than a set of particular experiences or events...

i think she's really just speaking about the kind of R&B she sings and the kind of artist she is -- Mary's always been on the raw emotion end of the spectrum, more feeling than technique, really openly autobiographical songs about the rough times she's been through, not a whole lot of choreography or fashion. just a very different bag from B's little miss perfect showbiz camp vibe.

right but "down in the trenches" seems to draw a bridge between the lyrical content/vocal approach and some kind of genuine, earned life experience and I'm just not sure what that is supposed to say about Beyoncé by contrast (who has never exactly struck me as having a "showbiz camp" vibe since she draws from similar vocal traditions that emphasize grit and growl etc.).

there's some grit and soul in beyonce's delivery but if you have truck with the idea that she's a talent show princess then you should take that up with the entire thread as well as the entire nabisco piece, frankly.

i dunno if mary is talking about 'down in the trenches' in any meaningful experience or career way -- she's been a platinum superstar since the age of 21 herself.

Interesting that for me the best parts of 4 are when B appropriates Blige-esque confessionalism and gives it a high gloss ("I Miss U," "Best Thing I Ever Had"), by which I mean B is too practical to be taken in by psychobabble.

yeah, i guess so. it's just an interesting phrase to use since while we're taking it as applying to her music, it seems to evoke a whole lifestyle or set of experiences that that music is trying to project--without necessarily having a ton of literal meaning in terms of the two singers' private lives.

xpost

i mean ... it seems to be a plain distinction to me. mary sings about ugliness. mary sometimes, has an ugly voice. in a good way. beyonce, on the other hand, doesn't. not really. not yet. obviously she's trying to go there, what with her growling affectations at the bowl and all. and on parts of 4. but that hasn't been the case so much. and of course that speaks to personal lives. people who know ugliness tend to sing about it. doesn't have to be a judgment call, but that's just the way it is. down and dirty, it's a look, and it comes from somewhere.

also pls keep in mind that i'm a joint in and champagne happened so if i didn't follow the conversation properly 'm sorry

laboratory conditions for mjb study right there

prosecco and blowback for keyshia cole

4loko and crank for k michelle

beyonce vs mjb is such a weird comparison, as al says they're just very different artists

it's telling that the one traumatic event in b's life (that we know of) - her miscarriage - was something you'd never have been able to glean from her songs.

excellent piece, nabisco. And it also makes her marriage to Jay - who did come from the "trenches" but also equals her current superstardom - interesting in a new way, I think.

lol @ r|t|c

The trenches is a reference to when she was nearly killed by the Green Goblin yet saved by Spiderman.

basically what i'm getting out of this special is that beyonce really wanted to make "girls" happen as an anthem, and is still sort of pretending that it did.

lol

You can see the doccumentary here (for the moment): http://www.rap-up.com/2013/02/17/10-things-we-learned-from-beyonces-hbo-documentary/

"who did come from the "trenches" but also equals her current superstardom"

so does "coming from the trenches" just mean "come from poverty" and how does that relate to musical or vocal style?

my wife came away from this documentary with:

- a much higher level of respect for Beyonce, her talent and her work ethic
- the solidified opinion that Beyonce is kind of dumb

Couldn't get through the doc. Too earnest and slow.

don't worry i'm sure there'll be another one next year

lol @ DJP

too true

how does jay-z come off in this "documentary"?

uh like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZYlsog8Kb8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDT4ZimB6e4

WHERE ART MEETS GOD

Gart?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2286802/Snakes-skinned-alive-Beyonces-boots-blood-True-price-trainers-FOUR-exotic-creatures.html

sorry i just can't get this headline out of my head

Skinned: The team behind the sneakers used ostrich skin for the tongue of the shoes and Anaconda for the heel and toes detailing to please Beyonce

tbh I am disappointed it's only four exotic creatures, I feel like Beyonce should be walking on the skins of all the creatures who missed Noah's ark

those are some ugly-ass sneakers

not clear why they can't kill the snakes first?

come on now, would you really wear sneakers made from dead snake when you could rock the living thing?

yah live snakes make the BOOTS OF BLOOD toastier

http://deadspin.com/a-women-kissing-a-nerd-beyonce-girating-her-vagina-453694473

Beyoncé is a "slut." She "gyrated her pelvis," "humping the air for 13 minutes." She "dressed like a stripper" dancing in "erotica fashion." Her "breasts protruded out, her butt almost completely showed." She "showed her vaginal area to all the world." Some people had very different reactions to the Super Bowl than the rest of us.

If you get enough Americans in one place, it's a guarantee that some of them will find something to be offended about. We saw it last year, as viewers bombarded the FCC with complaint after complaint about the halftime show, which featured M.I.A giving the camera the middle finger. Would would this year bring, in a strange Super Bowl that saw an extended blackout, Joe Flacco dropping an F-bomb, and Beyoncé? To find out, Deadspin has obtained viewers' complaints via a FOIA request.

excellent URL....

You could probably find 48 out of 108.7 million people that thought their TV was telling them to burn their houses down.

i need to find this again, but i'd read that it's essentially one very motivated religious group with about a dozen members that generates 90% of all complaints to the FCC

And here we go.

(this is pretty great)

HELLO

produced by Hit-Boy apparently?

This is so ODD
tremendously unexpected
ugk shoutouts!
i think i like it!

THE CAPITAL B MEANS I'M BOUT THAT LIFE

This is good and then it's GREAT

(B that's a monosynth tho it doesn't do chords)

kinda jarring at first like whaaaat but I'm down

a lot of coloring outside the lines
strange choice to make the first leak to not even really feature her voice!
"i took some to time to live my life / but don't think i'm just his little wife" <-yow

this is amazing

o rly bey 14 in 99

It's her TRON.

lol

really this ought to be p cringe and unnecessary tbh but on grounds of promo heat, putting the growl on and last but v much not least cover art i'll give it a pass

plz no more gripping grain etc on album tho kthx

lol this song is stupid

trying to understand the appeal of beyonce's chopped & screwed rapping aside from the concept of it

WOW

found this clip a few hours ago. Condescending as hell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=FfCIafZZx6I&feature=endscreen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=FfCIafZZx6I&feature=endscreen

"Mixylodian"

and stuff like that

fwiw the rest of that interview is him being wowed by chief keef

omg prince works at a puppet museum this explains everything

Oh shit it's ON

weird year to finally go chopped and screwed, but i love the song and i love the zig-zag career move.

total club banger too i'd imagine.

capital b means i'm bout that life.

don't hate it but "Diva" as lead single, or "Run The World" redux, is about the last thing i was hoping to hear as a teaser for this album

i honestly am wondering if maybe the final song is a lengthy exploration of the first minute and the rest of this is an outro/into tacked on?
Not tired of this yet but I could see where I could burn out eventually.
I wonder if she's gonna do some camille-style ish and make a male alter ego called Mr. Carter that creeps all over the album.

feel like doing a screw voice here and there is just something that's in almost everybody's toolbox now and it's never surprising when it happens, albeit w/ this she has some houston roots to remind people of

i like this track way better than diva or run the world. there's lots going on with the tempos grinding against one another and the tweaking synth against the operatic vocals with a little growl and then the screwed vocals pulling it down again. its constantly busy and full and surprising, while diva and girls where rhythmic but sparse (and by that token sort of dull i thought). there's something both really hilarious and thrilling about beyonce's baritone shout out to ugk too.

its not just the screwed voice, but the whole track really feels like it captures lots of what made chopped and screwed stuff feel exiting to begin with.

TEXAS TRILL

but no one really thinks this is a single, right? I'd be surprised if it even made the album.

yeah it's just a buzz thing prob but if it catches on in a real way they might let it ride out

cake / like / lady / gaga

approve of big popstars riding weirdo underground rap beats for rando soundcloud whatevia (cf willow smith riding radiohead), it's all v enjoyable. between the pitch-shifting and the twists and turns of the beat itself (the opera switch-up?!) it pretty much sounds like b is mucking around in the studio in full view, which is a sort of logical conclusion, culture-wise

i hope some of the ideas on this track get fleshed out more in proper songs

SMACK THAT TRICK
SMACK THAT TRICK

remember when letoya luckett was on that chopped & screwed h-town shit though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTIaK4LnqCM

cake / like / lady / gaga

― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Monday, March 18, 2013 4:59 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha thought the same thing

"remember when letoya luckett was on that chopped & screwed h-town shit though"

don't you remember? this is a beyonce thread, nobody's allowed to talk about the other members of destiny's childless unless it's in the form of vaguely condescending memes.

does hit-boy have any other productions nearly as exciting (outside, maybe, of his stuff for nicki minaj)?

even the minaj tracks would probably be pretty dull if it weren't for supporting some killer verses.

actually now that i think about it, if all hit-boy did was the raw backing track, nearly everything interesting is happening with the sliced vocals over it, which potentially he had nothing to do with.

approve of big popstars riding weirdo underground rap beats for rando soundcloud whatevia

you can't even be serious with this post

M______ D'______
2 hours ago via mobile
The chorus of Beyonce's new affirmative, inspired track, "Bow Down":

"Bow down bitches, bow down bitches."

Resonant. Truly one for the ages.

Like ·

C_____ R______ D___ and 3 others like this.
M___ C_____ Good lord !! Is it a metaphor ? Or did she recently acquire some breed of dog that's notoriously difficult to train ??
43 minutes ago · Like

its funny reading the comments section and seeing everyone shaking their damn heads at this and also not knowing what screw is.

found this clip a few hours ago. Condescending as hell.

eh, i don't know about that, his attitude is very reminiscent of what i've heard from old-school jazz dudes (play piano, know your fundamentals, be a real well-rounded musician). he's not saying she's not great at what she does, it's what i expect from elder statesman Prince.

it's mostly that he's all like "the sky's the limit if she can get her musicianship right" and it's like dude, she did your gig at the superbowl this year; she's doing fine

that interview's from 2004 fyi

lol

haha

hardsonned and accepted

I'm surprised nobody has brought up Ciara's "Ride" yet in comparison.

biggest lol for me is how he pronounces "mixolydian" like "Nickelodeon"

this is causing a fuss

What a HOT MESS. This is the most stupidest (If this is a word) song I've ever heard. WTH??? It's whack, dumb, lame, stupid and any other negative word out there for it. It lacks talent and creativity. I'm speechless. Please get with Solange and Ne-Yo so they can write some more songs for you. Not impressed by this song. It makes so sense.

azalea banks again?

haha no lots of random people on the internet hating this song because A) "she's supposed to be a feminist icon and she said the b-word oh my delicate ears" and B) they have no idea about any of the music it draws from. seriously polarizing.

still sounds pretty good to me

Keyshia on the new song:

"Can't stand when people all self righteous when it's convenient it makes them look good," she wrote, calling out the "Love On Top" for her aggressive song. "But can still talk sh-t when convenient 2 FOH."

"First 'Women need to Stick together' now b-tches better Bow," she continued. "Smh. But it's all G! Chicks stay shooting the sh-t…"

i like to believe that kesha now can only speak in l33t

Between this and the Michelle comments, it's as if she is working her way down the Destiny's Child roster looking for people to start beef with.

A good feminist is a polite feminist, obv.

beyoncé says "bitch" => AWFUL WOMAN-HATING BAD FEMINIST
kendrick says "bitch" => ALBUM OF THE YEAR

imo "bitches" in a context like this can be used to denote anyone of either sex

http://instagram.com/p/XEqEwgqQQu/

maybe Beyonce should have said bish instead

http://www.theroot.com/views/beyonc-s-bow-down-pro-women-anthem

oh man that shirt ;_;

basically superbowl/docu/bitches is an ott hat trick that gives ppl the unexpected chance to say fuck off to her like they would a normal mortal

it's a shame they then have to gussy it up with this feminism canard tho

the inauguration too

i mean idk though maybe that's just the brit in me talking

like beyonce couldnt have lasted ten seconds here without someone shouting OI WHO DO U THINK U ARE and throwing a blood sausage at her

oh man that shirt ;_;

― shit tie (Jordan), Wednesday, 20 March 2013 20:57 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

do u think he got it done himself or that she gives them out, i really can't decide

like beyonce couldnt have lasted ten seconds here without someone shouting OI WHO DO U THINK U ARE and throwing a blood sausage at her

― r|t|c, Wednesday, March 20, 2013 4:06 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

w/o gainsaying your take on tall-poppyism here, those inclined to do so here have bigger betes noire in mind (do you see)

little bit drunk tbh but while yes, i think i do see, is that not overreaching somewhat

maybe, maybe, but i'm not the guy to ask tbh; i don't pay much attn to discourse about beyonce except at an ilx-remove! US political media, otoh... Rev mentioning the inauguration put me in mind of fact that in the larger american media ecosystem, proclivity to shit-talk her is largely partisan, at least recently. but yeah we're getting away from bow down here.

yeah i mean as a good morning america thing it probably is mad suspect but keyshia cole is a fairly canny operator and wouldnt have lunged at bey's wig without the intuition of acting upon a popular groundswell

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/rush-limbaugh-beyonce-anti-feminist-article-1.1294359
i mean wtf

here's the tape
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/03/20/limbaughs-sexist-misinterpretation-of-beyonceac/193156

https://soundcloud.com/bunbtrillog/beyonce-i-been-on-remix-ft-bun-b-zro-scarface-willie-d-slim-thug-lil-keke

that's fun, if disposable

kinda digging "Bow Down/I Been On" now! when she does these seemingly brittle aggressive songs the little harmonies and subtleties of her vocal performance kinda sneak up on me.

yeah, first noticed that on "in da club" - those imperious "oooh-oh" backing vox are all-time B for me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RavZNpbV60

!!!!!

great, she's collaborating with Noel Gallagher

haha judging from the beat and the return of the robot hand she's really itching for another "single ladies"

Married ladies.

eeeh getting unfortunate vibes from this

returning hairstyle makes her look kinda old tbh

put a ring on that tree trunk amirite

of the announced producers for this album it sounds most likely to be Timbo, which may be interestingly only insofar as him going for a club banger in a way that the Justin album studiously avoided

was that 6 second clip sampling Milkshake cause it sort of sounds so

imagine if the first single off beyonce's new album is a cover of milkshake

I am trying to imaging "Milkshake" with Beyonce melisma and I think I may die from lols

twitter would explode

this new single sounds great! pity we can only hear about 20 seconds of it

the single is indeed by timbo

sounds like he's recycled the "pass the dutch" beat

FULL SONG OR WHO GIVES A SHIT

fucking adverts, ffs

and pepsi is gross

not sure how this differs from any commercial tie-in? justin timberlake's mcdonalds thing?

well, JT's was unique in that "I'm Lovin' It" was pretty directly tied to enjoying the product and variations on the chorus as performed by other singers were used as an ad jingle for years and years after the JT song faded. this is more like when Kanye did his Pepsi ad and "Heard 'Em Say" was the song snippet in the ad just because that was his current single at the moment.

yeah, probably not the greatest example but on the other hand I don't see how this is anything unprecedentedly crass. every time a major musician gets a major endorsement deal the exact same hands are wrung the exact same way

i don't think anyone's that mad today about B doing an ad campaign (which she publicly inked the deal for months ago), it's the big teaser announcement yesterday that looked like it was for most likely a new single/video and mentioned nothing about Pepsi that is an annoying bait and switch.

i mean given how much money she's getting from Pepsi (fifty fucking million!), it's entirely possible the very terms of the deal require her to debut her single through them and make sure her fanbase has to preview it by seeing their ad. but the trickery is still pretty dickish.

eh, I couldn't possibly care less

(to the point where I haven't even checked out the commercial yet, lol)

well yeah i haven't checked out the commercial either. i'm just speaking for what i thought it was clear lex was annoyed with.

to be fair pretty much everything in pop requires one to post big teaser announcements, this one just looks more prominent because it's beyonce. but everyone from a- to like d-list does this for everything.

(which doesn't make it any less annoying, it just isn't innovatively annoying)

it is kind of interesting how B has had this very gradual campaign over the last 3 months of kind of insistently reminding everyone that she's one of the biggest stars in the world before putting out a radio single and risking missing the top 10 like every single off her last album.

imo let's stop pointing out precedent and live for now

I dunno, I've suffered through too many previews of fucking david guetta teasers to be surprised by this

i know all sorts of artists do previews but i had no idea anyone actually watched previews for david guetta or w/e, different kettle of fish when it's someone actually major

somewhat relieved that "Grown Woman" is not the lead single it turns out: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/1556326/beyonce-previews-new-song-grown-woman-in-pepsi-commercial

pop stars can get advertising deals from whomever and plan their campaigns however they like, what i was annoyed by is people just unthinkingly jumping on to their marketing campaign moves and getting excited over, what, six seconds and then one minute of music. it's not exciting, it's just pure content for news aggregate sites, it adds nothing

tour has just started in europe and NO new songs on the setlist for night one :(

1min of music is A LOT atm ! (thinking about Daft...).

beyonce's not really a 'debut new songs on the road' kind of artist and it wouldn't really make sense for her to be anyway. plus it would just be annoying for shaky cellphone footage of any new song to hit the blogs and be a big topic of discussion.

Yeah, you wonder whether this was the plan all along (huge world tour to promote...nothing? Beyoncé-as-brand? Possible greatest hits?) or whether the album's gestation didn't go as planned

Sort of weird she didn't at least release the full version of the pepsi single pre-tour, since it's one song we know is done

What are the chances that she'll release the album mid tour, or when the tour his hits the US, then change the set list up?

ok bow down is awesome

she's in another commercial!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcD4KPTPE2w

i think the editing is an elaborate joke

WHAT is this terrible campaign beyoncé ;_;

the result of firing matthew

if that had any effect at all on the quality of her output i doubt it was negative

song sounds pretty promising imo

oh I don't think it's affected the quality of her music (tho it might have given her more artistic license), just that the execution of her album campaigns have seemed really messy and disorientated since he left the helm. a big part of her rise to stardom w/ dc and becoming a solo star was a result of how ruthlessly efficient he was as a manager

obv there's personal reasons behind the split so i'm not holding it against her or anything

ehhhhh no

the prolonged run-up to this album feels more like, in the parlance of Bono, 're-applying for the job of the biggest [singer] in the world' to me, reminding us she's the alpha dog over and over before any single goes for sale on iTunes.

This mess of a build-up is swelling my admiration for Daft Punk's promo campaign.

eh seems much more likely to me that things are off behind the scenes. she had the superbowl and this whole media blitz planned out this spring, surely in the expectation to promote something, it seems like the single and album plans just fell through. especially as they were talking up her and jt bring back r&b with timbo etc. and had pencilled in april as the release date and now everything's gone silent. it seems like the album wasn't ready in time or they wanted to take it in another direction or something. which is fine but as a result the whole campaign has seemed chaotic. idk maybe bono is right but i don't think beyonce needs to remind us she's the alpha dog (and if she needs to shore that up all she needs to do is drop another "single ladies" which we all know she's capable of) and if anything she's looking less imperious than she did a few months ago. if it's all intended we'll see if it pays off i guess.

I hate advertising and I'd check these out if they weren't in ads.

well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWpBTnEjTLM

seriously? Beyonce and Andre 3K make a half assed cover of a key amy winehouse track and ilx has no opinion?

We talked about it on the great gays by soundtrack thread

Omglol at autocorrect

hahahaha

my opinion on this cover is gonna be 90% determined on whether baz uses it for, like, a love scene.

revised opinion: I actually do not hate this. I may even like it. it is interesting, and compared to the more-Ronson-than-Ronson stuffy airless cover I was expecting, I think I will take interesting. I'm not even being willfully contrarian here; you know if the name attached wasn't Baz but, I dunno, Future or fucking Farrah Abraham, it would get a few defenders.

(also, if mark ronson is now what passes for untouchable territory, then seriously what is even going ON)

this is just a preview of how awful it's going to be to hear Andre sing as Jimi Hendrix in a few months

ummm, I don't think it's Ronson that people are getting all "this is untouchable" about

you know if the name attached wasn't Baz but, I dunno, Future or fucking Farrah Abraham, it would get a few defenders.

you're right, i would be a lot more interested if Future's The Great Gatsby or Farrah Abraham's The Great Gatsby was opening in theaters this week

Future Scott Fitzgerald

Pretty sure there's a video of Farrah taking a Great Gatsby from behind online this week.

maybe i'm doing it wrong but when i think of "back to black" the first thing that comes to mind is amy and not ronson

yeah but ever since the tragedy of Mark Ronson continuing to live people tend to associate the song with him

xp yeah seriously

and who cares whether it's ronson? his production on that amy album is great

it is interesting, and compared to the more-Ronson-than-Ronson stuffy airless cover I was expecting, I think I will take interesting

i really wanted to give it kudos for this at least and i guess maybe i do but it's still a trainwreck

So what's the deal on this album? What is she waiting for?

well there's a pregnancy rumour going around for one

never stopped her before

she's dropping the album in 30 song snippets at 1,250 different retail stores around the world

she's giving birth to the album in 9 months

she made the daft punk album

she's giving birth to the album in 9 months

― The Reverend, Monday, May 20, 2013 3:08 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

each CD comes embedded in beyonce's amniotic fluid

I'll avoid the obvious Flaming Lips joke

oh hey this is good

https://soundcloud.com/inside-the-studio/grown-woman-beyonc-full

oh wow at this afro part 2/3rds of the way in

I KNOW RIGHT???

I like that she's going even farther in the direction of "End of Time"

bro I am taking yr DN 1 step further

I like this song. IT AINT NO FUU UUUN IF THE HOMIES A GIRL CANT HAAAAVE NONE

girl, you bit my dn and made it less funny smh @ u face

this song sounds good but is that a live recording or a demo or...

feasting on scraps here

it's clearly a normal studio track with some crowd noise incorporated into the track -- not really sure WHY there's crowd noise in the song, thematically or w/e

Nice

The crowd noise works, I think.

like the first three times i listened i paused because i was convinced some other song was playing in another tab. that being said, i think it's pretty fantastic.

seems like they took the soundcloud down overnight though and now i'm kinda fiending for it

i googled around and found a rip up on perez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga5Rf4XaPWQ

The bass line sounds like a sample of Cookie Monster gobbling his dinner.

The exotic percussion stuff and titular gender stuff connects this directly to "Run The World (Girls)," no? Beyonce going all global citizen on us.

I'm really deeply tired of Timbaland/Cookie Monster beatboxing. I hear it and immediately want to shut off the song.

the Maya-ish art at this Spin stream caught my eye: http://www.spin.com/articles/beyonce-grown-woman-full-stream

super fun song. it's like End of Time meets Girls

"cause i walk with a vengeance"

love the touches of what sounds like synthy electric bass in the background with these seinfeld-ish riffs. and then the horns and the nursery rhyme fading into the afrobeat-ish stuff.

this is pretty thrilling. miles better than girls (run the world).

i love this too, but i will also rep whole-heartedly for "run the world"

is this still up anywhere?

https://soundcloud.com/daddykremix/beyonce-grown-woman-full

Just heard "Grown Woman" blaring out of a car in the parking deck here at work. Dunno if it was on the radio or not.

So I take it this wasn't an intentional release?

i heard it on one of the top 40 radio stations in my town tonight, fwiw

"look at my body - it ain't no fun if a girl can't have none" is such a fantastic sudden flip of the male gaze

"Standing On The Sun" is a million times better than "Grown Woman" imo

has that emerged in full yet?

there's video of her doing the full song in concert but no studio vers. besides the part used in that one ad

oh ok that's what i thought - there's also a fake fan-made "full length" one that's apparently just a loop. i remember really liking the advert snippet but i am sticking to my "i can wait for the full non-live hq song" policy

yeah i'm generally tired of all these piecemeal leaks but i think "standing" is pretty exciting and "grown woman" is barf

In the live vid of standing on the sun there's a bit with her singing faster that sounds pretty exciting (that wasn't in the h&m ad)

yeah the part w/ the different cadence sounds dope. the chords in the hook are crazy though.

the drums sounded really thin on the studio version, kinda ruined the song for me

"studio version" being the ad

can someone please explain to me the rationale behind hiding away a potentially huge summer hit like "standing on the sun"

like wtf this song is so good and would have such broad appeal, just throw it on itunes already http://hovbey.tumblr.com/post/53912770254/khalif-beyonce-standing-on-the-sun

i dunno about hiding away; is this a leak or what?
even on first listen it's fucking great regardless

it's a leak and i'm pretty sure it's not the final version because when she did it live there was a different section where she went double time or something, but yeah she's missing a big opportunity with this one imo

on eighth listen it's fucking great

Wow this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzuPsF9lUO8

that url had me scared for a sec that maybe they'd added a Wiz Khalifa verse to the song

Wonder where they got a studio quality rip of her rap for this remix, since it wasn't in that demo that leaked?

https://soundcloud.com/beyoncediario/standing-on-the-sun-sos-reggae/s-cQd0J

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jul/25/beyonce-rejects-50-songs-new-album?CMP=twt_gu

Binning 2013-era Terius and Diplo probably a very wise move.

she supposedly recorded like 70 songs for 4, and that turned out pretty well. but she managed to keep a low profile while that album was being made, and then rolled it out pretty quickly, compared to this kind of public flailing.

Yeah doing a Kanye/Jay/Daft Punk and WAITING UNTIL YOU HAVE THE ALBUM FINISHED before rolling yr massive hype bandwagon is generally advisable.

wonder who's currently digging through the rejected beyoncé song dollar bin.

mutya keisha siobhan picked up a lovely ballad for just 5.99.

kind of intriguing/surprising that kanye and jay went all out with headline-grabbing non-trad promo campaigns (which were perfectly executed) while beyoncé's has disintegrated into this mess. talking about it on twitter, lots of people seem to think she's still beholden to her label in a way they aren't, and they're disappointed after 4...

the funny thing is people don't even seem to get B's castoffs very often (as opposed to how several artists have had singles out lately that everyone knows were originally written for Rihanna). and those songs never seem to leak, and probably won't get any kind of big deluxe archival reissue treatment someday. seems like kind of a waste, i'm sure there's some good stuff there.

Yeah doing a Kanye/Jay/Daft Punk and WAITING UNTIL YOU HAVE THE ALBUM FINISHED before rolling yr massive hype bandwagon is generally advisable.

indeed but this begs the question of why the hell she didn't! given that she's a) tight with jay and kanye and would've been privy to their plans, b) she's fucking BEYONCÉ, this is massively out of character...

plus that weird "new Destiny's Child song! but just one, thrown on an otherwise totally unnecessary compilation" thing.

I get the sense that Beyonce just doesn't know which direction to go in.

i mean she has a friggin' baby, absolutely nobody would fault her if she wanted to take another year or two off, but instead she's out on a world tour

Yeah, kind of being overlooked that she is touring right now. Touring, of course, being an aspect of promotion. No doubt she had the tour booked before she bumped the record back to fall (or whenever).

"lots of people seem to think she's still beholden to her label in a way they aren't, and they're disappointed after 4"

to be fair I think the pop rules are probably slightly different in this regard

i did think the superbowl/documentary/world tour did seem quite soon after she had her daughter but if there was any uncertainty at that stage i don't know why she didn't just hold off, it would've been the optimum time to take a hiatus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VprmD6oXpFQ

Yeah doing a Kanye/Jay/Daft Punk and WAITING UNTIL YOU HAVE THE ALBUM FINISHED before rolling yr massive hype bandwagon is generally advisable.

i dunno much about that jay-z record (still haven't heard it) and i guess that theory works for the daft punk one but didn't kanye record like half of yeezus' lyrics a week or two before it was actually released?

anyway all i want is for her to release standing on the sun on itunes. don't throw that one away B! please.

also i've been listening to b'day a lot recently and i love 4 and its babymaking qualities with all my heart but man i would kinda also love her to go back into that cavalcade of craziness / boss uptempo mode on whatever she does next

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http://iam.beyonce.com/post/69000834571/los-angeles-california-2013-photographed-by-rob

u_____u

"4 months pass"

she's created a digital library of her every waking moment since 2005 just so she can summon any given incident up easily

i just watched the awesome "the entire history of you" episode of "black mirror," and that's pretty much the plot. someone should warn beyonce that these things do not have happy endings.