Admission: Beyonce I’ve always liked you, now I like you more.

Hear me right, I like Beyonce. I’ve always thought she has an amazing voice. I’ve always thought that she wore the cape of a diva superhero when she gets on stage and unleashes an energy that only Michael Jackson could harness. I can relate to Beyonce, she looks like a friend of mine I had a crush on for a little while; always had make-up on, always in extensions and wearing them high heels like she was reaching for the heavens.

However, there’s one thing I never really liked about Beyonce and even her entourage, Destiny’s Child. It was her songs.  On the real, all of the songs felt a bit cheesy, contrived, and too ambitious to a point of naivety.

So I would refrain from even listening. In fact it would be more than that. I would literally run, when I heard a group of girls in high school singing any tacky pop melody like “Say My Name Say My Name” or “I am a survivor,” and all that nonsense. I couldn’t take it. Even in 2009 when “Single Ladies” was on everyone’s phone ringtone, was on almost every commercial and became the anthem for pop-culture in that year I would literally cringe at the sound of hearing it.

But still, that didn’t mean that I hated Beyonce.

I still loved Beyonce.

Whenever I would watch a live performance the songs would become a backdrop to the spectacular and extravagance which was embedded in her every dance move, and that voice that was a cross-over of an R&B diva who sang loves songs and “in bad taste” sing-along as if she was unleashing the heavens with the sophistication, which was tagged in every note she sang.
So I had a problem with Beyonce.

My view of her was almost schizophrenic. Here was this young diva, with a super voice and yet it seemed like the songs were not living up to it and the standard of her performance.  

Now the diva of pop has released the cryptically titled album, 4. With her first release Run the World I was loathing to hear what she had in her sleeves.

So there I was watching this newly released video of a dance battle with Beyonce hooking up a pantsula dance with a fiery flair and meticulous precision. And I loved it. Yet again her lyric was still about “girls ruling the world”.

I couldn’t pretend. I didn’t relate. So I assumed very quickly that Beyonce was mastering her recipe of success;  sing what every girl wants to sing along to.

But to be honest, until I heard the new material on this album I was swayed. There was almost a personality change or either a different musical approach that the songstress had adapted to. Beyonce hasn’t sounded more probing into emotion and easier to believe. The warmth of the synths and the heavy hip-hop and pop influenced beats embrace the love, hate and full of mixed emotions lyric and the drama of her voice.

First and foremost is 1 + 1, which is not layered. Just electric and bass guitar reminiscent of 70s and 80s and more accurately a Prince epoch, and nothing more is happening here. All the feistiness and tragedy is sustained by the singer. No camouflage seems apparent; Beyonce is singing the story as it should be told. Finally she is reaching out to a man.

But boys don’t be too excited, she still not feeling us all the way. On Best thing I ever Had, the ladies are represented. If you let your girl down, she might just sing this one to you. Under a 90s pop-piano, her voice has angst, sorrow and victory and she ain’t slipping. The voice is strong and her Beyonce is playing a role where she  is defiantly moving on.   

Each song marks a performance which lives out to the class of perfomer. And finally, the voice, lyrics and mood of pop are slowly aligning with one another.

I am won over.

Hope it lasts…

Advertisement