Long Live the Queen: Beyoncé Drops New Album

Not many artists can secretly develop an album and drop it without any publicity beforehand and still have it sell like crazy. Well, apparently Beyonce isn’t like many other artists. She released her album titled “BEYONCE” on Dec. 12 and it sold 430,000 copies in America within one day. This is a huge deal seeing as Miley Cyrus’ “Bangerz” album sold 270,000 in the first week of being released. Billboard reports recognize “BEYONCE” as the FASTEST selling record on iTunes.

Beyonce’s album includes multiple collaborations with big names such as Jay-Z and Drake. She even has one song featuring her daughter Blue Ivy which still really confuses me because I can’t seem to understand what her daughter contributed to the song and I’m pretty sure her daughter is only like 1 year old…

Beyonce calls it a “visual album” with 17 videos released for the 14 songs on it, including a few bonus videos. These videos are full-blown music videos, nothing like Kanye West’s video that featured Kim Kardashian buck- naked on a motorcycle.

The videos have great charisma. They are sophisticated and sultry which fits perfectly with the vibe of the album. In the “Drunk in Love” music video, Beyonce is on the beach sporting a black bikini showing off her toned bod and workin it with her famous dance skills.

I’m going to be honest, this album is basically about how much sex she has with her husband. I’m a pretty vul-gar person, but I could see how her songs might be a little over the top in sexual detail for some people.

While I was researching the album, I read about how Beyonce does a great job covering a more feminist side on woman empowerment and equality between genders. I probably wouldn’t have realized this on my own, but I rations and breakups I’m not feeling like myself since the think its pretty cool that she can do that while still remaining sexy.

It doesn’t seem that there are any standout songs on this album. That probably has to do with the fact that she didn’t release any of them as singles, so no one song was able to become more popular than another. Below, I’ll break down a few of my favorites:

***Flawless: It starts off with an old timey recording of a male announcer, then the beat drops with a high pitched electronic voice, and BAM. Beyonce comes in with her voice like butter singing “Bow down bitches.” I’m bobbing up and down to this one. It’s definitely a song that would get me off my feet and dancing. The song is different than a lot of songs I’ve heard before. She uses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s, a women’s rights activist, dialogue that was on a Ted Talk preaching feminism. Adichie adds a unique angle to this track. This song instills confidence into young women which a lot of singers don’t do now a days.

Blow: In my opinion, this is a ballad of Beyonce’s love for Jay-Z, and how she enjoys sexually pleasuring him. This song is catchy and has a great beat that stays consistent throughout the track. It is a standout in my mind among the other songs because I think it is the most graphic and “out-there” one on the album. It’s by far my favorite song, not only because I think it has interesting lyrics but also because it has a great beat to it.

Mine: Featuring Drake, this song starts off with beauti- ful piano in the background. You can tell she is really dig- ging deep into her emotions during this song. One of the starting lines is “Been having conversations about separations and breakups I’m not feeling like myself since the baby, are we gonna even make it?” Although I’m usually not a fan of a super slow paced song, Beyonce’s incredible voice makes it such a soothing and relaxing song. Great song to listen to while taking a nice bath.

Superpower: This song starts out a bit creepy, with aca-pella voices mingling to create a beat a single note being held in the background. It for some reason reminds me of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This track features Frank Ocean, who adds great vocals into it. I really like this because Beyonce is singing about getting older and just change in general, a subject that really hits close to home as I start to get nearer to graduation and heading off to college and such. This is probably the least sexual song on the album.

Although I’m not the biggest music guru, I can defi- nitely say that this album isn’t the best thing I’ve ever heard. There are some great tracks on it, but nothing that I could see myself listening to on repeat. The real thing that I find so fascinating about the album is the way it was released without any publicity. It’s no surprise that Beyonce, of all people, was able to pull this whole “secret album” thing off. (Although I do have my theories that it could be somewhat related with the Illuminati). They don’t call her the Queen for nothing.