Hey, Carrie!

I wrote this.

3two:

2011’s Most Overrated Album - Beyonce - 4

Outside of the amazing Trevor Martin, Mitchellville, Maryland native Carrie Epps is solely responsible for any and all graphic designing for any of my Internet or promotional work. As well, she’s probably the pickiest consumer I know. Willing to buy but ultimately needing to be entirely convinced of high quality and eternal value before purchase, it’s in her utter distaste of Beyonce’s pitiable 2011 album release where I find her creative voice to be worthy of inclusion on my new site. Enjoy!

It must be really nice to be Beyoncé these days. She’s easily the most dominant and bankable pop star of her generation. Her marriage with Jay-Z is the stuff of instant legend and, to be pregnant, knowing that their child will have the most charmed of charmed lives, obviously makes her very happy. At the height of her life’s glory, comes her 2011 release 4, a lethargic and lazy album that proves one thing: she doesn’t have to try anymore.

4 is technically sound. Beyoncé’s voice is as strong as ever. Songwriting and production shine, so, logically, the album should be good. For any other artist, this should be enough, but Beyoncé isn’t any other artist.

Presumably in a different place personally and professionally speaking than where she was three releases ago, the album is full of iterations of many of the songs that made her famous, albeit in fancier, sleeker packaging. Pointed and sentimental album opener “1+1” is common fare here, centered around what appears to be an intimate moment between the singer and her husband. This is just one of many times she commits the same offense: 4 is overtly personal in a possibly far too intense way. Likely misreading the information generation’s impetus to overshare, Beyoncé emotes as if she is comfortable with giving a little too much of herself; entirely too much TMI for the TMI generation.

In addition, 4 suffers from haphazard organization. No-good man admonitions follow moments of puppy love-induced giddiness, making her sound disingenuous, at worst, and at best, reminding us of times where formulaic pop structure bolstered the quality of previous releases.

But, hey, at least it’s short.