Beyoncé's roller coaster

I guess it's time for me to catch up with my reviews, so here we go.

Beyoncé has been a lucky woman. Her music has always tried and managed to please almost every single soul on earth. That's why her previous works were widely celebrated by both critics and public (besides her obvious vocal talent).

But something has changed: with 4 Beyoncé might be facing the biggest 'flop' in her career (actually, the album itself is performing quite good but the singles aren't -let's face it) or her most remarkable success. This risky move she's made has lead her towards a more artistic and less commercial vision that certainly benefits her as an artist but may disappoint some people. Let's analyze her work track by track.

• 1+1: at this point we can see Beyoncé is obsessed with arithmetics. I love her charming voice singing " I don't know much about algebra but I know one plus one equals two" as well, but I declare myself against the lyrics, they're too naïve, like high school poetry. Although, the "make love to me" chorus with the guitar arpeggios sounds magic, and forgetting about the lyrics it is a quite enjoyable classic ballad.
• I Care: impressive background vocals, especially in the final third. One of the better tracks in the album. In my opinion, it should have been a single before Run the World and the terrible Best Thing I Never Had.
• I Miss You: I found this static track boring in my first listen. It's actually quite a good track but it feels strangely incomplete.
• Best Thing I Never Had: awfully conventional, good vocals, as always, but the track is SO ordinary. I hate the piano melody, it's terrible. Barely listenable, probably the worst track in the whole album. I don't think it's a good single choice.
• Party (feat. André 3000): it's good, not great. Easy to listen and paradoxically, quite relaxing. It's got an interesting and decadent 80s funk vibe, but I'd erase André 3000's collaboration, probably because I don't fancy rap much.
• Rather die young: from the first moment this was my favourite track. It's a song of eclectic intentions and made out of classic and modern components. It's like an old, sentimental song with a 00's platinum layer on it. The way she sings it inspires me a feeling of regret. There's such a dramatic accent on her voice that I love.
• Start Over: a remarkably normal ballad that becomes alive with B's stunning vocals. A very good one, without high pretensions, just Beyoncé, singing.
• Love On Top: one of the bests, it's like an 80s R&B song, with a contagious joyful mood.
• Countdown: this five final songs are probably the most original and unexpected material in the album. Countdown starts with a melismatic chant that drive us to a dynamic and irregular beat with constant variations. The countdown that names the track gives the song an original taste.
• End of Time: brilliant intro, ethnic-inspired beats, a kind of a continuation of her work in Run The Word (Girls). I bet this track is what 4 was expected to be after the release of the first single. Such a great song.
• I Was Here: delightful ballad, emotional lyrics. I have to say the beginning is EXACTLY like Hand Covers Bruise, by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, from their Academy Award winning score for The Social Network. This track might be Halo's little sister.
• Run The World (Girls): at first I didn't know what to think about this song, but after I get used, I think it's great. It kind of goes on with the Diva-Video Phone spirit, but including some ethnic beats and melting the two personas in I am… Sasha Fierce into one. It would be the most original song in the whole album but I can't say that knowing it's based on Major Blaze's Pon de Floor (it's still great and Beyoncés' version is WAY better). I love when Beyoncé's stacatto singing seems like she's rapping but not really. I can hardly see the song with a conventional structure with verses-prechorus-chorus, it's most like a song with three different motifs that follow each other until they burst into the epic ending.

Overall, the first thing I noticed when I listened the album for the first time was the absurd title choices, along with the unbalanced tracklist, which creates a "rollercoaster effect": the album starts really calm and relaxed with some ballads (that's OK, but I wouldn't have put all those downtempo songs together) and, in the middle, it's like it stops: both Best Thing I Never Had and Party have an anticlimax effect that destroys the continuity of the album. It ends with the fireworks, quality and epicness of Love on Top, Countdown, End of Time, I Was Here and Run The World, but that's not enough to fix this terrible, terrible tracklist.

On the other hand, nowadays is hard to find mainstream artist as committed, talented and sincere as Beyoncé, and this album proves that. She risked a lot here, she has changed her sound moving to a classic 80s R&B adapted to our times —not forgetting, though, what she did in her previous album (just like Lady Gaga did with 80s pop in Born This Way). One of the greatest works of this year and a must-listen.

I'm giving it:  out of 5