Beyoncé - BEYONCÉ (Mastered for iTunes) (2013)

Beyonce is back!! I repeat BEYONCE IS BACK!! And she is coming for blood. She’s snatching wigs. And she’s stealing your kids Christmas dreams to give to Princess Blue Ivy.

Just as we thought King Bey was going to give her BeyHive a simple studio album, she drops a visually masterful fully immersive experience. Not only does she give you 14 brand new songs featuring artists like Kanye West, Frank Ocean, and Drake, but she then seduces your visual cortex with 17 beautifully directed and awe inspiring visuals. You remember when music videos were about artistic expression? Yeah. Beyonce? She got that.

Upon listening to her first song, Pretty Hurts, she gives you a story about what it means to be a beautiful woman with ambition and not being taken seriously. As someone in the same shoes, I totally understand where she’s coming from… *flips hair.* She shows inspiration from her beauty pageant days in the visual and showcases amazing cinematography.

Drunk in Love, featuring hubby Jay Z is peppered by her roots in Houston from Beyonce’s rap inspired delivery of the lyrics with her sweet southern twang to the heavy bass in the back ground.

If you didn’t think you could love Madam Blue Ivy any further, you’ll certainly wish you were her mother after listening to , the album’s final track. It’s a soft lullaby from a mother who’s deeply in love with her child and wants to express it in the most loving of ways. Best part is that baby Blue Ivy is featured. Making it her second appearance on a record. (Showing us peasants we’re not worthy by making millions before the age of two…)

But the visuals…CAN. WE. DISCUSS. THE. VISUALS. As a creative person, I am absolutely in love with visual expression and how it makes me feel emotionally. Not only did Beyonce utilize elements from her world tour, but she really makes the songs come alive with a combination of storytelling, contemporary dancing, home videos, and concert footage, but she features folks from her home town (H-Town stand up) and models like Jourdan Dunn, Chanel Iman, and Joan Smalls.

May(bey) I’m a little biased since I’m a card carrying member of the BeyHive, but I’m super excited for the direction she decided to go with this album. Beyonce has been telling us all year that she’s a Grown Woman and that she can do whatever she wants and from the way she released the album to the content of the songs you can’t help but beylieve her. She wants all of you naysayers to know she’s ***Flawless, but No Angel and that you will continue to be Haunted by her Rocket that continues to rise to the Heaven(s). So get Ghost or roll up the Partition as she XOs on you heaux. written by: soainspired

TRACKLIST
1. Pretty Hurts (04:17)
2. Haunted (06:09)
3. Drunk In Love (feat. Jay Z) (05:23)
4. Blow (05:09)
5. No Angel (03:48)
6. Partition (05:19)
7. Jealous (03:04)
8. Rocket (06:31)
9. Mine (feat. Drake) (06:18)
10. XO (03:35)
11. ***Flawless (feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche) (04:10)
12. Superpower (feat. Frank Ocean) (04:36)
13. Heaven (03:50)
14. Blue (feat. Blue Ivy) (04:26)