as she prepares to perform at the super bowl in less than a month

4 solo albums

hit songs

sold out tours

movies,

fashion

awards,etc...

how has the first decade of her solo career gone for you and what can she do better or is this as good as its ever going to get?


is this her prime and peak?

Poll result (32 votes) hall of fame bound (16 votes) Vote hit and miss (3 votes) Vote should have stayed with destiny's child (2 votes) Vote a jack of all trades and a master of nothing (11 votes) Vote

I do feel that "Party" and "Love on top" are two of her best singles, maybe Top 3-5 singles, and she should stay in that lane. I HATE shit like "Video phone" and musically, "Single ladies" was ass cheek.

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>I do feel that "Party" and "Love on top" are two of her best
>singles, maybe Top 3-5 singles, and she should stay in that
>lane.

these were the type of joints she made for the hip-hop/groove crowd

>I HATE shit like "Video phone" and musically, "Single
>ladies" was ass cheek.

this is the pop/superstar lane she's mostly in. just comes with the territory at this point.

she's musically not for me, but when she makes some shit I like I really dig it

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He has the confidence of Vernon Maxwell on a yayo binge.

http://www.2amDonuts.bandcamp.com

go hard. "Video phone" is really more Trendy-Black than Top 40, and it came and went. Women do love "Single ladies" because of the lyrics, but that, "Who run the world GIRLS" n many of her other singles don't make major impact for her to be the type of artist she is. For the Black-Black crowds, Mary J and even Aaliyah had more and bigger hits. For the Pop side, Mariah, Whitney, and other Black singers had more success, while Whitee singers in that Pop lane have had much, much much much bigger hits.

So I just feel like she doesn't have as many mega hits or great songs as a lot of artists before her, even those who weren't as big as she is. All her hits are like B level, rarely ever A level. And this is just speaking at a "hits" level, not even about what I like.

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I probably like a few other songs, but thats the only one I would ever really want to listen to on my own

edit: I retract that statement, I really like "If I Were A Boy" as well

Bandcamp/IG/FB/Twitter: @hecticzeniths

as OKP's like to rate them, but for her to be like THE artist of the last ten years? Eh. Janet in the 80's had waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more bangers.

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Janet's 1st solo hit came in 1986 w/Control. 10 yrs later she was working on Velvet Rope. that was her 4th solo hit album.

so, Control - Velvet Rope Janet vs. Dangerously In Love - 4 Beyonce.

who wins?

fuck you.

Because Janet had way more competition in that lane, but I'd argue than Janet was bigger for her ten year stretch. After Velvet Rope was an obvious decline, or at least she just decided to take time off. But I feel like 86-93 Janet alone was just on fire fire...every time music changed, she was ahead of the curve. Her early music almost sounded like NJS before NJS was big, then by 93, she had tracks like "That's the way love goes" that was like early upbeat Neo Soul.

Yeaa I'm rolling with Janet. Beyonce has more talent, and I might give more credit to the team behind Janet and even the era of music which was much better, but yeah.

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To kind of sidetrack- I've been having a thought that I think has been talked about on here before. She can sing but her voice is missing something-- a lack of a certain feeling(emote?) You don't quite feel her when you're listening.
Though Janet isn't a great singer I hear and feel her in a lot of her songs. Aaliyah had "it" and I think Rihanna does too- even after the voice enhancements I still feel her emotion underneath...Keyshia Cole and on and on. Y'all know what I'm talking about?

All those singers you mentioned had a lot of their stuff either on Front St., or had struggles we could all see and empathize with.

Matthew went out of his way to block as much of that as possible from view.

and she knows it.

Y'all remember the VIBE interview before Dangerously in Love dropped?

Remember how she was rocking natural hair and talking about her ambition to show herself to be a real soul singer? To make make "deep" music?

Then the first single ("Work It Out") flopped and her team panicked, redid the whole album, filling it with the mindless club anthems that have remained her stock in trade ever since?

She sold herself short, and she knows it.

I'd like to think that she can't be fulfilled. At least not artistically.

I agree with R-Tistic, though: "Party" and "Love on Top" come the closest to suggesting where she could have gone.

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The man who thinks at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life - Muhammed Ali

i think we're getting 'her'. i don't think there's an artiste w/in being smothered by the starmaker machinery that churns out her hits. she's given me no reason to suspect that's so. not even the 'Work It Out' campaign you mentioned, since that song sounds so much like and was created in the same ways as several of her hits. i might feel differently if she'd done something different w/that other than fix her hair (or wig) a certain way. (note: i now have 'I'm Somebody' from Dreamgirls in my head. lol)

fuck you.

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The man who thinks at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life - Muhammed Ali

that was just her PR announcement to the world to show that she had serious taste and interests outside a mere teen girl group, that she wasnt just some R&B robot who only cared about hits and dance routines, that she was her own woman. i doubt she ever cut any material that reflected those apparent new interests of hers, that was less pop/commercial R&B. imo shes not an 'artistically minded' artist, and is never going to be. shes more motivated by the goal of making succesful music (hits in other words).

edit - im sure in 20 years therell be some 'dangerously in love 25' tv documentary by whoever the new spike lee is, revealing her deep interest in musical and dance history, forcing me to rethink this notion, lol. either way, i still dont think the music stands up. even if she as a pop figure is a huge source of inspiration to millions of women. but i think thats more about her demeanour and character rather than the music.

I originally wanted to clear up in response to SoWhat's post that it's not so much that I believed that she had what it takes to be a "deep" "artiste" but just the recognition that she even had the ambition to be one compared to what she ended up doing must have been disappointing to her.

But like you said, we don't even know how real the ambition itself was. She was *allegedly* involved with Mos Def at the time so she was probably feeling kinda "alt" for a while, but that fancy faded quite quickly and she hasn't exhibited much desire to rekindle it since then. So yeah... could have been a phase.

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The man who thinks at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life - Muhammed Ali

the one where she used moves from some famous high-art choreographer I'd never heard of.

By multi-faceted: was that a true homage, an Easter egg, an attempt to prove her depth to people who caught it? Was it the fault/doing dep. on perspective of the choreographer for her video? Was it meta-textual in some other way that hasn't occurred to me yet?

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so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

When you talked about "Dance plagiarism," I actually had to stop to think "which one" because she actually has a few of them... Like there was one where she saw some dance group from Mozambique on YouTube and tried to copy their moves for the "Run the World (Girls)" video, but couldn't master the dance so she flew them in to teach her.

But I guess that's not too different from what Madonna, Michael Jackson and others have done.... they find stuff happening on the underground and bring it up aboveground. It's just that in this era where everything is accessible, it's easier to find the source materials.

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The man who thinks at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life - Muhammed Ali

the 'dance' world, not popular dance.

That tied in with your comments about her aspirations to be more and falling short due to commercial concerns. Throwing some high art to the masses without them knowing could be a subliminal way of fulfilling the artistic aspirations.

That's all. You know I don't really follow this stuff. Or care. But it struck me as an interesting angle on the conversation, and there's shit else to talk about on this board lately!

*shrug*

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so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

I think she just saw some stuff that looked cool and adapted it, no different from what they did with the "Single Ladies" choreography: http://youtu.be/hyv_7CdGCP4

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The man who thinks at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life - Muhammed Ali

for all the posts saying they don't connect or feel anything with beyonce, i don't understand how anyone feels that way about any RnB. In fact i almost make the distinction between whats "RnB" and whats "Soul" with the definition that soul makes you feel something whilst RnB is throwaway dance music.

Therefore its crazy to hear/read people aying beyonce should do this or that when she is the queen of RnB and everything that folk hate about her is whats made her the Queen of RnB.

it sounds like you're posting from the year 1999.

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The man who thinks at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life - Muhammed Ali

matter of fact thats probably the last time i liked RnB

She's a superstar in the very text book definition of the word.

And whether you like them or not, she has classic records by any way you choose to define classic.

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http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=11291547#11300733

with the caveat that i did hear a beyonce song this morning, but it was just her on the remix to timberlake's song.

http://twitter.com/Menphyel7


"F you Im better in tune with the Infinite"

fuck you.

http://twitter.com/Menphyel7


"F you Im better in tune with the Infinite"

also, crazy in love is one of the most overrated 'anthems' or 'classics' of the past 15 years.

>also, crazy in love is one of the most overrated 'anthems' or
>'classics' of the past 15 years.

fuck you.

i still prefer dangerously in love ova the other ish ive heard tho




i got on red lipstick

..im kinda over hearing that argument thrown about on OKP whenever sumone is critical of The Yonce's career.

i voted 'hit & miss'.

as for what Afkap said about "Work It Out", it may have less to do with her genuinely wanting to make some "real" music and more to do with the Neps/Pharrell/whoever produced that track not making it FUNKY enough. i thought the concept of the song was good but the execution was so limp-dicked and half-assed, no way that was guna be a hit, or even a highlight.

anyways, with better solo material? with a truly emotive voice and persona? without that illuminati automaton dead look in her eyes? then MAYBE hall of fame/legend status. and just so its not ALL negative, i never had anything against her voice, i just think it was never utilised to its fullest potential and has been wasted on mostly pop garbage. i've ALWAYS luvd hearing her sing...when it's been over a Timbaland beat. or if Missy's involved. or Static. basically these two cuts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l56N_-65Rus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OAJneQ-Qqs.

i think those cats, chiefly their songwriting, production and vocal arrangements, brings out the best in her. and i can actually sing along and FEEL her, in some sense. most of the time tho, i get no reaction to her stuff which is the main reason i never considered myself a fan. some might think its weird that i go apeshit over Aaliyah but not Beyonce cos they think they're comparable, and they probly are to a point, but most folks just KNOW, someone like Aaliyah had "it", right? even before she died and became a proper icon. Yonce has everything to make it, and more, but loses out every single time for lack of an "it", or a solid identity. i simply cannot connect with her persona.

V.

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DROkayplayer™

>as for what Afkap said about "Work It Out", it may have less
>to do with her genuinely wanting to make some "real" music and
>more to do with the Neps/Pharrell/whoever produced that track
>not making it FUNKY enough. i thought the concept of the song
>was good but the execution was so limp-dicked and half-assed,
>no way that was guna be a hit, or even a highlight.

I thought "Work It Out" was a disgrace too... and I was surprised that they were surprised that it wasn't a hit. Plus, it was a damn soundtrack cut... they jumped the gun freaking out the way they did over it. Or, as I suggested earlier, perhaps Mos was out of her life by that point and with him went her interest in being a soul singer.

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The man who thinks at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life - Muhammed Ali

A star in every imaginable way. Even the things she fails at (acting, occasionally fashion) she fails at spectacularly in a star-like fashion. That bitch is *bad*.

Can I also note how terrible of a song "Love on Top" is, and it's odd that people think it's one of her best songs? To me, she proves her star power by making a b-side Motown reject sound palatable, if another known singer was singing it would be an instant throwaway. She's just got *it*.

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I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

— F. Scott Fitzgerald