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GAFPOP |OT8| Don't Forget the self-clockiesT of 'em all_
- Thread starter Dr. Malik
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Weapxn
Mikkelsexual
The mp3 album of Wrapped in Red is $3.99 on Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G07IOZK/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Merry Christmas.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G07IOZK/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Merry Christmas.
WhereAreMahDragonz
Banned
Already have <3
Soulscribe
Member
Merry Christmas guys and gals! Hope you have a fun relaxing day with your (drag) families! <3
Now get me to the next page!
Now get me to the next page!
<+)O Robido O(+>
Member
WhereAreMahDragonz
Banned
Merry Christmas again!
<+)O Robido O(+>
Member
Bah Humbug everyone!
Yes, this.
Ardainian Soldier
Member
Merrylera Christinamas, PopGAF!!!
Gorgeous. I should play her Christmas album all day.
WhereAreMahDragonz
Banned
She got TWO heated blankets so I'm going to have to hide my hatred for her fave...
The mp3 album of Wrapped in Red is $3.99 on Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G07IOZK/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Merry Christmas.
Plz. get this album if you haven't already. Flawless album except for one song.
_____________________Merry Christmas!!!______________________
If you haven't already, buy the holiday classic "Merry Christmas"
Leona Lewis
Banned
If Bey wants people to keep checking for her alberm now that the release madness has dissipated, she has to go out there and do some promo.
She doesn't have the luxury of pulling a new music video our of her hat and such to reignite public interest, and her third, fourth, fifth, etc. week numbers won't have the holiday boost driving them. Dave and Busters, Walmart, and private screenings in the city aren't going to cut it.
Basically, this release strategy of hers won't work unless she makes efforts to sustain the public's interest through to her next era.
Soulscribe
Member
It's already worked. The album's sold a crap ton already. It's just slow grinding at this point, and I'm sure she'll be performing at the Grammys and other venus that will drive sales. There's plenty opportunity for XO to end up smashing. Give it a hot minute.
Yass stan
MARIAH CAREY All I Want For Christmas Is
: 57.522 (+ 4.792)
BRENDA LEE Rockin Around The Christmas..: 48.403 (+ 4.765)
BOBBY HELMS Jingle Bell Rock: 45.761 (+ 4.078)
NAT KING COLE The Christmas Song: 44.865 (+ 3.503)
BURL IVES Have A Holly Jolly Christmas: 44.863 (+ 4.114)
KELLY CLARKSON Underneath The Tree: 20.329 (+ 0.929)
Still the Queen of Christmas, though this is down from previous years. 12/26 better clock above 60 million. It's tradition.
I heard it playing in a store while I was shopping. It was p good.
BRENDA LEE Rockin Around The Christmas..: 48.403 (+ 4.765)
BOBBY HELMS Jingle Bell Rock: 45.761 (+ 4.078)
NAT KING COLE The Christmas Song: 44.865 (+ 3.503)
BURL IVES Have A Holly Jolly Christmas: 44.863 (+ 4.114)
KELLY CLARKSON Underneath The Tree: 20.329 (+ 0.929)
Still the Queen of Christmas, though this is down from previous years. 12/26 better clock above 60 million. It's tradition.
I heard it playing in a store while I was shopping. It was p good.
Basically this.
Singles have to perform well to keep the album performing well. Yes, it's punching rn, but once it finishes selling to her base and the holiday boost is over, she doesn't have built-in promo in the form of music videos to keep interest going. It solely relies on the singles being played by radio and her performing and promoting the album. Even then it's not a guarantee that it'll keep the album selling. Gags has been promoting all over, and well... We know how Artpop is doing.
Weapxn
Mikkelsexual
I stan her, and it's still pretty shocking how good the album is. My only complaint is that I wish there was more original material on it. The new songs are fantastic.
Leona Lewis
Banned
Christmas With Love >>>> Wrapped In Red
I expected them both to be total shit, so both pleasantly surprised me. But Leona's effort is undoubtedly the year's best holiday offering.
I expected them both to be total shit, so both pleasantly surprised me. But Leona's effort is undoubtedly the year's best holiday offering.
Oh right.
And this is on Spotify.
Let me give ha a listen...
EDIT: Track 2 and so far I'm slayed. Leona sounds really good here...
Majmun
Member
Artpop is no BEYONCÉ. The latter is getting critical acclaim and the word of mouth is still very positive. Bey's album is going to have great legs because of that. The singles are currently underperforming, but that usually happens to new non-xmas related songs during the holiday period. XO can still smash once the crappy xmas songs are gone from the radio.
And Gaga is no Beyoncé. I think people are just getting tired of Gaga's shtick, tbh. Beyoncé offers no gimmicks. She's been slaying since 1998 and people are still here for her.
AyaisMUsikWhore
Member
Gaga issue is this exact thing. Gimmicks will eventually become the death of you. Changing your outfit or hairstyle is always easy because there isn't a distraction. Putting on different costumes to fit every different theme is, and eventually you either grow out of it, or get tired of it. I think generally people don't care for it anymore and that was kind of her leverage to push her music career. Now that everyone has look past the image, and now cam listen to the music without all of that, we now have the real issues being put out front.
Now that I think of it, I feel its the overall issue to why TFM was so popular. The curtain matched the carpet. Not so much now.
One particular part I loved was the fact that she tried to stray away from "perfection". Very interesting. I love this whole thing though.
Leona Lewis
Banned
Let ha in tbh
help
"This song will sell continuously on decades, centuries, eons to come. her IMMORTALITY." The others could truly never.
<+)O Robido O(+>
Member
That's not weird.
"This song will sell continuously on decades, centuries, eons to come. her IMMORTALITY." The others could truly never.
I am SCREAMING
Soulscribe
Member
7 more posts
Take me there POPGAF
Oh and DEATH at the Mariah tree. It treads the line between epic and creepy at the same time. Lol
Take me there POPGAF
Oh and DEATH at the Mariah tree. It treads the line between epic and creepy at the same time. Lol
Holiday? How PC of her
Soulscribe
Member
I feel like I've run into more people pressed at the world saying "Happy Holidays" than people who are pressed about "Merry Christmas."
Christians making the most noise as uuuuj.
Christians making the most noise as uuuuj.
Leona Lewis
Banned
Beyonce (and Xtina) should never NOT sing Nu-Soul and R&B. How could I have missed this flawless jam of a duet until now?
I want to make a baby right now
I want to make a baby right now
Soulscribe
Member
This album, given the contents of its sum and the attitude of its maker, benefits the most from coming out as unexpectedly as it did, with no warning signs, multi-million dollar PR buyouts or business-savvy conventions. That’s because BEYONCE follows the stream of consciousness of an artist who no longer feels bound by these practices; it’s an organic narrative that calls to mind this artist’s intensely calculated business and image, and single-handedly tosses a wrecking ball into it.
Except by torching the practices that made her who she is today, what comes out of the fire and brimstone is a woman completely self-actualized. BEYONCE is a narrative because it follows her gradual evolution from pop star to pop artist, and the moments throughout that triggered this newfound wisdom that she carries on her sleeve right now. The bookends of the album are a testament to this: the album begins with a condemnation of the flaky, business-and-looks-first worldview that her mother instilled in her, and ends with her own worldview of motherhood; that love and family matter first and foremost, and that art and happiness can stem from the natural gifts that surround us, and not the manufactured gifts that industry rule-makers make us worship. And to be fair, this mantra is hardly anything unique or new; the “family over business, love over money” idea has been around forever, but for someone like Beyonce to have this revelation is actually quite substantial. The woman was practically manufactured since her pre-teen years as a means to sell records, and with her father behind the curtain she was able to curb-stomp her peers through calculated, by-the-numbers business formulas. Since her conception as an entertainer through her Destiny’s Child years and up to her first three solo albums, Beyonce was the epitome of industry puppet. Her relevance lived and died by the tactics her father used to keep her at the forefront at all times, and while she was still exponentially more talented than any of her peers, she was still completely bound by the foundations of the calculated business dealings that kept her over the water for over a decade.
When Beyonce attained enough industry capital to break away from the proverbial shackles as it were, the results were slow but meaningful. 4, an album that never reached a wide audience (though well-received by those that it did), was the cumulative work of a prisoner newly escaped and starting fresh. It was basic, understated, inspired, sincere in its smallness but leaving much to be desired. It was Beyonce’s first foray into full artistic command, and even with its relative smallness, it still stood upon its release as her best album yet. She started with what she loved most; traditional R&B/Soul, and the album was oozing with 70s Soul Train flair, Lionel Richie coos and Donna Summer disco tease. It was her first album that really attempted to sell an entire unit and not just parts of a sum, and while it didn’t stick the landing as effortlessly as it could have, it was definitely a start. On the business side of things, it was obvious that Beyonce was trying to have it both ways, and by making an album that sounded better as a package than a collection of singles, the singles themselves weren’t able to shine too bright because of it. The takeaway here is that she was just then beginning to scratch the surface in projecting her newfound sense of artistic self into her work, and we were beginning to see that potential in 4.
BEYONCE is a direct successor to the 4 manifesto, and where 4 undershot or missed the mark, Self-Titled picks up the slack. This is Beyonce’s absolute greatest album, and it’s because the listener is forced to evaluate and digest this package as just that: a package. She treaded those lines with 4 but people still listened to it their own way, through the handful of singles she sporadically released and performed throughout 2011. It’s 2013 now however, and she became so inclined to have listeners take the entire album in at once that she used the very channel that killed album sales to release and sell it. iTunes, the launching board for 15 minute singles and summer viral hits, dropped the album as a timed exclusive with only one forced transaction; a collection of 14 songs and 17 music videos that had to be bought all at once, no exceptions. A historic launch in any context, but moreover this is such an important method for a listener to take in BEYONCE because each song doesn’t resonate without the others. When you make an album and not a collection of songs, it’s obvious to decipher. While songs like XO, Pretty Hurts and Drunk In Love may stand on their own as potential hit singles, they don’t quite hit their mark without the context of the entire storyline.
Going back to this “narrative” however, what makes the album so effective is that Beyonce is decoding herself here, somewhat harshly. With Pretty Hurts, she acknowledges that, yes, she has been relying on being pretty, business-first, and unwaveringly safe all these years… an overwhelmingly honest confession that could be deemed as risky to an artist with as calculated an empire as Beyonce. With Haunted, she takes a proverbial shit on the well-kept “formula” to success, the hands that fed her, and presents a warning to her contemporaries who may have unknowingly fallen into those traps. “Soul not for sale,” she threatens. It’s downright shocking to hear something as iconoclastic as this coming from a woman who, while iconic in her own right, has never dared veer an inch toward that idea before. In Drunk In Love, you hear a woman so engulfed in unrequited love that it makes her “Dangerously In Love” past seem manufactured and soulless. And I suppose that’s the one downside to BEYONCE: juxtaposing this to her previous work makes the latter seem… archaic in comparison. What we thought was personal in I Am… Sasha Fierce comes off as safe and calculated melodrama. What we thought was completely unhinged in B’Day simply feels tepid and withholding now, and what we thought was reverent and unique in 4 just feels like a launching board to better days. When I listen to this album I can’t help but ask myself: “why has she been holding BACK all these years?” Self-Titled feels like an AA meeting attended by the popular girl in school; the girl we thought was so perfect and was exactly what she had to give, and the revelation is that she’s actually just as corrupted, crazy, insecure, spiteful, unhinged and flawed as the rest of us. “Revelation” is the best and only way to describe BEYONCE, and every other lyric provides some insight into the mind of a woman who never before dared or cared to share it with us. Read below for a full track-by-track, video-by-video review of the album that shook 2013.
”What is your aspiration in life?”
“To be happy.”
This Sia-penned ballad opens with Beyonce shunning the preconceived notions about beauty and perfection as instilled by her own mother, which feels especially dissonant considering the closeness of that relationship. But whether she wanted to mean it literally or not, the theme here is clear: Beyonce is tired of the grind. She’s tired of putting on her best face for “just another stage,” tired of the “plastic smiles,” the notion that what you wear and what you look like matters more than the potential underneath. The video elegantly uses the pageant circuit as a metaphor for the music industry, where Beyonce stands with her contemporaries all carrying fake smiles, wearing similar glittered gowns, and carefully twirling, strutting and holding poise as directed by the men in the room, the prescribed “rule-makers.” I do like that Beyonce’s pageant character loses the final round in the video though, perhaps a statement on how she can’t win the “sucking up” game that permeates through her industry. She seems saddened and confused by the defeat but as the video ends, she finds herself wiping off the caked-on makeup, finally discovering that happiness. Musically, Pretty Hurts is dynamic and reverent, with a silky-smooth production that oozes with jaded beauty. It goes through highs, lows, and wavers between emotional appeal and intellectual monologuing. This song can stand easily on its own as one of Beyonce’s most empowering ballads, but the song’s effectiveness is especially poignant as the first bookend for an album unmasking the girl behind the aura. SCORE: A
I’m climbing up the walls cause all the shit I hear is boring
All the shit I do is boring, all these record labels boring
I don’t trust these record labels, I’m torn…
Ghost presents itself as a whistle blower of sorts, though it veers heavily toward candid self-deprecation. She gives off a jaded wisdom here, of someone who’s seen entirely too much of the music business and can’t muster up the motivation or desire to ignore those demons anymore. She’s dropping bombs without an ounce of emotion or worry of backlash. She’s coming from a place of power but she still confesses that this newfound artistic independence might not resonate with the world. “Probably won’t make no money off this. Oh well.” Musically, the monologue interlude definitely channels the deadpan self-awareness of Janelle Monae, or the hawk-eyed cleverness of Eryka Badu. It’s actually shocking for me to place Beyonce in a similar plane as these two women because she’s never seemed to make a play for intellectual black empowerment, but that’s exactly what oozes out of Ghost’s cold and wispy production. The video is plagued with beautiful imagery that helps sell the notion of “I’m an artist, not a product,” a notion that reaches one of its high-points right here. SCORE: B+
It’s what you do, it’s what you see
I know if I’m haunting you, you must be haunting me.
Listening to Haunted without the stellar imagery of the accompanying video would definitely be selling the song short. The star arrives at an extravagant hotel-mansion and starts making her way through the twisted hallways, finding her room. She peers through each open room and sees one interesting tableau after another, all unique and twisted, and all relating to a certain type of pop entertainer that share the same “property” as our subject. From the rappers relishing in their winnings, to the gender-twisting provocateurs, to the exhaustingly energized elder who’s overstaying her welcome, to the pretty girls who rely on body and attention from men, to the gothically twisted incarnations that don’t seem to have much company. It’s a statement on choosing your avenue as a pop star in the “music house,” and the intricate imagery presents all the havoc, chaos and detachment that comes with each one. Eventually Beyonce is in her own room, commanding a series of scantily-clad women, beckoning the listener to “touch, bite.” The video phases out with the simultaneous self-destruction of every other avenue, from the pretty girls succumbing to sexual favors to the gothic creature dying on a hospital bed… all the while Beyonce sprawls on her bed in a crown. I suppose she’s claiming that she’s found victory by default, that by not succumbing to the pressures of “choosing a lane” she wins by not being crushed under her own blind ambition and carelessness. The video is necessary to make sense of a song that could easily be interpreted in any number of ways, but the takeaway from the song itself, to me, is that even though she’s “haunted” by a career past that she may not be terribly proud of, she understands that if she calls attention to the corruptions of the music business, the business can then evolve for the better and cater to her newfound artistic integrity. “If I’m onto you, then you must be onto me.” SCORE: B-
Never tired, never tired
I been sippin’, that’s the only thing that’s keeping me on fire,
Didn’t mean to spill that liquor all on my attire.
Drunk In Love picks up directly where Crazy In Love left off, where instead of using psychological frenzy as a metaphor for love, this time it’s liquor and wine. I do love that metaphor because it fits this production so well; being in love can be woozy, obsessive, jumpy, a bit unhinged, a high. The song is slinky and smooth, its vibrations oozing with sex and lust, and just feels like the aural equivalent to swirling a half-empty bottle of tequila, its contents splashing inside, the bottle clinking against another. The black-and-white beach setting perfectly captures the insular-ness of the song; it’s just Bey and Jay monologuing about a mutual obsession. It’s a congratulatory kind of love, so inviting the “drink up” motif fits all the better for it. Musically, this is definitely more of a grower than a shower, and as long as you’re really taking in the atmosphere of the song and the twisted linguistic references throughout, you’ll appreciate this brilliant Bonnie & Clyde redux. SCORE: A
Can you eat my skittles?
It’s the sweetest in the middle.
Pink is the flavor. Solve the riddle.
Blow captures the essence of that 70s disco vibe that’s been re-popularized recently by various acts like Justin Timberlake, Justin Timberlake, and Justin Timberlake. It’s hardly a pioneering new venue in sound for Beyonce either, but I do love how authentically throwback it is. The dance breaks are long-winded, as they should be if you’re planning to dance to them. The wispy vocals are perfectly layered on a funky production and the roller-rink video encapsulates that care-free spirit that the song ushers in. I also do like the tonal shift about two thirds into the song, where she and Timbo trade barbs reeked in sexual innuendo. Lyrically this is one of Beyonce’s strongest to date, with flirtatious candy metaphors innocently drizzled on a backdrop just barely scratching a sleazy surface. It’s perfectly slutty but isn’t devoid of class either… a funny balance that very few acts (Beyonce included) are able to hit without effort. Like most songs on this album, Blow is another grower, and is definitely the most confident song out of the four reviewed so far, but as far as uniqueness goes this song definitely falls to the bottom of the proverbial barrel. SCORE: B-
Know I’m not the girl you thought you knew and that you wanted,
Underneath the pretty face is something complicated,
I come with a side of trouble
But I know that’s why you’re staying.
What started as commentary on artistry to odes to love and lust veer now toward Beyonce’s 3rd Ward roots. The video is a rich montage of Houston black suburbia set to lyrics that remind the listener that the woman formerly perceived as perfectly white-washed is actually anything but. Seeing Beyonce tap into that heavy urban influence that was always there but could never quite make it to the surface is wholly refreshing. Musically the song struggles at selling the themes, much more than the video does anyway, and the raspy falsetto chorus will resonate with some and overshoot with others. It’s heavy on style, and has a chill tempo throughout that will lose you if you’re not invested in the story. That sort of applies to the entire album to be honest, but it doesn’t ring more true than with No Angel. She’s embracing a checkered past here, and whether she’s embellishing it with overt, calculated imagery or not is irrelevant because she sells it so damn well. She sounds at her most authentic here, and even though the song itself acts more as a thematic transition for the album than a single stand out, it definitely does its job. SCORE: C
I sneezed on the beat and the beat got sickuh,
‘Yonce all on his mouth like liquah.
This is the first song so far with the ubiquitous self-worship bravado that’s become a hip-hop staple now, but what makes ‘Yonce so refreshing is that she’s venturing into musical territory people would never have expected out of her. It’s brash, chill, and pure ratchet-hop in production and delivery. Ironic that ‘Yonce is a Justin Timberlake production considering how unfiltered and organic it feels, but I suppose thats a testament to both his talents and her delivery. If Sasha Fierce is the high fashion provocateur with 6 inch heels and expensive lace-fronts, then ‘Yonce is the H-town sista with a Lil Flip tattoo and an ass for days. The song is wonderfully ratchet and fun, and the song’s production is made especially euphoric when layered with Beyonce’s hilariously lazy delivery. This is great stuff, though I sort of wished it was its own song entirely. SCORE: A-
Now my mascara running, red lipstick smudged,
Oh he so horny, yeah he wants to fuck,
He popped all my buttons and he ripped my blouse,
He Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown!
What’s probably the album highlight of BEYONCE is also the artist’s most lyrically genius. The production is tight (presumably also co-produced by Justin Timberlake, among others), but you have to commend this song for going for a “slut anthem” that can very easily rely on phoned-in lyrics (Rude Boy comes to mind here) but instead transitions from one clever play on words to another. The concept is easy enough to follow; Beyonce and Jay-Z are on their way to the club and things start getting hot and heavy. I just can’t get enough of how effortlessly smart the lyrics are throughout, from hooks like “took 45 minutes to get all dressed up, we ain’t even gonna make it to this club” to the Big Lebowski sample quote in the bridge (part of which translates to “men think that feminists hate sex, but it’s an exciting and natural activity that women love,” the first of two monologue samples that mention the word “feminist”
. The video takes the cake in the replayability department, as Bey recollects her title as the mistress of sex. Every elegant arm curl and hip thrust is perfectly constructed and angled, and the combination of video and song together makes for one of Beyonce’s most iconic moments. She truly has a master command of feminine sexuality, and you can’t help but feel at awe at this woman’s natural-born talent for performance. SCORE: A+
And I love making you jealous but don’t judge me
And I know that I’m being hateful but that ain’t nothing
That ain’t nothing,
I’m just jealous,
I’m just human,
Don’t judge me.
I love Jealous because the first verse transitions from a sexual proposition (“I’m in my penthouse half nekkid”
to anger (“so where the hell you at?” to emotional appeal (“I wish that you were me, so you can feel this feeling”, and listening to it for the first time is a pretty wonderful moment because it’s hard to place from the get-go. The way the song runs as a stream of consciousness of a woman feeling neglected in real-time is vibrant and fresh, and through its highs and lows there isn’t a single moment of this song that doesn’t shine. Beyonce does an impeccable job vocally here, and I think for a topic that’s been done to death in R&B (especially by Beyonce herself), I like the idea of “I’m angry at you being out all night and neglecting me not just because I’m feeling neglected, but because I’m envious.” It’s a mature and interesting take on the “I’m mad at my man” theme, and this is made especially poignant with the video, as it shows her walking out into the street with no security or bodyguards, catching the eyes of passersby as they swarm around her to take pictures. She wants to be able to do what her other half can do (walk out into the world without that world stopping) but sadly she’s the biggest pop star on the planet. How sad. SCORE: A+
I can be your piece of sunshine, inner peace, entertainer
Anything else that you may read between the lines,
You and I create rockets and waterfalls.
Channeling D’Angelo practically by textbook, Rocket is structured as a narrative for an explosive sexual encounter. What starts with foreplay (“let me put this ass on ya”
then transitions into some hilariously unrelenting vaginal metaphors (“reach right into the bottom of my fountain”, followed by some sexually-affected attachment (“by the way if you need a personal trainer or a therapist, I can be your piece of sunshine”, then veers off into some slow grinding before the final buildup (“hard, rock, steady…”, followed then by the final buildup (“higher, harder, got me screaming to the lord boy!” then the climax (“rock it baby, rock it baby, rock it ’til water falls!”, finished off with a thud on the bed and a cathartic “DAMN.” If you keep up with this song’s ups and downs, the intense moments and the relaxed, you’ll be in love. There’s plenty to adore about the video too, which elegantly outlines this progression with stunning imagery and a whole lot of body. “Damn” indeed. SCORE: B-- Status
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