4

Beyonce is maturing with style and class. The songs on her new album, 4, owe a lot to R&B from the 80s and 90s, and some tracks, with their crisp production and sneakily singable chord movements, could have found success as mid-70s soul and dance tracks. "Love on Top" could have been a solo Diana Ross hit. (Four key changes in that song! Thanks to Emma for making me take a re-listen.) Seriously, this album is sophisticated, danceable, and purely enjoyable. Definitely take a listen.

There were lots of thoughts I wanted to put down about "Party" (probably the best song on the album) but, in all honesty, Nathan S. at Refined Hype put down the same ideas more succinctly and with more detail than I probably would have. Definitely check the link. I thought immediately to R&B but Nathan notes the verses are actually a reworking of the melody of Keith Sweat's "Right and a Wrong Way". He also writes that Kanye's beat is so minimal that he's not sure if it's genius or it just sucks. To me, it's perfect. Except for the intro and outro rhymes. "Swag sauce" is bad, but "dripping swag goo" is infinitely worse! And, of course, it's exciting to hear Andre 3000 deliver a great guest verse.

Seriously, go to Refined Hype to hear the track and look around at this great blog. And, while you're here, check out Solange doing "Stillness is the Move" by Dirty Projectors. Why do I post this? Beyonce's layered vocal harmonies made me think of the production on the vocals from the Projectors song. And Solange is Beyonce's sister.