Beyoncé’s self-titled fifth album wakes up listeners with visual experience and R&B arrangements

Beyoncé, the latest album by Beyoncé Knowles (Carter), also known as Beyoncé: the Visual Album, has made its way into the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. The album is up for album of the year, best urban contemporary album, best R&B performance for “Drunk In Love,” and best R&B song for “Drunk In Love”. This infamous feminist diva has once again let her fans into her world, a world of sex, past struggles and expectations, emotions surrounding daughter Blue Ivy, weaknesses and accomplishments.
Each track takes the listener on a different journey, a different stage of “Yoncé's” life, especially when paired with the continuous music videos.

"Haunted," recently featured in the trailer for 50 Shades of Grey, begins with a flashback recording of a contest Beyoncé won as a child for best female pop vocalist. She questions the redundancy of society in everyone working 9 to 5 every day. An instrumental interlude creates a trippy ambiance in addition to the scary-movie-feel music video, which then leads into a completely different musical arrangement in the song. The lyrics “Reap what you sow, perfection is so mm” showcase Mrs. Carter’s philosophies on work ethic and self-value. It’s a combination of sexual innuendos, wickedness, and provides a beat that is suitable for a runway.

The most intense hip-hop infused track on the album, "Partition," shows a cocky and defiant side of Queen B in the beginning, and then changes into a more vulnerable and sexual alter ego. The lyrical segments “Radio say speed it up, I just go slower” and “And why you think ya keep my name rollin’ off your tongue” exemplify Beyoncé’s independence and social impact on women worldwide. Later in the song, stanzas containing sexual references such as, “I don’t need you seeing Yoncé on her knees” reveal the extent of the singer’s feminism and comfort with sexuality. Sasha Fierce may have impacted this number; regardless it’ll give any R&B fanatic goose bumps.

“***Flawless” captures the crux of Beyoncé’s anthem. She worked to get to where she is and she knows how people view her. Therefore, she demands respect, not only towards her but towards each other and ourselves. The proof lies in the lyrics: “We flawless, ladies tell em.’” A voiceover, from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TEDx talk, relays the definition and core values of feminism, a theme that pops up again and again.

The 2013 Columbia Records album takes listeners on a journey of the singer’s past, yet with each iconic song we’re taken on a separate ride as the music continuously changes while possessing a unique flow in each track. Frank Ocean, Jay-Z, Drake and even Blue Ivy are featured in several of the songs on this 14-track album. Since its original release, Beyoncé produced a second version of the album, which includes several remixes of songs from The Visual Album and previous albums, along with brand new tracks like "7/11." No matter which route the diva takes musically, she’s already won the heart of the nation.

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