REVIEWED || Beyoncé - The Visual Album

©themusicninja

    Who doesn't like Beyoncé Knowles-Carter? I've known so many people who've loved both her old albums with hits on like 'Single Ladies' and 'Irreplaceable' to more newer songs such as '1+1' and I occasionally would belt out a Beyoncé tune but never grew an attachment to her until now. I'd firstly, like all people writing reviews of this album would like to congratulate Beyoncé for filming this entire visual album without it being leaked to the press because it was a really pleasant unexpected surprise. For me, this is Beyoncé's strongest album due to all the underlying messages so instead of an overall review, I'm going to go through track by track, giving this album the appraisal is deserves.

Pretty Hurts:

This song on the track is one my favourites from the whole album, this song is so inspirational and once the video is publicly released I think it'll be a big hit. The lyrics explore the social construction on how women in particular have to be "perfect" all of the time and will go to extremes to achieve this. This is an issue that has been constantly in the public eye for the past years now, and this song is a perfect example with killer lyrics such as "we shine a light on whatevers worse" and "perfection is a disease of a nation" it shows the levels that some women have been known to go too, to feel happy with themselves instead of being natural.

Haunted:

    The audio to 'Haunted' is the first of two songs featured on the album that is actually the combination of two different songs which have had individual music videos created for them, for this song it begins with 'Ghost' and transitions into 'Haunted'. Both songs blend together quite well, 'Ghost' explores some true emotions that Beyoncé must've felt during her career about her choice of record label and how they can now manipulate huge artists to produce songs that will sell millions of copies. As for 'Haunted' this is quite a dark and passionate song, which in my eyes possibly explores parts of her old relationships or even with her Husband Jay-Z, of course songs like this can never be fully explained as its never revealed properly but that seems to be the case. 

Drunk In Love:

    If you've not already watched the video to this where have you been? This song is quite explanatory through the music video and the lyrics, and its her relationship with Jay-Z and how madly in love they still are after all of these years. It is believed that Jay-Z adlibbed these lyrics partially (don't count me on this) showing his true feelings towards Beyoncé even if some of them are slightly cringey and quite personal, but overall this song is quite sweet and beats Kanye's music video with his fiancee Kim Kardashian.

Blow:

    This is more of a pop song for Beyoncé with a very light hearted music video to match it, but in fact the lyrics aren't as innocent as you'd believe. There are quite a few sexual references, not forgetting the occasional moans made throughout along with lyrics like "tear the cherry out" which can be taken either way depending on how you see it. But again it is supposed to be taken lightly and the music video really brings that aspect to the song and has the occasional french words added in like a couple of her songs. 

No Angel:

    Adding to the prominent theme of Beyoncé's relationship, 'No Angel' is no exception. I think this song is really beautiful because it gives us an insight to hers and Jay-Z's relationship of them both being a bit of a handful when they want to be, but that's the exact reason why they've stuck together. Beyoncé's personality is captured well in these lyrics, showing she doesn't just sit around silent when she might think somethings wrong in a relationship and is willing to speak out but again that's another reason why shes loved by her husband, and they can both make mistakes from time to time.

Partition:

    This is the second song on the album that in the audio is a collection of two songs put together, and again go together so well, this time the song opens with 'Yonce' and flows into 'Partition'. The first song 'Yonce' is a short, extremely catchy song and even though its under three minutes, I find it stuck in my head all the time and keep singing the lyrics under my breathe. As for 'Partition' the video was recently released to this song, and what can I say, it is extremely sexual and empowering. What I really love about this song and music video is that Beyoncé is showing that even though she's now married and has given birth to a beautiful little girl, she is still able to act as sexy as she wants to without is looking forced or fake. Beyoncé's openness towards empowering your sexuality as a women is wonderful and comes out extremely well in this song.

Jealous:

    'Jealous' is a darker song compared to her other love songs and a continual from the previous song 'Partition'. There is a reference to one of her older songs 'Freakum Dress' which I must say made me internally squeal when I originally heard it, but this song explores the inevitable part of a relationship where you can get jealous and you need to just go out and enjoy whats around you to help settle that back down because "if you keep your promise, I'll keep mine."

Rocket:

    This music video to 'Rocket' is very simplistic and is basically a couple of minutes of Beyoncé flaunting around in her underwear where she essentially sings about how amazing her sex life is. Don't get me wrong, in no way shape or form am I discouraging this, like I previously mentioned I genuinely love how honest this album is and the visuals in this are very euphemistic but it gives the video more momentum and edge which I admire. The fact Beyoncé is singing her true emotions from her heart, really makes this song so powerful and sweet at the same time, as she's seemed to not only achieve success in her career but also in her love life, which she should be able to shout from the roof tops if she wishes.

Mine:

    Now I can't remember whether or not I've pointed out already my favourite song on the album, but if not this is a high contender. It's so personal this song, particularly the opening lyrics about questioning her relationship since giving birth to Blue Ivy. I think this is really crucial to this song because not only does it set up the song for when Drake gets involved, but it also shows that Beyoncé is still a normal person with problems like everybody else. This visually is also one of my favourite songs as in the video they have dancers with their t-shirts pulled over their faces with the words 'YOURS' and 'MINE' printed across them and you get to see the people interacting together as couples. I think the aspect behind this song is lovely, and that you should just be able to enjoy each others company in a relationship and not consistently worrying about little things.

XO:

    Another popular pop song by Beyoncé is 'XO', this song is very playful and the video looked so incredibly fun to film. I think this song is gonna pull through into summer and is gonna be played quite a lot during that time due to the upbeat, lighthearted nature of the lyrics. Again, this song is exploring the themes of romance, I feel it's particularly highlighting the experience you go through at the early stages where your in your own little bubble.

Flawless:

    Much like 'Pretty Hurts' this song explores Beyoncés view towards feminism and discusses how women are still treated differently in certain aspects such as being as sexually active as men can be. The punk vibe to this song makes it really catchy and also has a beautiful section dedicated to a section of a speech done by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on equality of the sexes. This song reiterates that were all 'flawless' regardless of what other people think, and this belief should be pushed against the social norms because women are now speaking up for their rights and are becoming more equal to men.

Superpower:

    This song explores the joint power that Beyoncé and Jay-Z both hold together, which is very strong and influential. In the music video, there are a few famous people who appear along the way and I find its very reminiscent to the way 'Who Run The World' was filmed with a large group of people forming together, going against the social norm for what they believe in. Frank Ocean sings on this song, and I think his voice adds in perfectly with this mellowed out song, but also gives is the impact it was intending on doing. 

 Heaven:

    I don't have much to say about this song in the retrospect that it must be connected to a death that Beyoncé has experienced over the past couple of months that has had a huge impact on her life. The lyrics to this song are quite self explanatory showing a lot of heart and soul that was put behind this song, the video is also produced very well to capture this moment.

Blue:

    The very last song on the Visual Album is of course dedicated to Beyoncé's first child, Blue Ivy. The song basically is Beyoncé pouring out her emotions and love towards her beautiful daughter, with the added cuteness of Blue herself speaking on the end of the track (so cute!) the video to this is really sweet and just shows Beyoncé and Blue enjoying each others company. It's really nice to see that connection they have together and I overall just really enjoyed the song, as you can probably tell.