Released June 24, 2011
7 / 10
Favorites
Love On Top, Party (feat. André 3000), Rather Die Young, End of Time
Least favorites
Best Thing I Never Had, Start Over
(Review of the expanded edition - different track order than the standard edition as well as two extra tracks - Schoolin' Life and Dance for You)
Beyoncé's fourth solo studio album strives for a timelessness she manages to achieve with finesse on many of its tracks, marking a turning point in her discography. A major departure from earlier work is the use of a lot more live instrumentation as well as a fresh vocal take - to quote the singer herself, "I used a lot of the brassiness and grittiness in my voice that people hear in my live performances, but not necessarily on my records". Following a short hiatus after a world tour, Bey gathered influences from all over the genre map, with prominent inspiration from 70s funk, 80s pop and 90s soul. "4" is far from the average pop record of its time: it dodges the temptation to indulge in Eurobeat like a lot of her sisters out on the shelves at the time, preferring brass-heavy marching band rallying cries to club bangers. The closest it gets to its peers probably falls on the lyric side - simplicity seems to be the guiding principle: don't expect too much on that front, with songs that could easily be summarized with their first verse. "4" milks the honeymoon cow for all it has to give. Bey is all about her man and she wants you to know that; the record largely deals with giving yourself completely to someone else and expecting the same in return. The love described doesn't just strike one note: it's deep, sexy, sensual, draining and exhilarating all in one. Standout opener Love On Top carries some Stevie Wonder and Jackson 5 glitter, albeit with the distinctive Beyoncé touch. The track is meant to dazzle, with its four key changes - they'll make you overlook the song's cheesiness - and its disco nudges. The instruments are bright, breezy, peppy and sweet, oh so sweet they'll scare a diabetic away. Love On Top is Beyoncé's way of kicking things off with a bang and inviting you to hear her jump through vocal loops live. From there, Party - the only explicit feature on the album, with none other than André 3000 - calms the game a little bit with an 808-retro bouncy beat. The track shares a bit of DNA with Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie", which came out around the same time. It's still lovey-dovey, but more playful. Production is quite minimalistic yet the track is dense, owing to the layered harmonies that follow Beyoncé around. André's verse is inserted quite nicely in there - it feels almost conversation-like. Overall this track hasn't aged at all, combining a laidback attitude and party mood that isn't so easy to pull off. One of the more eccentric track on "4", Countdown, further builds on the idea of loving devotion and how to keep the flame going. The song is incredibly busy despite, again, minimalistic production. Seconds in, we're thrown in an arena quite unexpectedly by horns, wedged in between members of a marching band with no choice but to march with them. The literal countdown during the hook is a cheeky touch I appreciate. Overall, there's just a lot to take in: you hear honking on the right and then pass a dancehall party on the right while being pushed forward with the inexorable bristling march. This song missed its moment: it definitely would've performed well on TikTok had it come out more recently. Expanded edition exclusive Dance for You is "about giving yourself fully to one person" - as worded by Beyoncé. The 6+ min power ballad is very suggestive, bordering on the blasphemous as it mixes in a church organ with some of "4"'s sexiest lyrics. The echoing drum patterns are the track's main guest but Bey's vocal presence is so strong it's almost hypnotizing. Rather Die Young might take things a bit too far lyrically, yet lyrical content is not atypical of 70s soul staples from which inspiration is clearly drawn. "I'd rather die young than live my life without you" joins countless others on the list of romantic tropes in "4". The song is one I'd love to hear live, building on an exciting mix of programmed drums and funk as it progresses - Luke Steele from Empire of the Sun had a hand in this. In essence, Rather Die Young expands "4"'s musical palette quite significantly without straying too far from her sisters. At times, the record itself gets tired of this honey-dripping love affair, choosing instead to go the route of empowerment. Schoolin' Life is about growing up and... life (I could try to be more vague but would I be successful? Not my fault the track is vague!). The track feels like it should play against ending credits (but it's only third in the track listing): it's begging for an ending placement; I mean even the final line reads "It's up to you, the rest is unwritten"! This being said, it's a highly retro dance-pop song that makes full use of Bey's vocal grit. The old school combination of synths, drum kits, electric guitars and horns has a bit of Prince's spirit. The vocals echo against an invisible wall, reinforcing her innate commanding authority. It's one of the stronger tracks on "4" and as such should've definitely been on the standard edition - despite its lackluster bridge. And we now come to Run the World (Girls). If anything, you've already heard this one. Let's sit back for a sec. In all fairness, it's quite impressive that Beyoncé was willing to take on such a track at this point. After the very tame "I AM... SASHA FIERCE", coming out with this track as "4"'s introduction to the world was ballsy, for lack of a better word. Granted she didn't write it and - let's reel it in a bit - the song is not avant-garde by any means; yet for Beyoncé in 2011, it feels leaps ahead of the music we were used to hearing her on - as well as from her cousins on "4". It has some of her most abrasive lyrics at the time ("F-U, pay me", "we run this mutha") although through the prism of women empowerment she avoids a lot of the expected backlash from an audience used to a more demure Beyoncé. Now it terms of personal enjoyment... This track is exhausting. The background vocals answering her chant are not agreeable at all and without her confidence, the song wouldn't have stood a chance. It's barely out of murky waters as is and should have been half as long. Honestly the best thing about Run the World (Girls) is its music video. The last track with a message that doesn't involve her feelings for Jay directly is the last one, I Was Here. She sings about wanting to leave an imprint on the world for the better. The string opening and the running soft xylophone create anticipation from the get-go. Her vocal performance is surprising in that she reins it in what feels like a while - she usually jumps on the first occasion to belt out on "4" - before the grand finale. Interestingly, it's the only track not co-written by Beyoncé (Diane Warren wrote it), which might explain why it falls a bit out of place. When insecurities creep in, Beyoncé doesn't rise to the occasion to sublime vulnerability into art; instead, she sounds unsure and unconvinced. I Miss You, co-written with Frank Ocean who is briefly heard on the song's onset, describes love through the prism of longing. Instrumentally, it's mainly synth, atmospheric keyboard and 808 drum kit. The RnB ballad comes right after the chaotic Countdown to cool things down. It starts intriguingly, with Beyoncé half-whispering on an ethereal backdrop. Unfortunately she loses the listener by doing way too much with her voice. Some of her runs and the higher pitch harmony clash too uncomfortably with the soothing beat. There's just something too performative about how she approaches the track. Best Thing I Never Had is Petty Knowles' second single off "4". She MUST have sensed the irony of dedicating a whole song to a guy she says she's "so over". The arrangements are overly dramatic, and the inevitable ramping up can be felt from the first seconds of the song. The chorus sounds like it's auditioning for a placement on a Disney soundtrack. Instrumentation becomes blurry and so busy it doesn't preserve its elements right - almost creating a mess to distract from its lack of finesse. And if you thought Beyoncé was doing the most on I Miss You vocally, this track shows you that she can always do more. Vocals are really all over the place: for such a perfectionist, Beyoncé has certainly let this track fall through the cracks. Things don't get any better with adjacent Start Over. A filler track that flirts with dissonance without ever committing to it. The combination of a tribal-sounding drumming beat and ambient synths should have been a giveaway that this track shouldn't have seen the light of day. Maybe it's not too late to pull it off streaming platforms? This inspirational-sounding mess has to be one of the worst songs I've ever heard from Beyoncé. "4" displays how she can sometime get in her own way: in Start Over she takes things from A to Z while we're still all at B wondering if we should even try C. There is still a space between the honeymoon phase and insecurity that Beyoncé manages to fill deftly nonetheless. The mood power ballad I Care sprinkles a bit of soul, along lines of synth, piercing cymbals and heavy percussions. She's still Beyoncé and can't help herself from accompanying the guitar solo with vocal acrobatics but I'm not mad at it this time around. End of Time has become a staple of her live shows. We find her begging her man to entrust her with his heart. Subtlety is not the end goal nor it needs to be. Inspired by late Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, it marries afrobeat with marching band music quite successfully. Proving that if you want things done right you do them yourself, Beyoncé is her own best backup singer. Her delivery on this track in particular prepares the terrain for her later ventures into rap. Surely, despite its flaws, "4" showcases how Beyoncé's voice is meant to lead, not follow.
Favorite lyrics
"Hope you still like me F-U, pay me"
Run the World (Girls)
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