It seems fitting to do my first album review on Beyoncé’s
first solo album she released after Destiny’s Child, Dangerously in Love. This album was released on June 20, 2003. It
included four hit singles, “Crazy in Love,” “Baby Boy,” “Me, Myself, and I”,
and “Naughty Girl.” Beyoncé received five Grammies, two BET awards, eight MTV
Music Video Awards, and much more. The record went four times Platinum and sold
over ten million copies.
Now, call me crazy but I am a little surprised after listening to the album. Sure I heard some of its songs years ago after it was first released, but listening to every track now in 2015 was a little shocking. I still have my favorite songs and some that make me want to get up and just dance, but the album all in all was not NEARLY as good as I remember it being. Don’t get me wrong, I still think that Beyoncé is one of the most talented people to walk this Earth now and forever, but some of those songs made me want to claw my ears off. I wouldn’t say it was Beyoncé’s fault that I disliked a lot of the songs though because she still sounded absolutely stunning. It was just the beat and lyrics to some that made me turn my head sideways and say, “What was she thinking??” Most critics seemed to disagree with my opinion. Many of them continually praise her about how she has progressed since leaving Destiny’s Child. Others seem to think that she was trying too hard to please everyone and overusing her ability to produce amazing runs. I love to hear Beyoncé belt out an amazing note just as much as the next person, but sometimes it is just unnecessary Bey! One reason it may seem like a lackluster album is because this was her first time really on her own. Before she was able to rely on her other band members, but with Dangerously in Love she was relatively on her own. Another reason I may have found the album somewhat disinteresting is because the style of music has changed a lot since 2003. A few songs that contributed to the not so queenliness of the album include “Me, Myself, and I”, “Daddy”, and “Signs.” I will go into more detail later about why I didn’t like “Me, Myself, and I”, but the reason I didn’t like “Signs” or “Daddy” was because of the lyrical content. I feel like “Daddy” was a sweet, heart-felt song, but not something that needed to be on the album. She should have just stuck to singing that song for her dad on his next birthday or something. “Signs” was just an overall stupid song. It was almost like she was just putting in a filler song. Sure Beyoncé still sounded amazing on the tracks, but the songs themselves were utterly disappointing.
There is some positive in the album though. I mean, you’d be lying if you said that you had never just completely jammed out to “Crazy in Love.” It is so upbeat and happy that it is hard not to love. One common thing on every track is their connection to sex and/or relationships. After listening to the songs, it seems like a very emotional teenage boy helped write most of them! Dear Queen Bey, there are more things to life than sex and boys. After listening to the album through and through I felt like I needed to go listen to some AC/DC or Foreigner just to rock out and get the sex music off my brain.
To get a
better idea of the album, I’m going to individually review the four singles
that Beyoncé released, how they were received and how they did on the charts.
1.
Crazy in Love
As soon as this song comes on I can’t help but
get up and dance. It has such a catchy beat and tune that it is nearly
irresistible. It doesn’t showcase her talent musically very much, but it is
very appealing to the listeners. Unlike most of the other songs, it seems to
have depth musically where it changes tempo and doesn’t stick to the same
boring thing over and over again. “Crazy in Love” was the first released single
off of Dangerously in Love and also
Beyoncé’s first number one single. It stayed on Billboards Hot 100 for eight
consecutive weeks. This is most definitely my favorite song from the album.
2.
Baby Boy
“Baby Boy” is the second released single on the
album. It is a little different from the other songs. It has a reggae undertone
working for it due to her collaboration with Sean Paul. It reached number one
on Billboard’s Hot 100 and stayed there for nine weeks. For the first minute or
so of the song, I was really into it and wanting to dance. That feeling left
pretty quickly though. The entire song was based off this one repetitive beat
and it just kind of got old really quickly. I am surprised that the song stayed
number one for so long because I hardly wanted to listen to it one time
through.
3.
Me, Myself, and I
This was her third single from Dangerously in Love and by far my least
favorite. It is just hard to go from listening to “Crazy in Love” to this. I
would much rather listen to the upbeat Beyoncé than the slow, ballad-y Beyoncé.
She played it very safe vocally with this song and didn’t extend her typically huge range very
far. “Me, Myself, and I” reached number four on the charts but, unsurprisingly,
only stayed there for two weeks.
4.
Naughty Girl
Right off the bat, “Naughty Girl”
puts off this very sassy tone in the music and I love it! When I hear this song, I picture a group of girls who are struttin' their stuff as they walk into a club and turning every head as they come in. It evokes a strong mental image which is why it is so appealing. It was Beyoncé’s
fourth and final released single for the album and peaked at number three on
Billboard’s Hot 100. It’s one of those songs that would make anyone feel sexier
just by listening to it.
All in all, I would probably give this album a six out of
ten on the bootylicious scale, with one being her ridiculous vocal feature on Lady Gaga's "Telephone" and ten being her incredible performance on the track "Halo". Despite it’s weak points, it had some incredible
hits and songs that I would still consider popular today. You go, Queen Bey!
