This is the album. The album that
helps an artist transition into who they want to be. The album that changes an
artist from popular to super star. The album that tells the world that Beyoncé
isn’t here to play, she is here to stay. This is THE album. I am…Sasha
Fierce was the start of the best years of Beyoncé’s career and probably the
best years of her life.
Beyoncé’s third solo studio album was released on November 15, 2008. She did
something unique and different with this album that she hadn’t done before. She
split it up into two discs, I am and Sasha Fierce. On the I am
disc, she has slower, more ballad-y songs and on Sasha Fierce, she
has more pop-electric R&B songs. The album contained a whopping 8 singles
starting with “If I Were a Boy” and “Single Ladies” in October 2008 and going
all the way through to November 2009 with the release of “Video Phone.” After
the album's release, Beyoncé began a yearlong world tour called I am... and
performed 108 shows, raking in $119.5 million dollars. Surprisingly, the album didn’t do well with
the critics, but on the other hand, I am… Sasha Fierce won many awards,
was ranked the second best album of the 2000’s by Entertainment Weekly, and
went five times platinum. What does not make sense to me is how the critics had
so much shit to say about the album, but the people seemed to LOVE it, me
included. Some negative things critics had to say about I am… Sasha Fierce included its lack of depth, how it seems to be
trying too hard to fit into an undesirable ‘radio format’, its innocuous
lyrical content, and its marketing trick with the dual disk format. One critic,
Robert Christgau, even called it “the dud of the month.” I find all of that
extremely ironic though because of how much positive feedback it received from
everyone else. Honestly, in 2008 and 2009 Beyoncé and her album were completely
unavoidable. You could not get into a vehicle without hearing “Diva”, “Halo”,
“Sweet Dreams”, “Single Ladies”, or “If I Were a Boy.” Not only was she all
over the radio, but people everywhere were creating covers, parodies, and
remixes of her music (mostly “Single Ladies”). Seriously, when I typed in
“Single Ladies Parody” into YouTube, it came up with 2,580,000 results. Side
note: if you are looking for a laugh, some of these will have you crying from
laughter. Below, I will put my favorite parody where PSY imitates Beyoncé’s
famed dance.
In my last
post, I talked about how I believed there were two phases of R&B:
Pre-Beyoncé and Post-Beyoncé. I also believe the same concept applies to her
impact on today’s culture. She sparked and led a revolution on music, but also
on how people see and think about their cultural values. Sure feminist ideas
were there and present before Beyoncé came along. I am not saying that she
invented feminism, but I do think that she was one of the early revolutionists
when it came to talking about feminism in music. Not just in this album, but
also in every solo album she has released, there has been an underlying theme
of female empowerment and she definitely is not shy about it (she literally
says that girls run the world on her album 4). Beyoncé nearly single handedly started
a movement provoking artists like The Pussycat Dolls, Jessie James, Remy Ma,
Mariah Carey, Jazmine Sullivan, and Keri Hilson to follow suit
and release strong, straight forward, empowering music. Pre-Beyoncé was filled
more with people either straight up ignoring or tiptoeing around the subject.
Now, in the Post-Beyoncé era, artists come straight out and voice their
opinions about feminism and female empowerment.
Though I loved
the album, I have three favorite songs from I
am…Sasha Fierce. Each put off a different vibe and I think they encompass
the greatest parts of this album so I am going to do a mini track-by-track
including “If I Were a Boy”, “Single Ladies”, and “Diva.”
1.
If I Were a Boy
If I Were a Boy was the first single, along with
“Single Ladies”, released from I am…Sasha
Fierce on October 12, 2008. It was part of the I am side of the album. This song is a little different than the
typical sound that comes to mind when people think of Beyoncé. It’s use of the
acoustic guitar, drums, and strings creates a vibe that is the exact opposite
of why I typically love Beyoncé but I think that is what makes this so special.
I am drawn to it because it is such a change of pace from what she normally
puts out. It seems that most people agreed with me because it reached number 3
on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
2.
Single Ladies
Released
as the first single alongside “If I Were a Boy”, “Single Ladies” was released
on October 12, 2008 on the Sasha Fierce side
of the album. This was the normal ‘dance song’ that occurs at least once on
each of Beyoncé’s albums. Honestly, I think the main reason why I like this
song so much is because of how it makes me feel when it comes on. I have almost
a physical reaction to the music that just requires me to start dancing.
“Single Ladies” reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was
certified quadruple platinum.
3.
Diva
“Diva” was released on January 20, 2009 as the third
single from the Sasha Fierce side of
the album. Where as “Single Ladies” was the track that made me want to dance,
this is the track that makes me want to sing, or I guess I should say rap. As
someone who frequently refers to themselves as and embraces their inner diva, I
can relate to this song on a whole other level. That is probably the main
reason why I love this song, but I also think it is has to do with Beyoncé just
doing her. She is a diva and she knows it and she sure as hell isn’t afraid to
show it and I love that. Surprisingly, “Diva” only reached the 19th
position on Billboard’s Hot 100 list but I don’t really care because this song
is popping no matter what they say.
I would give I
am…Sasha Fierce an 8 out of 10 on the bootylicious scale. While I think her
messages and delivery is on point through out the entire album, I also feel
like she still had too many filler songs that didn’t really have any sort of
impact as a whole. If she could keep up the level of sass in “Diva” or the
surprisingly beautiful sounds of “If I Were a Boy” or the infectious beat in
“Single Ladies” through out the entire album then it’d be much closer to a
flawless bootylicious rating.
