Groove Magazine Zimbabwe Issue 1 | Page 75

Album : Britney Jean Album : Beyoncé Artist : Britney Spears Artist : Beyoncé Genre : Pop Genre : R&B/Pop Record Label : RCA Record Label : Sony BMG Date of release: 3 December 2013 Date of release: 13 December 2013 So with a title for an album, “Britney Jean” one would have thought that Ms. Spears was bringing on her A-game with a probable feisty, over the top “alter ego” so as to reclaim her title of Pop princess however this album falls short of Britney’s glory. It has been called her most personal album to date, one tends to wonder what’s been happening to her, personally? It is public knowledge that this album was produced after calling off her engagement, (which should have been more reason to create a superb album), however her eighth studio album has more lows than highs. She was hands-on on this album and allowed Will.i.Am to produce most of the songs. What can we say, we love Britney and how sweet and down-to-earth she is, but we miss the pop superstar that we met in the late 90s. Oh well, it’s good to see Britney back on the music scene and we hope that her new Vegas gig will be compensation for this album and remind fans why they loved Britney so much. If ever Queen B wanted to seal the stamp on who runs the world, it was the day when she secretly released her fifth studio album. With no promotion and without the knowledge of her record label, Beyoncé took one of the biggest risks in music however she managed to break iTunes records within three days of release. The self-titled audio-visual album of 14 songs and 17 videos is the most personal album to date. Actually after listening to the album, “Beyoncé” is the music version of Mrs. Carter’s biopic, “Life Is But A Dream”. There’s nothing fancy in terms of production compared to the album’s predecessors however this is the most intimate that fans could get to Bey. She includes husband, Jay Z, daughter Blue Ivy, Drake, Frank Ocean and poet, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the album thus highlighting the elements that make Beyoncé who she is. The videos are simple and contain snippets of personal home videos, showing how far Beyoncé has come as an artist and a person. Rate: Rate: Get it for : Some tracks like the intro “Aliens”, ”Til It’s Gone”, ”Perfume”, ”Don’t Cry”, ”Now That I Found You” and of course the reason why we all have to ”W ork B****”, with the lines "You want a hot body? You want a Bugatti? You want a Maserati? You better work, …“, are worthy tracks to listen to. Get it for: For the ultra Beyoncé fan this album is a must-have as it encompasses soulful ballads, the “girl-power” tracks and of course why being Mrs. Carter is so fab. The best tracks on this album are Flawless, Drunk In Love, Pretty Hurts, Jealous, Mine and Superpower. As for the videos, it is whatever you relate to, we love “Grown Woman”! 73