Jane Dark Sugarhigh blog on Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" restoring "melodic range to pop"

surely 'ring the alarm' rather than 'irreplaceable' though? the rihanna/teairra mari rumours, and so on. i basically agree that this tabloidy method of consumption is a worthwhile angle though.

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If I bought it nigga please don't touch
And keep talking that mess, that's fine
But could you walk and talk at the same time
And It's my mine name that is on that Jag
So remove your bags let me call you a cab

Standing in the front yard telling me
How I'm such a fool - Talking about
How I'll never ever find a man like you
You got me twisted

You must not know about me
You must not know about me
I could have another you in a minute
matter fact he'll be here in a minute - baby

You must not know about me
You must not know about me
I can have another you by tomorrow
So don't you ever for a second get to thinking you're irreplaceable

So go ahead and get gone
And call up on that chick and see if she is home
Oops, I bet ya thought that I didn't know
What did you think I was putting you out for?
Cause you was untrue
Rolling her around in the car that I bought you
Baby you dropped them keys hurry up before your taxi leaves
Standing in the front yard telling me
How I am such a fool - Talking about
How I'll never ever find a man like you
You got me twisted

You must not know about me
You must not know about me
I could have another you in a minute
matter fact he'll be here in a minute - baby

You must not know about me
You must not know about me
I will have another you by tomorrow
So don't you ever for a second get to thinking you're irreplaceable

So since I’m not your everything
How about I'll be nothing
Nothing at all to you
Baby I wont shead a tear for you
I won't lose a wink of sleep
Cause the truth of the matter is
Replacing you is so easy

To the left
To the left
To the left
To the left
To the left
To the left
Everything you own in the box to the left

To the left
To the left

Don't you ever for a second get to thinking you're irreplaceable

I thought the album version was the same as the single edit but apparently not!

the part where I think most analysis of Beynoce's relationship songs being about Jay falls apart is when she seems to be singing from the perspective of a relationship where either she (in "Ring The Alarm") or he (in "Irreplaceable") is financially dependent on the other, that one would be broke if the other dumped them, which obviously isn't the case. but then maybe she's just trying to frame the songs in such a way that people who aren't extravagantly rich can identify with them (as opposed to, say, "Upgrade U," where I've never even heard of half the brands they're babbling on about).

no swearing on my copy of the album!

i think beyoncé's return, again and again, to the theme of economics is essential to both the persona she builds up of herself as popstar, and to enable her songs to ring true to 'normal' life. she's consistently used financial security/superiority to represent more than just what it is; and, far from rendering her heartless and cold, the way she constantly returns to it kind of proves that she's more in touch with the sometimes-unpleasant details of how real-life relationships (both within & without her income bracket) function than any number of singers who prefer to sing about the more romantic, rose-coloured picture. what's that statistic again, half of all relationships end because of financial disagreements/incompatibility?

she doesn't offer any comment on how unpleasantly materialistic life can get, just affirms it; and by affirming it by talking about ridiculous fucking bullshit brands, sports cars, and war diamonds yay, she really isn't on the side of the poor lex.

She then didn't add a "Why you frontin' wigga?" style html mark-up box.

Fair enough, but that doesn't really answer my question. I didn't ask how they are similiar, (and half of that is based on circumstance, rather than anything within the songs. the circle-of-fifths thing may be a good point, but my knowledge of music theory is rather rudimentary) I asked how one is a ripoff of the other. I don't see any reason to assume that Beyonce was consciously or even subconsciously setting out to make a song that sounds like "Unpretty".

I did not use the word "ripoff" to imply intent on the part of Beyonce. I used the word "ripoff" to imply similarity, chronology and how I view the relative quality of both (I am not a fan of "Unpretty" but I would rather listen to that any day over "Irreplaceable", despite Beyonce being a much better singer than anyone in TLC).