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).
― Al (Alex In Baltimore), Thursday, 15 February 2007 14:58 (seventeen years ago) link
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?
― lexpretend (lexpretend), Thursday, 15 February 2007 15:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― Shadowcat (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 15 February 2007 15:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Shadowcat (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 15 February 2007 15:16 (seventeen years ago) link
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.
― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Thursday, 15 February 2007 15:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― Shadowcat (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 15 February 2007 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Thursday, 15 February 2007 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link
She then didn't add a "Why you frontin' wigga?" style html mark-up box.
― White Collar Boxer (DomPassantino), Thursday, 15 February 2007 15:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― max (maxreax), Thursday, 15 February 2007 16:58 (seventeen years ago) link
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).
― Jesus Dan (dan perry), Thursday, 15 February 2007 22:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― da mystery of sandboxin' (fandango), Thursday, 15 February 2007 23:09 (seventeen years ago) link