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

What she says in interviews is irrelevant.

I'd love Dan's take.

This remark should be posted atop every rock critic's computer. It's probably the most compelling statement regarding a critic's obligation to delineate why an artist is or isn't worth his/her time.

What complete and utter horseshit. Has this idiot NEVER heard other people's renditions of "And I Am Telling You" (including the one they all rip off, Jennifer Holliday's) and seen the glaring interpretive contrast between what every random screamer does (YELL YELL YELL YELL YELL MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE) and what Jennifer Hudson does (tender start, build in emotion, out of control bridge leading to a massively impressive phrase that shows breath control that Beyonce has never once exhibited in any of her singing)? This is completely setting aside differences in timbre; Jennifer Hudson has a darker, richer, rounder sound than Beyonce does. Also, Jennifer doesn't belt "Love You I Do" and she doesn't belt the verses of "Move"; that is saved for the coda. That nonsense was written by someone who is too busy jizzing over Beyonce's weave to give anyone else a fair shake (Anika Noni Rose could easily have outsung both of them had her big number not been cut from the movie, BTW, so this is not just the same argument from the "RAH RAH JENNIFER" perspective).

no, dan's completely wrong, we have established exactly why it would be a bad idea for beyoncé (or any pop star doing a similar song) to openly talk about how it's a lie!

Petulantly stamping your foot and shouting "I DECREE THIS, THEREFORE IT IS TRUE" is not a universally-accepted way of establishing a point, Lex.

you must not know 'bout me

Lex, you do realize that there are different opinions from yours, I hope.

different opinions != ad hominem attacks. ilx is a fucking hive of incivility these days.

ihttp://datacore.sciflicks.com/dr_strangelove/images/dr_strangelove_large_06.jpg

"celebrated"

Not to interrupt or anything, but does anyone know which of the credited writers penned the lyrics, or was it a team effort of some sort? (and you can explain whether you think it matters)

I would say "feel free to continue reading whatever motives you want into what threads I decide to follow" but I have the sneaking suspicion that you're going to do that anyway.

this is complete bollocks though and either you know it, or you have read about four things i've written ever and thus have no licence to be talking shit about how i write.

YOU WILL.

And the company that will bring it to you is AT&T.

I'd like to point out that Beyonce and crew lifted the whole falling melodic hook from Joan Osborne's "Poison Apples" song. Or not.

Either way, meep.

http://www.planbmag.com/content/view/404/39/
http://www.planbmag.com/content/view/434/39/
http://alexmacpherson.livejournal.com/

Lex's writing about rock is indeed often more focused on an idea of rock rather than the music itself. But Lex's writing about rock is the minority of his writing. Check him on R&B, hip hop, dance music etc.

You've never once written anything that gives me the impression you know the slightest thing about music; fashion, image and public relations are way more your bag.

is not so much pompous as remarkably catty?

I don't really understand what the fuck happened there - this seems a really weird thread to be all 'oh lex you know nothing about music, only about the externals' on, especially, Dan, when your recent posts have been about the interviews and rhetoric surrounding 'Irreplaceable' and your annoyance with its straightforward narrative. idk maybe that's just me but that seems a bit further from the music than Lex saying 'perhaps one reason why cis can't believe beyonce in this song is because it's full of weepy ballad signifiers, not empowering anthem ones'. I'll grant that he's not identifying anything as specific as a clunky pre-chorus, but he is dealing with the music, and in a thread where both you and I have been talking about being blindsided by image!

I don't know if "Irreplaceable" would be nearly so interesting if it was sung by a singer of whom we didn't already have a fairly detailed "image". It's precisely because it doesn't seem to accord with Beyonce's prior character that it's so startling (this sense of startlement has unfortunately begun to fade due to the song's ubiquity).

I'm not sure that Beyonce is more memorable for being shark eyes (god I hate that term though!) than for her submissive songs/ballads/etc. It's more the case that her ballads have never been as conflicted as they are here. As I think I've said before, Beyonce is usually very literal, esp. in her ballads and love songs. "Irreplaceable" is the first time she's introduced dramatic irony into that setting.

The song in her back-catalogue it's actually most like is "Survivor", which when you think about it has the exact same message and vulnerabilities - Beyonce espousing "you don't/can't affect me, I'm better than that" while the force of her performance convinces you otherwise.

It's actually Kelly who sings it (as if this matters: the Survivor era DC is swallowed up by Beyonce personality-wise), but the middle eight in "Survivor" is most on-point here: Kelly lists all the things she's too classy or morally superior to do, but it's clear that just by making the list she has thought about it, been mighty tempted, perhaps even wrote out a long diss on the internet which she deleted only after their mouse button had hovered over "submit" for a good five minutes.

I loved Beyonce singing "Listen" in Dreamgirls (a mostly patchy film, although I liked Jennifer Hudson too). Not sure how I feel about it as a single - hasn't been released here properly yet.

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yeah this is completely on point, though again i think the music is key - the lyrics hint at kelly's inner conflict but the momentum of the beats and the massive, propulsive strings leaves us in no doubt that she's convinced herself she's "better than that", and ultimately reinforces the DC image as the strong, business-like survivors they say they are. i'm not sure what the same kind of treatment would do to 'irreplaceable' - though there's a cod-reggae remix which gives it a far lighter, breezier and less conflicted feel.