Crazy for Another ‘Crazy in Love’
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Beyoncé Knowles is responsible for one of the 21st-century’s greatest songs. With a thundering trumpet sample, cool, understated lyrics by her boyfriend, Jay-Z, and a perfectly catchy chorus, “Crazy In Love” set the bar for the big powerhouse hip-hop single. Beyoncé’s long awaited second album, “B’Day” (Sony), arrives in the face of many expectations.
In-between “Dangerously In Love” and “B’Day,” Beyoncé released a farewell album with Destiny’s Child (“Destiny Fulfilled”) and a solo single, “Check On It.” While some of the Destiny’s Child singles, including “Girl” and “Soldier,” showed wider songwriting range, “Check On It” was full of over-repetitious choruses without melodic diversity. The tracks of “B’Day” could have easily been as bland, and indeed, some of them teeter on the edge.
While she has not delivered another “Crazy In Love” on “B’Day,” she has written huge hits and some minor misses. “Green Light” is not so much a song as a staid declaration of the narrator’s marital availability, and “Kitty Kat” flops along with weak beats constituting a semi-ballad. Balladry in general is not Beyoncé’s forte: Her voice is so forceful and overwhelming that any attempt at subtlety is lost in the midst of melisma.
The first single of the new album, “Déjà Vu,” featuring Jay-Z, is lost underneath a blanket of bland synthesizers. But other tracks, such as “Freakum Dress” and “Suga Mama,” rely on forceful reggae and funk beats that push Beyoncé to unexplored vocal territory. On “Get Me Bodied,” she releases her voice during the chorus with a shimmering, unrestrained growl, and “Ring the Alarm” begins with a screaming don’t-mess-with-me passage that is strangely reminiscent of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.”
It all works though, and on “B’Day” Beyoncé reaches a higher emotional level that’s been missing from her recent releases. The beats on these songs are heavier, laden more with personal attitude than pop smarts. None of the songs on the album are perfect like “Crazy In Love,” but they will keep people dancing for a long time to come.
