I am... not feeling B's cd

Seeing as how music is my mistress I thought it was time for a new album review. I checked out Beyonce's "highly anticipated" new cd. I've read a couple blogs about it and heard people talk about it but, I had to check it out for myself I hear music differently than most. I was a training to be a musician (jazz\classical pianist to be exact) in my teeny bopper days.

The cd overall is mediocre. I'm not a Beyonce fan but I can appreciate anybody's craft when it's on point. I appreciate an artist that is willing to take risks with their sound and is constantly evolving. I'll give B props on that front, her sound has evolved over each of her albums but this one can go back where it came from.

Most people have already heard her first two singles: If I were a Boy and Single Ladies. I like If I were a boy not for its lyrical content but b\c she showcases her range and vocal control in that song. Single Ladies is a cute club banger\get hyped with your girls kind of song. I noticed that after Dreamgirls and having to sing alongside a real soul singer (Jennifer Hudson) B has tried stepping her vocal game up ie: doing more runs in her songs and trying to sound more soulful. But her attempts at the runs seem strained, prime example her song "Hello". B is a soprano and for some reason she doesn't seem to be able to transition easily from singing in an alto range to soprano.

In the song "Ego" she attempted to show us her upper range and sounded bad. She's proven her upper vocal range is a her strong point time and time again (speechless, emotions, dangerously in love live performances even on this new one with Ave Maria) but this released recording of Ego is not a good one. She starts sounding a bit horse and lost while in her upper range.

Again I look for an artist's evolution and risks with sounds and improvement in vocal ability. This is a mediocre production in my eyes. Her song Halo is good vocally but I hate the music it sounds a lot like one of Jordin Spark's crappy tracks. Most of the songs on "I am" sound the same music wise the beats are very similar and follow the same handful of chords. The Sasha Fierce part is an amorphous blob of crap. Sweet Dream is decent, Radio is mediocre but will probably become a club joint in certain places, why the hell was she tryna mimic Lil Wayne's A Mili with that crappy track Diva? Who produced that song? They should be banned from the studio for the next 6 months. Mediocre I give "I am... Sasha Fierce" a C.

This cd will not even make it from iTunes onto my iPod. I kinda want my $ back from iTunes for buying this cornball cd. Before this cd I doubted her ability to play Etta James in her upcoming movie citing that she isn't a soul singer like Etta nor can she transition to and from her soprano and alto range well. I thought maybe she'd prove me wrong on this cd...SIKE! We'll see how she does in this movie.