It was a morning like any other. Taking a brief look at Facebook while I was getting ready for work...BAM. The top post was a friend of mine screaming that the new Beyoncéalbum had been released earlier that same morning. After almost a year of teasing, leaked tracks, a tour and a Superbowl performance, it was finally here. All 14 tracks became available at once, accompanied with seventeen, SEVENTEEN music videos from the artist exclusively released on iTunes.
Recorded in secret with the bulk of the studio sessions taking place in The Hamptons, the album was crafted alongside Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams and the soon to be known worldwide, Boots among others. With only a few key names in Bey's council aware of the movement, as well as a few iTunes execs, the release date for BEYONCÉ was only finalised a week before it's initial send off. The album contains Beyoncé's brand of picture painting ballads ('Pretty Hurts', 'Heaven', 'XO' and 'Blue') while also containing more R&B and Hip-Hop sounds than her previous efforts. It's easy to hear the sounds of Kendrick Lamar in her vocal delivery on 'Haunted' as well as the downtrodden minimalism of Drake and Noah "40" Shebib.
What's new is the fact that she's taking a page out of the filthy books written by Madonna and Rihanna; leaving little to the imagination in both the lyrical, and the video content. 'Partition', 'Rocket' and 'Blow' are busting with innuendos ("Reach into the bottom of my fountain, I wanna play in your deep" from Rocket for example) which move her from the PG-ish middle row we're used to seeing her in, and onto a much higher magazine shelf out of reach for the younger ones. Whether she's seducing husband Jay-Z (obviously), frolicking about alone in the sheets, or milling around the back streets of Paris with models Chanel Iman, Jourdan Dunn and Joan Smalls, she's letting it all hang out.
The videos do often seem flawless. Captured effortlessly in Rio, Houston, Paris, New York, Sydney and Houston again, Beyoncé travels the world with Solange, Kelly, Jay, Michelle, Pharrell and baby Blue in tow. The star gives us flashbacks to her childhood hustle, in 'Grown Woman' and '***Flawless' which seem strangely juxtaposed to those more...salacious moments. The whole thing is almost a non-linear biopic from the Texas natives origin, to where she sees herself now.
The line "All these record labels' boring" from Ghost/Haunted feels like the spirit behind BEYONCÉ's whole concept. In fact, Beyoncé (the artist and the album) may change the way record labels market and distribute music from now on. Who knows. But what we definitely do know too well from the constant criticism of her and her peers, is that you can't catch a break as a female artist. You're either too sexy or not sexy enough, too plain or too extroverted. What Beyoncé's figured out is that you're gonna be objectified no matter what you do, and whether you like it or not. So you might as well go ahead and do it yourself. A Key Tracks: ***Flawless, Drunk In Love, Rocket Key Videos: Grown Woman, Yoncé
Timberlake came back to finish what he started. Described as the
more "experienced...older sister" to Part 1 released in March, the
masses have been blessed with a total of 12 tracks from Timba & Timbo's
second 2013 outing.
Is it really a blessing though? Well, yes and no. Not so much of a
sequel as it is another half of the same album, 'Part 2' once again features
Timbaland as its main producer. His role is as prominent on both albums as
Justin's is. You can hear some of the greatest production and melodies of
the year on both parts for sure. The grand symphonic sounds are back ('You Got
It On', 'Amnesia') as well as Timberlake riding the beat under Timbaland's
bassy beatboxing ('TKO', 'True Blood' and once again...'Amnesia'). But what the
two bring to this time around is the mainstream radio sound taking prevalence
on ‘Drink You Away’ and ‘Not A Bad Thing’. This I don't love as much.
Justin proclaimed that the previous disc was music made for the summer, while the later is for the bleaker autumn/winter - which I don't really understand. There is nothing as icy or aloof as 'Blue Ocean Floor' from part one, and save for Justin dropping a few f-bombs it's in no way colder or more appropriate for the darker months.
Justin’s voice is just as perfect as ever, and Timbaland once
again crafts (or reserves) his best work for the former mouseketeer. But save
for four of the albums tracks (‘Amnesia’, ‘Murder’, ‘True Blood’ and 'Cabaret'),
the two fail to deliver a stellar conclusion to what kicked off at the
beginning of the year. In all honesty it's best to just stick to those four, especially 'Cabaret'. With an amazing feature from Drake and cheeky lyrics such as "if sex is a contest then you're coming first" and "I got you saying Jesus so much it's like we're laying in a manger" it's instantly one of the best songs from either of Timberlake's 'Experience' pieces. A- Key Tracks: True Blood, Cabaret, Murder, Amnesia
For what felt like weeks on end I
heard at least one person every day at school say “GO SHAWTY, IT’S YA
BIRTHDAY”, having no idea what the hell they were talking about. It wasn’t until February of that year that I actually
witnessed the song for the first time. Still as incredible as it was then (I'm
listening to it right now), the Dr. Dre produced track was nominated for two
Grammy awards and was listed in Rolling Stone’s list of Greatest Songs of the
Decade at numbers 13. Coming in at number one in 10 different
countries (not bad for a seemingly unknown rapper), the track was also
remixed and sung by Beyoncé, under the title ‘Sexy Lil’ Thug’. Beautiful.
Pops most talked about kiss occurred
28th August 2003
"The kiss seen around the world" touched down during the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City, New York.
Madonna, dressed as (for some unknown reason) a groom locked lips with a
recently single Britney and the Dirrty Xtina, both of which were wearing slutty
wedding gowns. The moment was great for so many reasons. Britney and Christina
were performing on stage together for what seemed like the first time, Missy Elliott hopped out two thirds of the way through, and who could forget Justin Timberlake's
face while his former lover lezzed out in front of millions? The only reaction face that
trumps that is Mary J. Blige's look of sheer disgust when Aguilera took the stage.
The greatest show in the world ended…
20th May 2003
Oh Buffster. I love the shit out
of this show and I don't care who knows it. Beneath the "guilty pleasure" or "something that’s shit but you watch cause there’s nothing else on" was
actually a TV show which changed the female protagonist forever. After an
ill-fated attempt at a movie in 1992, Joss Whedon revived his creation and took
it to network television in 1997. Buffy The Vampire Slayer was a tongue in cheek tale
of a 16 year old teenage girl turned vampire hunter – or slayer – who would "combat the forces of darkness" aided by her Watcher, Rupert Giles and gang of
high school friends. Buffy tackled the oh-so dramatic lives of every teenager with fantastical twists. High
school was hell, (the school was literally located above the mouth of hell)
drug abuse, attempted suicide and how dudes can change after hitting that for the
first time. Was it a coincidence that shows such as Alias, Relic Hunter, The Vampire Diaries and True Blood followed in the years to come? Probably not. Buffy the Vampire Slayer has
been named in Time Magazine, Empire, TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly’s best TV shows of all
time. In fact, the 5th season episode 'The Body' is hailed by
many critics as "one of the greatest TV episodes ever televised". I bet you didn't
know THAT.
…and the second greatest show in the world
began
8th August 2003
At long last, I finally had a
teenage TV show to call my own while actually being a teenager. Once described
as "less hairspray and less deodorant" by guest star Samaire Armstrong, The O.C
first debuted in the summer of ’03 to both a killer audience and critical reception. From the youngest showrunner in American TV history, Josh Schwartz,
(who was 25 when the show was made) the show about the wayward and brooding
Ryan Atwood being taken in by the family
of his lawyer, saw an unexpected resurgence in the traditional rich kid teen
soap drama. The show that brought The Killers, Modest Mouse and Death Cab for
Cutie to light for many for the first time was also the show that brought us one
of the most beloved characters in teen drama history – Seth Cohen. Awkward
bookish and sarcastic white kids everywhere now had someone to look up to.
Throw this in with a poor little rich kid, a spoilt little rich kid and the
greatest TV father of all time, you've got TV gold. The O.C was shortly followed by shows such as One Tree Hill, 90210 and Gossip
Girl, which we all know, pale in comparison, right?
Him and His Girlfriend – Boo – Wifey – etc
10th October 2002
The single was technically first released in 2002, but it wasn't until the following year that the track made huge waves. The “03 Bonnie & Clyde – Hov
& B” married on 04-04-2008 (Beyoncé
has a fetish for the number ‘4’) and spawned the majestic and REAL
royal baby, Blue Ivy Carter last year. Since then, Jay & Bey have collaborated on a number of tracks including "Upgrade U" "Venus vs. Mars" and of course, "Crazy in Love" (more on that one in a sec). '03 Bonnie & Clyde' also saw a sequel on Jay-Z’s "Magna Carta…Holy Grail" LP this year, appropriately titled
“Part II: On the Run. Oh, and the original was also produced by Kanye West. Imagine
that.
Pixar brought us Finding Nemo
30th May 2003
Often called Pixar's best film
ever made (I disagree, we all know it's Wall-E, with Monster's Inc. coming a
close second) the colourful, innovative masterpiece 'Finding Nemo' hit cinemas in
May ten years ago. Nemo grossed close to 1 billion dollars and holds a 99%
rating on Rotten Tomatoes - which leads me to one question and one question
only. Who is the sick fuck in that 1%? I remember seeing a BBC news report on
TV that the sales of clownfish had also gone through the roof thanks to the
film. I for one am glad they all found a home.
Pixar are also planning a sequel,
and the creatively titled 'Finding Dory' is set to be released in 2015. I could
only imagine what it could be about.
Pharrell Williams was everywhere
All year
Pharrell’s distinctive sound had
him all over the place. Literally, he had a song everywhere. His weird yet rhythmic
cutlery clanging sound dominated 2003 like none other. As well as the NERD
album In Search Of… (featuring 'Lapdance' and 'Rock Star') Pharrell, along with collab teammate Chad Hugo found time to produce some of the years biggest singles. Among those released that
year included Kelis's 'Milkshake', Snoop Dogg's 'Beautiful', Jay-Z's 'Change
Clothes' and Timberlake's 'Senorita' and 'Rock Your Body'. He's still got it
after over 20 (TWENTY) years as an artist, songwriter and producer.
Martin Bashir lived with Michael Jackson
3rd February 2003
I have to relate this back to
school once again. During break time while everyone outside was talking about
this ITV1 special, one boy in my class asked me if I "watched Con Air on Channel
5 last night" …what? No. Of course I didn't. Along with everyone else in my
year/school/life apart from him I was watching Living with Michael Jackson.
What a mess of a nightmare this turned out to be. The show obviously
started out as an up close look at what it was like to be the most famous and
talented living musician in the world, but soon took a turn for the
unexpectedly worrying. It was here that Jackson first spoke about sleepovers
taking place in his house with minors on a number of occasions. Weirdly enough
it was Bashir who came under fire from Jackson enthusiasts across the world. Martin was accused of mishandling footage, and editing the feature to make Michael Jackson look...well, you know.
Dixie Chicks were ashamed
10th March 2003
The country sibling trio who had
been famous across the pond since the early nineties spoke these now
immortalised words during a gig in London 2003:
"Just so you know, we're on the
good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed
that the President of the United States is from Texas"
The Texan natives found
themselves subject to mass media scrutiny (mostly in the south of course),
losing sponsorship deals, radio airplay and even receiving death threats in
wake of the comment. After initially apologising for the offence they
caused, lead singer Natalie Maines backtracked, stating that she was proud of
the fact they spoke their minds amidst the decisions George Bush had made to go
forth with attacking Iraq. The controversy eventually led to the documentary film "Shut
up and Sing" being produced three years later, shedding light on the backlash
Dixie Chicks had received in the years thereafter. The band released the album "Taking the Long
Way" in 2007, with its lead single 'Not Ready to Make Nice' dealing with the scrutiny head on. The album sold 2 million copies in the US
alone and won five Grammy's including the coveted Album of the Year and Song of
the Year awards for “Nice”. Take that republicans.
Bey, Blu and Black had a 13 week number one
chart run
All originally released on 18th
May, 6th May and 16th June respectively.
I feel like 2003 was a crowning
moment in which the UK developed the taste for actually buying good music. A
trend that started to fade around 2009.
It was this year that Beyoncé’s Crazy
in Love was brought to us. Collaborating once again with Jay-Z the track found
itself at #1 for three weeks in the summer of ’03. It was impossible to run
from the big-band style introduction, as well as the music video, which would
be on any and every channel possible for what felt like 8 times an hour. CIL became a staple in Beyoncé’s discography, and saw herself become the solo
star she’d always wanted to be.
However, 'Crazy in Love' saw itself
sharing the airwaves with another male-female rap-sung collaboration, in the
form of Blu Cantrell & Sean Paul’s incredible "Breathe". Sampled from Dr.
Dre's "What’s The Difference", the track stayed at number one for 4 weeks, and
has stood the test of time as one of the best R&B collaborations of the
last ten years. Yes I'm serious; I love this song that much.
What many thought was the Black
Eyed Peas first single was actually the first from their fourth album. It was
just their first single after recruiting Fergie. The single 'Where is the Love' featuring Justin Timberlake stayed at #1 for five weeks in June and
subsequently became the top selling single of the year. As I said, this was the year that great music was released but for me, let's discount this one. Yeah
it has a nice message and all that, but I never really “got it”. I'm sure that
makes me a horrible person, but whatever.
