NUMBER TWENTY-EIGHT
There was no way that I could make this list and not have this album on it. In at number 28 is The Carters with EVERYTHING IS LOVE.
Let me just start off by saying... Beyoncé. Now with that said, this album arrived in true Carter fashion - with no fanfare nor warning, just a link. You can already guess how I started my day when this announcement was made. Sweeping in with the expansive and typical to a Beyoncé and Jay-Z collaboration "SUMMER", then giving the listener a millisecond to breathe just before the rumbling "APES**T". By track 3 I was already thoroughly invested. Aside from the fact that it gave us 9 new songs from Beyoncé and her husband, there are lots of other things that go into making EVERYTHING IS LOVE a good album.
The 90's R&B boyband harmonies on "BOSS" or the shout-out from Blue to her siblings Sir and Rumi are just a couple of the little touches that add so much to this album. As grand as portions of the record are and as grand as they have the ability to make their projects; it's the little bits of wordplay and catchy ad-libs that sit with you long after first listen. Beyoncé flexes her rapping muscles with many quotable lyrics on this record and Hov as always adds his witty and confident bars.
Now of course this was a good album. It was made by two of the greatest musicians/performers of the last few decades as well as a team of fantastic producers and collaborators. However, ultimately it's a lazy album for them for two key reasons (and a plethora of smaller reasons). Firstly, they speak over topics that they've both already covered substantially both together and separately. Secondly, they play heavily towards the favour of the mainstream, rather than looking into less conventional and accessible instrumentals. I would have expected a collaboration of this magnitude to produce something mind-blowing and memorable, but if I'm honest with myself I don't think that this album is better than either Beyoncé or Jay-Z's most recent solo projects.
Despite that, there are a few songs that really stood out for me on this album and will continue to make me smile whenever I think about the first time I'd listened to them. "BOSS", "NICE", "FRIENDS", and "HEARD ABOUT US", both lyrically and instrumentally caught and held my attention. I really hope this isn't the last collaborative piece that we see from The Carters and I also hope that it isn't the best.
The 90's R&B boyband harmonies on "BOSS" or the shout-out from Blue to her siblings Sir and Rumi are just a couple of the little touches that add so much to this album. As grand as portions of the record are and as grand as they have the ability to make their projects; it's the little bits of wordplay and catchy ad-libs that sit with you long after first listen. Beyoncé flexes her rapping muscles with many quotable lyrics on this record and Hov as always adds his witty and confident bars.
Now of course this was a good album. It was made by two of the greatest musicians/performers of the last few decades as well as a team of fantastic producers and collaborators. However, ultimately it's a lazy album for them for two key reasons (and a plethora of smaller reasons). Firstly, they speak over topics that they've both already covered substantially both together and separately. Secondly, they play heavily towards the favour of the mainstream, rather than looking into less conventional and accessible instrumentals. I would have expected a collaboration of this magnitude to produce something mind-blowing and memorable, but if I'm honest with myself I don't think that this album is better than either Beyoncé or Jay-Z's most recent solo projects.
Despite that, there are a few songs that really stood out for me on this album and will continue to make me smile whenever I think about the first time I'd listened to them. "BOSS", "NICE", "FRIENDS", and "HEARD ABOUT US", both lyrically and instrumentally caught and held my attention. I really hope this isn't the last collaborative piece that we see from The Carters and I also hope that it isn't the best.
