BEYONCÉ: the discography rate ~ WINNER revealed!

Signs is fun! ...if a bit inconsequential.

Love me some Missy, but none of her work with Bey has ever really amounted to anything great.

 

I actually really, really enjoy Rise Up. And in my head it serves as the conceptual prelude of what The Gift actually became - a present in the shape of songs with messages Beyoncé wants to leave to her children.

 

Naïve - 8.75
~ As mentioned, I find this song adorable and actually one of the highlights from the extras section, so it ended up unfairly low. That rap bit unnecessary and there's obviously still room for improvement but the chorus is delightful and I really enjoy it overall. I also think it's cute how you can clearly hear Solange's still unformed vocal tone and Bey's parts make it much more noticeable. It's also one of the standouts from Solange's debut album, even though it's only a bonus track.

And now I must spotlight Solange's debut album, which is pretty good and, while seriously lacking single material, has a fair share of great album tracks (I'd argue even more so than "Dangerously in Love") and I must mention them.

For example, this amazing Timbaland production which is the closest anything has sounded to Aaliyah's masterpiece "Try Again":

My beloved Linda Perry also contributed to this fabulous tune, which is actually among her earliest co-writing credits for other artists:

Beyoncé also appears as a co-writer for a few songs on there, though the only one worth mentioning is the title track "Solo Star":

"This Could Be Love", a beautiful mid-tempo ballad, definitely stands out:

And finally, a Japanese bonus track which was didn't seem to available anywhere online until a year or two ago. I was pleased to finally hear it them because it's a very nice little bop:

It's been a long time since the two sisters collabed, so I'm really curious what the result would sound like if the two of them worked together again. Manifesting....

 

Back to Black - 6.5
~ Now, the song is an undeniable masterpiece but this cover... ugh. André 3000's part is absolute trash and Bey saves what can be saved, but I'm still not a fan of this. Maybe I overscored this one because of the fondness I have towards Amy's song (then again I usually rate covers highly if I already love the original version). Don't really get how it went from the bottom 5 placement in the previous rate to doing considerably better here but oh well, at least it's gone now.

I'm Leaving - 8.75
~ She's leaving indeed... Great success for a song that's essentially unreleased to outlast over 30 songs that were officially released. It wasn't uncommon for Beyoncé to do solo demos of songs intended for Destiny's Child, though for some reason I thought Kelly was doing backing vocals here yet I can't hear her anywhere? Anyway, the timeframe fits and the song is really good. It obviously lacks more punch, though the chorus is catchy and I really like the way melody takes unexpected turns in places. Wish they kept this for "Survivor" and recorded it together with a full-fleshed production.
The only other song that we know of that was very likely recorded during that awkward short 'era' in early 2000 where Beyoncé and Kelly weren't yet joined by Farrah and Michelle is "Like Dat", which is a low-key bop:

Who knows, maybe "Have Your Way" had a similar fate and was also intended to appear on "Survivor".


Signs - 6.25
~ I remember being bored to hell by this one when I first heard it, but while rating it here, it's not as bad. It tries to be playful but fails and ends up being rather monotonous. My favourite part are the verses, some lovely vocals there, though the rest is not impressive at all and the song drags. Nice instrumentation/production flourishes kinda lift it up but that's about it. When it comes to Missy's collabs in this rate, "Nothing Out There for Me" is slightly weaker to me so it will probably exit very soon too.


Surprised to see some very unremarkable early songs such as "I Can’t Take No More" and "What’s It Gonna Be" are still in. Really hoping to see "Lost Yo Mind" and "Back Up" leave, too.

 

Another extra, optional and album track for your nerves...














151

SCORE: 6.368
TOTAL POINTS: 191.05

2016: N/A
HIGHEST SCORE: 9.75 x 1 ( @TéléDex )
LOWEST SCORE: 2 x 1 ( @Purple )
MY SCORE: 6/10​

Beyoncé released Die With You on April 4, 2015 to celebrate her seventh wedding anniversary with Jay-Z. The song, written by Beyoncé and Kirby Lauryen Dockery, was a TIDAL exclusive *shudders* and upon it's initial release, came with a home footage video of Beyoncé performing the song on the piano as Jay records. We rarely get to see Beyoncé playing the piano, so I'm here for the visual. 2 years later, she released a new video for the song featuring more home footage, which is often used on the On The Run tours. This is the one you can view below as it still includes the piano footage.

Die With You is a perfectly fine piano ballad. Again, nothing groundbreaking, but a nice little song to commemorate their marriage. I'm sure there's a huge section of Beyoncé's fanbase who eat all this lovely marriage stuff up and so this is definitely for them. Me, well I will take the more horned up marriage bangers like Partition and Rocket over sappy any day of the week. I'm not... the loving kind.











150

SCORE: 6.375
TOTAL POINTS: 127.5

2016: N/A
HIGHEST SCORE: 8.5 x 1 ( @odyism )
LOWEST SCORE: 2.5 x 1 ( @Robert )
MY SCORE: 6/10​

And another Missy Elliott collab drops out. This time it's Nothing Out There For Me, which came from Missy's fourth studio album, Under Construction. The song was written by Missy, Craig Brockman and Nisan Stewart, who were the exact team who worked on the previously eliminated Dangerously In Love cut, Signs.

Bey's vocals and harmonies are so lush here, which is why I rated it a decent 6. Also, the production gives me hints of an Aaliyah track, but I'm not sure whether that's just my ears or if it's just a typical sounding early 00s beat. Beyoncé and Missy hilariously imitate a phone conversation in the song's intro and outro, where Missy is trying to get Bey to party with her, to which Bey responds, "girl, I do not get high" ddd. Allegedly, Missy claimed on Instagram how she would have liked to have done a video for this, which would have undoubtedly slayed.

Overall, I enjoy this, even if it doesn't touch either artists full potential.








149

SCORE: 6.381
TOTAL POINTS: 191.45

2016: N/A
HIGHEST SCORE: 9.5 x 1 ( @Music Is Death )
LOWEST SCORE: 1 x 1 ( @Daniel_O )
MY SCORE: 6/10​

Shining was released as the lead single from DJ Khaled's tenth studio album, Grateful and features both Beyoncé and Jay-Z. The song, produced by DJ Khaled and Danja, samples an Osunlade record called Dionne, which itself samples Walk The Way You Talk by Dionne Warwick. Released in February 2017, the song went on to be a lukewarm hit for everyone involved, reaching No.57 on the Billboard Hot 100.

I don't hate this. I actually think the production is pretty cool and I'm always down to listen to Beyoncé bragging on a track, as she rap-sings "came out '97, winnin' 20 years boy"... she is not wrong! Shining has never been performed live, however it has served as an outro song on Homecoming: The Live Album and the On The Run II Tour, where it probably works best.

​

 

World Wide Woman is peak 2000s cringe. WWW!

I like Signs for Beyoncé being an astrology girlie too, I know she’s checking Co-Star daily!

 

My faves by Solange:

Crush

Sandcastle Disco

 

It’s the beat that my heart skips (when I’m with you), when you get tagged in a rate, especially early on and fear for your 10s. Thankfully I was just lowest scorer twice for the two Missy songs. Missy is great when she’s on fire, but unfortunately all of her Beyoncé collaborations have been severely lacking. I never have any desire to seek them out whatsoever.

 

World Wide Woman is definitely more trashy filler like the rest of the B'Day deluxe tracks. But my god... what a camp bop! I just had to give it some points.

 

Time for a certain record producer to go Bye Bye by Mariah Carey...










148

SCORE: 6.391
TOTAL POINTS: 191.75

2016: 102/113 (-46) | 5.247 (+1.144)
HIGHEST SCORE: 9 x 2 ( @odyism, @Music Is Death )
LOWEST SCORE: 1 x 1 ( @Daniel_O )
MY SCORE: 6.5/10​

So technically, this was a tie with Nothing Out There For Me, but my rules are my rules, and World Wide Woman received more higher scores, so it gets to take the #148 spot.

Oh Beyoncé. Always ahead of the curve. Making a song about the internet in 2006. You have got to stan! World Wide Woman was a hidden track on the deluxe edition of B’Day and was co-written with frequent B’Day collaborators Makeba Riddick, LaShawn Daniels, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Sean Garrett and cousin, Angie Beyincé, who is now Vice President of Operations at Beyoncé's label, Parkwood Entertainment by the way. So it’s been over 14 years since this song debuted, and to be honest, I can’t remember what the internet looked like in 2006. I definitely know I had a dial up modem, I know YouTube was created in 2005, but that’s about it. My love for staying up on the internet all night and joining pop music forums would come a few years after World Wide Woman first entered these ears, which would be after waiting about 2 hours for it to download via Limewire.

Despite having an adorable chorus, I believe Upgrade U achieves everything this song attempts to do only 10x better thematically. That being said, I can’t help but love the 00s R&B production of it all and the dramatic string intro. “I’m a World Wide Woman, WWW” is a catchy hook and it gets this stuck in my head every time after listening to it, so it's doing something right! Like with most of the B’Day bonus tracks, it’s clear why this song wasn’t included on the original album, but I enjoy it. Unfortunately, the song seems to be the least popular bonus track on streaming with around 4 million Spotify streams.











147

SCORE: 6.425
TOTAL POINTS: 192.75

2016: N/A
HIGHEST SCORE: 9.5 x 1 ( @Music Is Death )
LOWEST SCORE: 3 x 1 ( @Maki )
MY SCORE: 4/10​

Okay, so I think I rated this before it was changed to Top Off (Live) from Homecoming: The Live Album as 4 feels pretty low, but whatever... it's no big loss and quite poetic that both DJ Khaled tracks are getting eliminated next to each other. Top Off was released as the lead single from DJ Khaled eleventh studio album, Father of Ashad and features Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Future. The song also features a production credit for Beyoncé as well, alongside DJ Khaled and Joseph Zarillo.

I can't even be bothered to talk about the actual song. The main hook by Future is pretty tuneless and annoying. I'm going to believe Bey's production credit was for her own part, because it's the only part worth salvaging. The most notable lyric from her verse is, "if they tryna party with the queen, they gon' have to sign a non-disclosure", which was a reference to actress Tiffany Haddish, who had spilled a story to the press about touching Jay-Z's chest and Beyoncé being mad about it. You can actually hear Beyoncé yell "Tiffany" in the background after she delivers the line (around 2:50). Honestly, I think Bey was just having fun with it... Maybe. The song went onto be another mild hit for everyone involved, reaching No.22 on the Billboard Hot 100.

So, I did not expect Beyoncé to pull out her verse for her Coachella performance, and it totally works in this setting, as does DJ Khaled's intro renaming Coachella to Beychella. Iconic and probably the best thing he's ever done. Bey and Jay performed the song for a couple of the On The Run II Tour dates before dropping it completely from the setlist.

 

Signs and World Wide Woman could have lasted a tad longer, I still have a lot of 5s left!!!

 

You picked out one great line from Top Off, but I also love “top 2 on the internet and I ain’t number 2” - Yes Bey!!

 

World Wide Woman is peak camp, and I’m sad to see it go so soon!

 

Me getting a tag and it's not because I'm among the highest scorers?

 

How on earth is Video Phone still in!?

 

I thought I hated Video Phone but going back and listening to it for the rate I’ve decided it is pure camp and kinda slaps. The music video? Now that’s art.

 

There’s definitely a handful of songs I'm mad about not even reaching.... the top 100! It's a testament to her having such a strong discography, but I'm not ready to cut some of these songs.

Today we will be getting rid of a some more extras, however some previously untouched albums will also suffer their first losses.

 

The fact that "Shining," on which Beyoncé proudly claims "All of this winnin'," was released minutes after the end of the disastrous 2017 Grammy Awards... This song is cursed. (but I actually like it and think it's much better than "Top Off")

 

I remember being so pressed when I first heard Signs that Bey didn’t have a Capricorn specific lyric ddd

The lyrics for World Wide Woman have aged like milk but it’s still a bop, it could’ve stayed.

 

When you take all of the men off of Top Off it kinda knocks, huh? Homecoming remains untouchable.