BEYONCÉ: the discography rate ~ WINNER revealed!

Another one to end the day... and you guys always do this one dirty...














120

SCORE: 6.916
TOTAL POINTS: 207.5

2016: 85/113 (-35) | 5.93 (+0.986)
HIGHEST SCORE: 9.5 x 1 ( @odyism )
LOWEST SCORE: 3 x 1 ( @Robert )
MY SCORE: 8.5/10

Yes is and will likely always be an underrated Beyoncé song. It’s always going to be hard for a typically slow jam that isn’t necessarily 'current' to truly infiltrate the minds of new Beyoncé listeners, but if there was going to be one from Dangerously In Love, it should be Yes. This one was written by Beyoncé and Jay-Z and follows Beyoncé as she agrees to date a man, but wants to take things slow and is enjoying getting to know him. But when it comes down to sexual intercourse, Beyoncé isn’t ready to take that next step and is faced with judgement from her man. She lets him know that he should be grateful to be spending time with her, how he’s too old to be acting so immature (read!) and she eventually tells him to get out. An empowering moment from a young Bey.

The production checks every box a slow jam needs, except with the additional flicker of static throughout maybe hints to the listener that this isn’t your typical slow jam about sex, which is revealed in the second verse. Yes is basically Beyoncé’s consent anthem!

The song, to my knowledge, was only performed on the Dangerously In Love Tour, a 10 date European (mostly UK) tour towards the end of 2003. The performance can be viewed below, and very much looks like the beginnings of a Pussycat Dolls performance, which is funny considering Carmit is one of the dancers.

We will be touching 7 point average in a few songs time...

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Agreed on "Yes" being underrated! I love the way the instrumentation sounds kind of tentative to match the lyrics.

I never knew Jay-Z cowrote it. Interesting.

 

‘Yes’ is definitely gone too early - it’s in the upper half of Dangerously In Love.

But seriously, why am I seeing calls for ‘Apeshit’ to go?!

 

Next album to lose a track, and our first 11 to go...














119

SCORE: 6.918
TOTAL POINTS: 207.55

2016: 54/113 (-65) | 7.278 (-0.359)
HIGHEST SCORE: 11 x 1 ( @boombazookajoe ) | 10 x 1 ( @eatyourself )
LOWEST SCORE: 2 x 1 ( @Purple )
MY SCORE: 5.5/10

Smash Into You was included on the disc one deluxe edition of Beyoncé’s third studio album, I Am… Sasha Fierce. The song was written by Tricky Stewart, The-Dream and Beyoncé. This songwriting credit for Beyoncé came with a bit of controversy. I think, at the time, the controversy was largely due to the fact that people didn’t really understand how the music industry worked and they believed that to get a songwriting credit you had to actually write lyrics, which isn’t necessarily the case.

So the story goes, Smash Into You was recorded by male pop/rock artist Jon McLaughlin around the time of the release of his second album, OK Now in 2008. All the other songs on OK Now were written by McLaughlin himself, so I’m not sure whether he just recorded Smash Into You on a whim because he liked it or whether the song was actually meant to be included, but in the end it wasn’t. Also, Smash Into You was actually titled Smack Into You when McLaughlin recorded it. Beyoncé clearly liked the song, recorded it and the title changed from Smack to Smash somewhere in the process. After the release of I Am… Sasha Fierce, stories began to circulate in December 2008 about how Beyoncé stole the song from McLaughlin after his version was found online. Not only was Beyoncé accused of stealing the song, but people spotted that Beyoncé had a songwriting credit and lyrically, the songs were identical (apart from the title, of course). Who knows what the actual facts are and what Beyoncé truly did change, but all I remember is when the stories came out, it was all very “poor authentic white male musician is fucked over by garbage, talentless, definitely can’t write songs female popstar”.

@boombazookajoe

There are plenty of songs I could have given my 11 to, happily! But there is something about this song that just speaks to me on an emotional level. I'm also pretty sure this is the 10 of mine most in need of the extra point, and I'm a glutton for punishment (i.e. getting my 11 eliminated early). I love everything about this song, the lyrics, the vocal performance, the haunting melody, the epic final chorus. I also loved the controversy surrounding it when Beyonce was listed as the first credited writer only for the original demo by Jon McLaughlin to leak and it being exactly the same (down to the same key!) save for a few vocal runs and it was called "Smack Into You" instead of "Smash Into You" dddd. A queen!





Sis, you predicted the early elimination! I mean, this is a pretty wild choice to give your 11 away too, but I admire the commitment to helping out a song in need! To me, the song itself is okay, and I would definitely place it around the middle of the ballads half of I Am… Sasha Fierce. Smash Into You is one of the most popular album tracks / ballads on the album, as it has over 30 million streams on Spotify, coming after the singles and Ave Maria.

The song was performed on the I Am… World Tour, but has never seen the light of day since.

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Aww, Smash Into You is lovely and Indieyoncé at her best, and it gets even better live. She was in her Grey's Anatomy bag for sure!

 

I love Welcome To Hollywood, so I'm surprised and a little sad to see it go this early.
Yes is also a very cute song that deserved to be a bit higher.

 

"NILE" is the first elimination I'm genuinely bothered by. I wouldn't say no to an extended version to turn this 8 into a proper 10 though.

"Yes" is a delicious and subtle slice of early Beyoncé and could have stayed in the rate a while longer. One of the best album cuts from the debut. And I remember how melodramatic my 13-year-old self used to be when listening to "Smash Into You", picturing a romance I wasn't even close to experiencing, so I'll always have a lot of love for this otherwise quite standard ballad.

 

I could be wrong, but I actually think Smash Into You is one of the first songs to decrease on its average since the last rate.

Last average was 7.278. Generally, every other song so far has increased.

 

Disappointed but not surprised. Tasteless!

(A 1 for “Nile” is also wild to me. What??)

 

#USERERROR


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Welcome to Hollywood - 8.75
~ This is a lot of fun and one of my favourite rediscoveries of the rate, actually. I view it as a sister song to "Green Light" in terms of how adventurous it seems to be - it just keeps developing during the song's length and adding all different sections and production elements. The final few verses are excellent and I love the guitar addition in the instrumental. It's not perfect of course, but deserved better for sure (especially when some other bonus tracks from this album are still in).

NILE - 6.75
~ Definitely not a surprising elimination at this point, though I did not expect it to surpass "SPIRIT". Anyway, this is good for what's a borderline interlude but I don't get much of a use of it at all. The production is cool, which bumped my score slightly. While I'm partial to Kendrick's parts, Bey's first verse is easily the highlight here, lovely harmonies and all.

Yes - 6.75
~ For some reason I always imagine this could've easily been a song by Destiny's Child (perhaps because of the "No No No" connection, hehe). The score seems low but relistening to the song, it seems fair enough. While it's a very nice, laid-back tune, it does end up being a bit one-note and ultimately a tad boring. It's a cute moment when they play with the song structure and sneak the middle-8 before the second verse. Anyway, "Be With You" definitely does a better spin on this sound and it's good to see it around. I never really payed close attention to the lyrics of "Yes", so it's interesting to find out what they are about and I greatly admire that aspect.

Smash Into You - 7
~ Okay, I may have underscored this one a tiny bit, since it's a very pretty ballad. Guess I was a bit cautious of it getting too far, but not like much would change either way. I suppose it's a bit too simplistic in a 'Eurovision NQ' type of way, despite always providing a pleasant listen. The final chorus is a really nice moment. And I tend to forget the songwriting controversy because it kinds gets overshadowed by another song that got a similar treatment (scream at it getting eliminated right after this song).
Interesting choice for an 11, @boombazookajoe - but wait until you hear about my potential contenders for that score ddd

 

Hey, I just was the first to lose an 11 … in the first 15 or so eliminations … in the rate I’m hosting ddd … so I’m no stranger to underperforming 11s! Fff

 

And one more, which will likely please some of you... but also it pleases me, because we get to look at more shots from the album shoot.














118

SCORE: 6.93
TOTAL POINTS: 209.9

2016: 88/113 (-30) | 5.896 (+1.034)
HIGHEST SCORE: 9 x 3 ( @Ana Raquel, @Daniel_O, @Music Is Death )
LOWEST SCORE: 4 x 3 ( @lalaclairi_, @Purple, @Robert )
MY SCORE: 6.5/10

Released as the bonus track on the Japanese edition of B’Day, Creole was co-written alongside Makeba Riddick and Rich Harrison. Like with some of the other bonus tracks from B’Day, Creole fits in nicely with the rest of the main album due to its live band instrumentation. The song is Beyoncé’s ode to her Creole heritage, which is something she would talk about again in Formation, almost 10 years later. Beyoncé’s Louisiana Creole mixed heritage consists of African-American, French and Irish. The links and similarities between B’Day and Lemonade become more apparent the more you dive into the little details. They are sister albums.

Creole fails to soar to the heights of the other similar sounding songs surrounding it such as Green Light or Freakum Dress. Interestingly, Suga Mama and Creole also share some of the same ad-libs. The song has no connection lyrically to the greater narrative of the album, so I understand why it was relegated to a Japanese bonus track, but it's a very cute bonus.




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What... the fuck?!

 

Wait! I actually gave Creole 9 (not 10)
and Lost Yo Mind 6 (not 1)

 

Updated. Lazy copy and pasting!

 

Creole and Lost Yo Mind back to back? They are so underrated.

 

other than stop the b'day crew, I didn't 10 resentment nor 9 creole? i 10/9ed the tracks between those, so @allyshone if you could just confirm my scores aren't one place up or down, i'd love to.

 

This might actually change the order a little bit! Nothing like a bit of drama to keep things fresh!

 

Okay so updates... I've tried to re-arrange some of the posts, but please let me know if you find any errors anywhere.

- World Wide Woman moves up a spot to #147, pushing Shining down one.
- Welcome To Hollywood moves up to #120, pushing Nile down one.
- Resentment moves down to #125, pushing everything else after it up one.
- Lost Yo Mind's new position is #109.

Phew... I think that is everything. I'd skipped a score of yours, @Ana Raquel, so filled the middle of the album wrong. The last few tracks were fine though, and everything else. God knows how that happened!