Beyonce
B'Day
SonyBMG

What Beyonc¸ has done in the past, the world has lapped up and loved. The backbone of Destiny's Child, she hasn't needed them for a long time and has gradually been coming into her own, 'Dangerously In Love' being a sensational introduction. But to me, Beyonce's overexposure means she is expected to deliver something even more sensational than the last thing and 'B'Day' doesn't quite cut it. Made within a fortnight, she does not really raise the bar from 'Dangerously In Love', 'B'Day' feeling very rushed and creatively stunted.

Keeping with the Diana Ross/Tina Turner image she has progressively been moulding, 'B'Day' is all about throbbing beats and belting it out. She may have chosen this path because fans enjoy it on the dance floor and because both her Destiny's Child albums and 'Dangerously In Love' copped flack for escalating into some yawn ballads. I would've preferred a bit of variety between the two because the intense energy and relentless big beats are a little bit exhausting.
Ring The Alarm has Beyonce screeching over an alarm at her cheating boyfriend and Freakum Dress' climatic build to the chorus is good, but too much of this sounds chaotic. It is not until the simple acoustics of Irreplaceable and the frank and woeful Resentment that Beyonce takes it down a notch and it is at this point you too can take a breath.

'B'Day' is also a mere ten tracks long with a bonus track (Check On It) and the hidden track Listen. After this comes an encore version of Get Me Bodied, which seems like a quick trick to make the album longer.

What annoys me most about Beyonce is that she releases some great singles but doesn't put enough effort into the album as a whole and, unfortunately, 'B'Day' follows suit.

Sherree Woodmore