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9.1
61520
9.1 |
Pretty Much Amazing
Provides a corrective to the year’s glut of pop tedium
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9.1
61522
9.1 |
A.V. Club
She’s made an emotional album that’s dense and substantial but never difficult or self-important
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9.0
61508
9.0 |
Spin
This is her best album, more textured than its predecessors in both sound and content
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9.0
61535
9.0 |
Fact
A stronger personal statement than Magna Carta… Holy Grail, less self-indulgent than The 20/20 Experience, and (in its own way) as dark and confrontational as Yeezus. Beating the boys at their own game — how’s that for feminism?
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9.0
61604
9.0 |
All Music
In time, it should be seen as a career highlight from a superstar - one of the hardest-working people in the business, a new mother, in total control, at her creative and commercial peak
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9.0
61493
9.0 |
Billboard
It's as impressive an accomplishment creatively as it is for shifting the industry towards a more nontraditional take on the "single-album-tour" strategy
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9.0
61495
9.0 |
The Quietus
It is a bold, expansive body of work that should have all the praise heaped on it because, without warning, she dropped one of the strongest albums of the year on us
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9.0
61628
9.0 |
The 405
BEYONCÉ functions as a highly successful feminist manifesto
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9.0
61663
9.0 |
Clash
One of the best damn albums of 2013, basically, however you’re looking at it: as an R&B record, a pop set, an electro collection
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8.8
61594
8.8 |
Pitchfork
The record reverberates with the energy of a conservative pop star navigating trends without grasping for them
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8.0
61505
8.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
Beyoncé should carve out a place among pop’s most important moments
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8.0
61489
8.0 |
Daily Telegraph
It's sexy and smart, with a stripped back modernity that allows the character in her voice to flourish, and stamped with visual wit and swagger
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8.0
61490
8.0 |
The Observer
The best surprise of all, in an autumn in which Beyoncé's closest competitors – Gaga, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus – made underperforming bids for the throne, is how thoroughly assured, immersive and substantial this album is
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8.0
61492
8.0 |
Entertainment.ie
There will be some disappointment from the lack of club bangers, but Beyonce fans will be satisfied at getting to know their Queen Bee a little better, and even non-Bey fans will be surprised by the new sounds she's serving up
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8.0
61620
8.0 |
State
This album is Beyoncé, at her best, worst and everything in between
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8.0
61541
8.0 |
The Guardian
As with Justin Timberlake's recent 20/20 Experience albums, a lot of the songs on Beyoncé unfurl slowly, stretching out to the six-minute mark and often feeling like two songs stitched together
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8.0
61516
8.0 |
musicOMH
This is easily Beyoncé’s best album yet, a clear progression from her previous work and a musical triumph
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8.0
61518
8.0 |
NME
Everything about this dark, complex and randy record suggests that despite the eponymous title, Beyonce is hungrily demanding more of herself than just being Beyonce
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7.9
61534
7.9 |
Paste Magazine
Beyoncé is at the level where no record label, no millionaire husband, and no oppressive cultural and social stigmas can stop her from doing what she wants, when she wants to
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7.5
61879
7.5 |
Under The Radar
Hearing a superstar be honest about her desires, in love with a family, and calling for an end to unrealistic expectations for women is a pretty great thing to have on a platinum-selling album
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7.0
61494
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
The vibe on Beyoncé is moodily futuristic R&B, strongest when it goes for full-grown electro soul with an artsy boho edge
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7.0
61499
7.0 |
Drowned In Sound
Flawed? Certainly. Boring? Never
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7.0
61500
7.0 |
Slant Magazine
What makes the album significant is the fact that its creator is a bona fide superstar who, apparently, seems to care more about following her creative bliss than scoring easy hits
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6.0
61488
6.0 |
The Independent
Musically, it's the same kind of electro R&B with which radio is already awash - in large part because it's produced by the same small coterie of hip producers, with Timbaland appearing to take the most prominent role amongst the likes of Detail, Jerome Harmon, Pharrell Williams and Ryan Tedder
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6.0
62106
6.0 |
Mojo
There are thrilling moments. Print edition only
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