The Carters - Everything Is Love

The Carters - Everything Is Love

The worlds premier power couple, who transcended normal adjectives years ago and now apparently only move with words like ‘luxurious’ and ‘thunderous’, has seen fit to grace us with a collaboration album after all these years of coded musical messages and public glare. Rather than a sappy love duet, however, Everything Is Love represent two of the worlds most recognisable artists at their intellectual and influential peaks. Both Jay Z and Beyoncé are masters of their craft and making bad records is simply not their M.O. Try to their form, Everything Is Love is preposterous and glamorous, ripe with respect, love and wit, but also undercut by a real anger, racial commentary and a giant middle finger to the haters. Filled with little surprises along the way, akin to finding a dark chocolate sharp in your chocolate chip cookie, Everything Is Love is an RnB infused hip-hop statement by possibly the best-known couple in the world.

Now I approached this album with a fair amount of bias. I mean, Beyoncé is on it and people will listen to anything with Beyoncé. But there is a difference in both the Carters now, Beyoncé has evolved from triple threat performer to a bonafide feminist icon, while Jay Z has gone from one of the more shrewd businessmen in music to a philosophical and introspective elder statesman, as evidenced by his latest David Letterman interview. Neither Bey nor Jay are young anymore, and their vintage, experience and knowledge have shaped this album, making it both thoughtful and full of tricks and easter eggs for those with the time to look. Furthermore, on the subject of surprises, Beyoncé the rapper (rather than  Beyoncé the singer) takes centre stage more often than not and it only adds to the layers of this album.

One of the songs that caught my ear, BLACK EFFECT, a love song for Black Americans and a scathing commentary on racism in America set to a soul and blues-infused backing track. Filled with racial imagery and name drops (Trayvon Martin, Malcolm X and DR. MLK to name a few), BLACK EFFECT tackles the touchy surest of police brutality and racial bias against the juxtaposition of Black beauty and grace. Is there a better spokesperson for this message in America? Not all danger and woe on Everything Is Love, however, as album opener SUMMER is cunning and witty with an air of romance, warm beats and inside jokes between the couple. Just as Lemonade ended with a chance for forgiveness, SUMMER opens with a leisurely jive as Jay and Bey talk sweet to each other about lovemaking and amnesty. The strong flip between the two is evidenced by the depth of feeling and emotions that went into this album. However, it is BOSS that proves to be the most powerful. Equal parts witty, gritty and mean, Beyoncé is in rare form as she raps “My great-great-grandchildren already rich… That’s a lot of brown children on your Forbes list.” Romping through the track as if they won the Super Bowl, the Carters want you to know exactly who crashed your party.


I had my opinions on the calculating, Kardashian-esque placement of their last two albums and this adds to those suspicions but damn if it isn’t a good album. In parts, dark and abrasive with waves of anger, in others full of laughter and love, a couple at peace in a world of turmoil. The variety and bombastic nature leave almost no time to catch your breath because there is too much time spent anticipating each line. This is not just a victory lap for the doubters, this is a parade to remind everyone who sits on the Throne.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stayne - Parachute

Image
Stayne - Parachute Derry singer/songwriter Stayne makes a highly anticipated return to the ‘new releases’ column with ‘ Parachute ’. A self-described pop artist who brings “something a little different,” his newest single pulls no punches. On his latest, the ‘I slay ’ performer tackles everything from alcoholism, spirituality and needing someone to hold on to a 'human parachute.’ Know to fuse his lyricism with introspection and self-worth before sending them out into the world, Stayne’s newest is his best so far. The warm gruff vocals of the walled city resident flow into range, telling a tale of victory and failure. A stripped back arrangement of keys and ghostly strings help elevate the vocal message, ultimately committing addition by subtraction. Wallowing in a more subtle sound than would be expected from pop allows Stayne to bring his voice to the forefront, giving lines such as “I’m a whole different man when I’m holding a beer” a new gravity. With this being
Read more

Stone Broken, Those Damn Crows + Baleful Creed - 10th February 2019

Image
Stone Broken, Those Damn Crows + Baleful Creed - 10th February 2019 As I make my way down fountain street, my breath materialises in front of me. As it dissipates into the night, a low rumbling grows. It’s emanating from the top floor of local music hostelry Voodoo, which plays host tonight to a contingent of hard rock fanatic and headbang enthusiasts. The scuzz is palpable as I make my way through the door. First onstage is Belfast’s own Baleful Creed . The heavy rock quartet, known for their weighty riffs and ruthless demeanour, are having some fun tonight onstage. While sticking to the meat and bones of their gruff sound, we are treated to some wavey psychedelic blues in between licks. These deviations don’t last however, and it’s not long before pounding drum fills are shaking my back wall table and gruff, leathery textured vocals are searing the paint of the wall. Ripping up the stage with a prehistoric sound steeped in the blues (a wild harmonica appears for a moment),
Read more

The Hunna - Dare

Image
The Hunna - Dare  Hertfordshire four-piece The Hunna have returned with their newest endeavour Dare, an album that screams “all filler no killer.” Most bands struggle with their second release and The Hunna are no exception. Just as Arctic Monkeys were the first ‘youtube’ band to make it big, The Hunna shunned the circuit for Facebook presence, which worked very well for them as regards to their fanbase. Unfortunately for the rest of us, this did not translate into good music. While I appreciate there are very few Alex Turner/Paul Weller types in the world, Dare is sonically and nigh unforgivably boring even in this era of repetition and dishonesty. There is a formulaic, synthetic feel to the album that sounds not only tiresome but outright disingenuous. Music is amazing because it's organic and primal, it comes from a place of sweat that travels ‘from heart to limb, to pen’ (Bryan Fallon, Handwritten, 2013). This is where the magic comes from, but Dare sounds more akin to
Read more