Beyoncé's new album 4 is a change of pace for the R&B queen. While her first three solo albums were full of blockbuster jams, 4 is a more relaxed, personal set that emphasizes ballads over bangers and showcases the singer's nuances; it's very much the sort of album a pop star makes when she doesn't feel like she has anything to prove. (She seems, in other words, to have set aside her alter ego Sasha Fierce for the moment.) 4 won't be in stores until June 24th, but since it leaked this week, here's a track-by-track preview of the album's 12 songs.
1. "1+1" - The album opens with its most tender ballad, a slow-burning number that calls back to both Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" and Prince's "Purple Rain" without sounding like a retread of either tune. The song is already available as a single, but it sounds best in the context of the album, where its slow, steady build to a cathartic guitar break is the perfect introduction to a set of mostly low-key tracks about love and heartbreak.
2. "I Care" - "I know you don't care too much, but I still care," Beyoncé sings over cooing background vocals and dense percussion, delivering the words with a devastating blend of sadness and resentment. It may not be an obvious single, but it's one of the finest tracks on the record.
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Could Beastie Boys possibly give less of a fuck about trying to sound young? In a word, no. As Ad-Rock proudly declares on their excellent new Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, "Oh, my God, just look at me/Grandpa been rapping since '83!" The Beasties revel in their older-than-old-school references ("Be kind, rewind") and cultural touchstones ("braggadocio" rhymes with "I'll make you sick like a Kenny Rogers Roaster"). Where they used to boast about rocking Adidas instead of Fila, now MCA has different footwear issues: "I don't wear Crocs, and I don't wear sandals/The pump don't work 'cause the vandals took the handles."...
A week before the Grammys, Mumford & Sons had no idea they'd be sharing a stage with Bob Dylan. "It was surreal," says the folk-rock quartet's singer, Marcus Mumford, 24. "I was staying with my friend in California, and every night, we'd stay up until three listening to Dylan. Then I get a call: 'You're playing the Grammys with Bob Dylan.'" The British crew — whose breakout debut disc, Sigh No More, just went platinum — ended up stealing the show with a passionate rendition of their tune "The Cave," driving their album back up to Number Two. Mumford, taking a cigarette break from a writing session for the band's second album, checks in from London.
Were you excited to back Dylan on "Maggie's Farm"?
The initial idea was that we'd play the Grammys with the Avett Brothers — one of our favorite bands in the world — and "a legend of music." When our manager said, "It's Bob Dylan," I got out of bed and ran outside and jumped around like a madman! You can imagine the reaction of someone who probably wouldn't be playing music at all if it wasn't for Dylan....
Here are a bunch of album reviews for Lykke Li's new album, which is due to be released tomorrow! According to the reviews it must be pretty good, so buy it!
Spin.com (8/10):
When the Swedish pop ingenue Lykke Li first arrived in 2007 at all of 21, she was an adorable little thing, singing and shimmying with gumption. Her debut album, 2008's Youth Novels, was as resolute and irrepressible as the best of her compatriots -- Robyn, Nina Persson, Jens Lekman, even ABBA. And she enchanted a few notables along the way, including the rapper Drake, who sampled her "Little Bit" for an arresting mixtape deep cut. But there was a chill in the music -- sax skronks, woozy keyboards, Kewpie-ish voice lurching to the brink of sadness -- that her co-conspirator Bjorn Yttling helped install to keep things from ever getting too cute....
Contributing editor Josh Eells sits down with Eminem at his Detroit recording studio for a revealing interview about the rapper's long battle with prescription drugs, his difficulties with women and the pain of being abandoned by his father at six months old, as well as his incredible musical comeback and his quest to score the highest score in the history of Donkey Kong.
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