siren

just finished listening to king b.'s latest effort, 4, and i must say that i'm quite impressed. not her best work (that's reserved for the stylish sheen of b'day), though much better than the multiple personality mess of sasha fierce. here she ditches her electro-pop melodies for softer, rawer beats against her nervous-hiccup growl of a voice, and the result is something olympian. for the first time, beyoncé seems to live up to her status as lyrical goddess, with each song sounding more and more as if she's singing down from a tall, pristine mountain to a large crowd of disciples. unsurprisingly, "run the world (girls)" is not the best song, or even close. instead, i'd side with "1 + 1," "i miss you," or the diplo/switch penned "end of time," which avoid feminist nods and strike harder with shameless vulnerability. in this mix of lovesick gushiness and occasional fear of mortality, beyoncé reinvents herself from the horizons above yet slightly stumbles upon the rocks below.