EVERYTHING IS LOVE, the third act in The Carter's musical marriage therapy, finds Beyoncé and Jay-Z working together, for the first time under a shared moniker, in fantastic form. No less ambitious or musically rich than Beyoncé's 2016 Lemonade, and just as well executed as Jay's excellent 2017 4:44, EIL combines the former's mastery of grandiose R&B, the latter's laser-focused consistency, while adding new elements of the modern popular trap sound to create a wonderfully enjoyable album that celebrates black excellence, high art, flexing, and most importantly, love.
Immediately apparent is their artistic chemistry. Although these two making music together is nothing new, them stretching their collaborative energy across a 38-minute album is certainly new, and although their individual musical styles mostly cater to polar-opposite audiences, they effortlessly combine their talents to create a sound that leaves nobody out. Both stick to their usual guns during their respective performances, except Beyoncé also steps forward to rap alongside her husband. Considering her husband is the same man who recorded as many rap classics as you can count on one hand, this is something few artists would dare attempt, but her abilities as an MC are surprisingly tight. While she isn't the lyrical juggernaught that Jay-Z is, what she trades lyricism for is a fascinatingly strong and extravagant personality - when raps on the microphone, her attitude does all the work. She flips a relatively simple bar "He got a bad bitch, bad bitch / We livin' lavish, lavish / I got expensive fabrics / I got expensive habits" into a hugely entertaining statement just with her overblown demeanor on lead single 'APESHIT', which for a trap banger, isn't a bad track at all. The beat is energetic and shuffles quickly, Migos adlibs can be heard soaring around behind the lead vocalists, and Jay-Z steps in for a verse so nimble and agile he sounds as if he only recorded Originator 99 yesterday. The music video for this song (and also the album cover) is some of the most ambitious stunting all year - blasting a trap banger in the Louvre? That's impressive, and a serious statement about the relevance of blackness in art. The Carters continue to stunt on the next track 'BOSS'. The theme of success is prevalent here more than anywhere, and Jay slows his flow down to a regular pace to school us; "No cap; false n***a, you not a boss, you got a boss" and "Over here we measure success by how many people successful next to you / Here we say you broke if everybody is broke except for you". Meanwhile, Beyoncé continues to rap, smugly proclamining "Ain't nothing to it, I boss so I bought my momma a whip / My great-great-grandchildren already rich / That's a lot of brown chil'ren on your Forbes list!" while the celebratory trumpets blare loud and clear across the track. But for all of Beyoncé's rapping talents, where she succeeds the most is still without doubt her incredible singing. The album begins with it - on opener 'SUMMER' she levitates above the already-beautiful opening instrumental, elevating the track to fantastic heights as Jay simply refrains "let it breathe". 'FRIENDS' & 'HEARD ABOUT US' feature very similar moments, both being infinitely enhanced by Beyoncé's godly vocals. The latter has perhaps Beyoncé's most fantastic singing on the album, while the former has an icy piano sound over ticking snares and punchy bass shots that give Jay an easy platform to drop a standout verse that finds him reminiscing about his friendships, and also speaking on his devotion to his wife: "I ain't goin' to nobody nothin' when me and my wife beefin' / I don't care if the house on fire, I'm dyin', nigga, I ain't leavin'". He's a very lucky man to remain with Beyoncé, after of course the allegations and public admission and apology, a subject retrospectively visited on the closing track 'LOVEHAPPY'. She takes a bite at Jay on the track, but ultimately accepts him again by the end - "Yeah, you fucked up the first stone, we had to get remarried / We keepin' it real with these people, right? / Lucky I ain't kill you when I met that b-" as Jay meekly protests; "Yo chill man!" - however the the album glides out to a grand finish as she sings "We came, and we saw, and we conquered it all / We came, and we conquered, now we're happy in love". Not only does the track have another very pleasing instrumental - shimmering keys, a yelped vocal sample, a nicely violent bassline, but topically it's a genuinely heartwarming moment; forgiveness in the face of the unforgivable, and emotional reconstruction leaving the two both more open but also stronger together than ever before. I still haven't mentioned plenty of other highlights on the album - '713' blends multiple classic hip-hop tracks together into a modern anthem. Beyoncé borrows the hook from Dr. Dre's irrefutable classic 'Still D.R.E' to create an instantly recognisable and sing-along moment, while Jay borrows lines from one of the best songs from the year 2000; Common's underappreciated classic 'The Light' to reiterate the original's theme of a love letter - "I never knew a lo-, lo-, lo-, love like this / Gotta be special for me to write this / Queen, I ain't mean no disrespect / But the way I net work, it's hard for me to connect". 'BLACK EFFECT' builds slowly from a gentle piano intro and quiet singing into a great melodic track where the two sing the chorus together to great effect. Perhaps the only moment on EIL I find unexciting is 'NICE' - although Pharrell's guest vocals are great, and so is Jay-Z's verse, the instrumental lacks a decent pace, and the chorus grates slightly as Beyoncé stretches out "I can do anything" for as long as she can, over and over again. Her performance here as a rapper also finds her at her least entertaining, as her attitude begins to overbear slightly - "If I gave two fucks, two fucks about streaming numbers / Would have put Lemonade up on Spotify / Fuck you (woo) fuck you / You're cool, fuck you, I'm out". It just feels unnecessary to me, leaving dead space where the verse could have been improved; luckily it does so directly after this, as she regains her former cool to finish the verse. EIL is a fantastic surprise, and considering the longevity of both artists in the music industry, a strong testament to their enduring relevance and ability. Jay's resurgence in critical acclaim continues post-4:44, while Beyoncé's transformation from pop diva to artistic phenom since shocking critics and beginning the surprise-release trend with her both her self-titled 2013 album and 2016's Lemonade. Together as artists, they appear as strong as they ever have in their careers, and leaves anticipation high for a sequel - but if the Lemonade, 4:44, and EIL series ends here and is cemented as a trilogy, it will be perhaps one of the best musical trilogies of the decade, an artistic masterstroke from one of rap's most seasoned veterans and the world's biggest icons. The harrowing lows of the first two albums are now turned into celebrations of unity, bringing the series to it's ultimate happy ending. 89/100 |
201820162015Scores0-30 = Bad
31-49 = Sub-par 50-60 = Average 61-70 = Decent 71-80 = Good 81-89 = Great 90-99 = Incredible 100 = Perfect Archives
September 2018
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