Our Publication Review of Sasha Fierce

Beyonce Revolutionizes The Music World: Enter – I Am…Sasha Fierce

by James B. Golden

Every 10-15 years or so, a major female artist emerges as much more than a voice. In the 1960s, Aretha Franklin emerged as the dominant female voice. The 1970s saw the incline of Diana Ross’ musical and film career with her acting debut in Lady Sings The Blues. The 1980s and 1990s were flooded with the massively successful hits of Whitney Houston. The 1990s also was the birthplace of contenders Mariah Carey and Celine Dion.

But 20 years from now, the first decade of the new millennium will be known as the era of Beyonce Knowles.

I Am…Sasha Fierce (2008) does exactly what B’Day (2006) hoped to accomplish fully in modernizing the landscape of R&B, Hip Hop, and Pop. The record is a double disc with one half shedding light to Beyonce’s quiet side (I Am) and the opposite giving a voice to her outer bombshell alter-ego Sasha Fierce. Together, they satisfy the Beyonce fan and set an appropriate soundtrack for any occasion.

I AM

The tracks on I Am (Disc 1) are so shockingly cohesive that Beyonce could have easily released the 8 songs as her entire album. The stand-out tracks on the set are the well-written ballads Halo, Disappear, and the Babyface penned Broken Hearted Girl. Ave Maria is ingenious as it fuses the classic song with new lyrics focusing on a depressed young woman’s journey toward inspiration. Smash Into You, written by Solange, is a gut-wrenching tribute which brings visualizations of a man and woman running to a big finale kiss. The set includes the massively successful If I Were A Boy which is a feminist anthem in its own right.

Sasha Fierce

This set includes bass-heavy tracks which are perfect on those days getting ready to go out to the club. The stand-out tracks on this disc are Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), Ego, and Radio. Diva stands as Sasha Fierce’s most powerful song asserting “Diva is the female version of a hustla”. Sasha also shines on Sweet Dreams, which offers a very club-ready production style.

Together, these two discs are what the Whitney album was to Whitney Houston or what Share My World was to Mary J. Blige. Although there is much to come from this icon in the next decade, this will stand as a seminal record in her career. With 2 new movies coming out next year, you can expect to see Beyonce making it rain on everyone in the game for a while.

Welcome to 2009: It’s officially Beyonce Season!