Jay-Z - 4:44

[Ferrer Zorola 3,966]

1 hour ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Jeez, him and Beyonce really take the cake when it comes to narcissism. Any excuse to insert adoring images of themselves (was there any need for a 1:10 minute long video of them in there?) and their daughter. Any excuse to reference current videos to make them look "with it." Any excuse to show how "artistic" they are.

Honestly, if this video wasn't based around the idea of black empowerment, it would be called out for the mess it is. Almost all the clips were awful and were pointless or lacking in context (don't know what he was thinking putting in that woman wrestling a man on the ground, that just made black people look bad). And the clips of that interpretive dance couple were borderline funny. It was shot in such a way where you could barely see what they were doing, it was just close-ups of their faces with their eyes popping out their head and doing weird fall-backs.

Again, it were anyone else doing this, particularly if it were a white person, people would laugh at it and call out all its flaws. But because it's about black empowerment and it's a black person doing it, it's suddenly a work of genius. Give me a break. It sometimes seems like all black artists are doing albums like this right now, bringing up the black struggle. Which would be fine if they were saying something new, if they weren't all copying each other, if they weren't all relying on the most obvious elements. I just roll my eyes when another album comes up like this - cue the old jazz samples, the audio of "normal" black people being all philosophical, the visual clips of viral YouTubers, reclaiming of the n word and so on and so forth. This trend has only been going for a short while and I'm already sick of it, not because I'm white (although it does kinda suck when an artist makes an album where all the songs are not made for people like you, not exactly the best business plan) but because its so predictable, tired and the music just isn't good enough.

Staying relevant is fine...but if you're a singer, you should be doing that through your great music alone, not through scandal, rumour and your personal life. And they used to be one of the most private couples, which is why it's such a shock now that they've departed from all that. For years, Beyonce never even confirmed that they were together. They never sold their wedding day photos to a magazine or anything. But suddenly, she makes her big comeback and includes wedding footage during her tour and discusses their private life in detail on her next album. My only conclusion for this sudden turnaround is that she saw her success fading and thought bringing up private details would help get the public properly invested in her again. And yes, I do hate all reality stars as well (well, I think Kim K's ok but you wouldn't catch me watching her show). Having your whole private life out there for public consumption is what you do when you're Z-list because you have no talent or nothing else of interest to keep the public entertained. A-listers keep things private now, all the major ones barely talk about their private life at all because they realise being private can be key to making a relationship work.

Gaga did not "use" Joanne to sell albums. She never uses private life to sell albums, it's always "buy this because it has good music on it." Joanne wasn't the selling point of the album at all, its reference is purely one for the fans, only one song referenced her and most of the public know nothing about her dead aunt's dedication whereas Beyonce's USP was "buy this album filled with scandal about my personal life." And don't even try to bring race into this. I treat every artist the same. Just because I treat black artists with the same derision that I give to white artists if they do something I don't like doesn't mean I have anything against them. Honestly, I never used to have a problem with putting down the work of a black artist but now people really question your intentions, they assume you must have racist undertones and you'd completely accept this if it came from a white person. The assumptions are stratospheric. If a white person called out any black person who didn't like them as racist, they'd be called arrogant, which would be true.

You sir aren't so smart I can shut mouths but not in that genius way. You're on a whole other level. 

[Ferrer Zorola 3,966]

1 hour ago, Thomas P said:

Ah sweetie you need to get yourself a hobby. Trashing Bey is a common one on this site, and you're not even good at it 

Yet you couldn't deny anything of what I say

I stay slaying and shutting mouths left to right 

[Ferrer Zorola 3,966]

50 minutes ago, U n I said:

You are literally having a meltdown and how did Beyoncé use shakira when she was at the height of her career when they collaborated and had irreplaceable which was a bigger hit than beautiful liar same with Gaga, Beyoncé was coming IASF era which was successful with several hit songs. Lastly she had two songs with nicki which one was a remix that she did not release for sale even though it literally broke the internet. 

 

The only thing broke here are that remix's views lmao 

[StrawberryBlond 13,754]

7 minutes ago, Ferrer Zorola said:

You sir aren't so smart I can shut mouths but not in that genius way. You're on a whole other level. 

I'm a girl, but yeah, thanks. I've only seen you around recently so I don't know much about you but already you say a lot of things I agree with.

[Ferrer Zorola 3,966]

1 minute ago, StrawberryBlond said:

I'm a girl, but yeah, thanks. I've only seen you around recently so I don't know much about you but already you say a lot of things I agree with.

Sorry and it was are* not aren't

I literally agreed with everything you said and before you said it I couldn't even put my finger on what was it that made their music feel SO DAMN repetitive.  

[Thomas P 18,429]

21 minutes ago, Ferrer Zorola said:

Yet you couldn't deny anything of what I say

I stay slaying and shutting mouths left to right 

I love how you think that's true 

[U n I 38]

20 minutes ago, Ferrer Zorola said:

The only thing broke here are that remix's views lmao 

Like I said they weren't released as singles and flawless was kept off sale for months and feeling myself was a tidal exclusive and they both have 45 and 100 million audio streams om YouTube. 

[StrawberryBlond 13,754]

17 minutes ago, Ferrer Zorola said:

Sorry and it was are* not aren't

I literally agreed with everything you said and before you said it I couldn't even put my finger on what was it that made their music feel SO DAMN repetitive.  

Yeah, don't worry, I sometimes slip up on grammar as well, I worked out what you meant.

Glad to be of service when describing music. I review music as an amateur and I do it for everyone, not just the artists I like. So, naturally, these black empowerment anthems frequently come up for me. And it's not that I can't enjoy them because I'm white, it's just that they don't handle the subject very well and they all say roughly the same thing and are trying way too hard. The song's more like a philosophy lesson than a song to be enjoyed. I actually like jazz sounds but the sound of another saxophone on another rap album is getting tiresome. It's like, we haven't forgotten who started this music, you don't have to keep repeating it. And these artists never used sounds like this before now. I doubt they even like jazz all that much. But you know, symbolism is cool and all. I think, if they want to say something about race, write about it in a formal essay. Don't put it into a song, which is what people usually listen to in order to relax or escape. And these songs are so pretentious that I can't even understand what they're on about half the time and that is not a relaxing, escapist experience. A serious song is one thing, a song attempting to seriously educate you in a condescending way is quite another. And I don't know why it's so wrong to bring up how this kind of racially charged album alienates a non-black audience. Stats shows that an overwhelming amount of rap fans are white and being relatable in your songs was always deemed of utmost importance and still is. Alienating your audience is always a big no-no. But apparently, when it comes to racially charged albums, white people can suck it up. Look, despite being a feminist woman and doing some songwriting, I have absolutely no desire to make an album about being a woman or the feminist struggle. Why? Because I wouldn't want to alienate male fans, I wouldn't want people to think I'm too politicised to be enjoyable and I deal enough with the feminist struggle as it is so I don't want to explore it in the escapist realm of music. I get out my feminist thoughts in mini essays like these, not through song. But black artists seem to take a very different tack with the black struggle and think it belongs on an entire album dedicated to it. I find it very strange.

[Ferrer Zorola 3,966]

1 hour ago, Thomas P said:

I love how you think that's true 

You haven't proven me wrong therefore it is true and you're making up replies to seem clever yet you don't have anything else to add

[Thomas P 18,429]

1 hour ago, Ferrer Zorola said:

You haven't proven me wrong therefore it is true and you're making up replies to seem clever yet you don't have anything else to add

Sure honey 

[Ferrer Zorola 3,966]

1 hour ago, Thomas P said:

Sure honey 

I'm still waiting for you to rebuke what I said 🕓🕔🕕

[Thomas P 18,429]

2 minutes ago, Ferrer Zorola said:

I'm still waiting for you to rebuke what I said 🕓🕔🕕

No. I've learned that there isn't any reasoning with people who are strong to their opinion, and I shouldn't bother changing their minds and respect the fact that some people have different opinions from yours.. Just accept that I disagree with you. 

 

[Ferrer Zorola 3,966]

Just now, Thomas P said:

No. I've learned that there isn't any reasoning with people who are strong to their opinion, and I shouldn't bother changing their minds. Just accept that I disagree with you. 

Ok you are actually really fun so it's ok, I wouldn't want to be in your ignored list anyways 

[That J 12,166]

Remember the days when you could click any thread and comment whether you liked the person or not without being jumped on?  When just being a fan of pop culture was enough?  

Yea me neither but it sounds good. 

[Ferrer Zorola 3,966]

1 hour ago, MonsterJames333 said:

Remember the days when you could click any thread and comment whether you liked the person or not without being jumped on?  When just being a fan of pop culture was enough?  

Yea me neither but it sounds good. 

We will get the DWUW video first