TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Beyonce Lets Her Inner Vamp Shine

BEYONCE: I AM … SASHA FIERCE (COLUMBIA) **

ADVERTISEMENT

By CURTIS ROSS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 4, 2008

Going public with an alter ego is generally not a great career move. It creates the impression of Section 8 craziness, or at least a painful lack of self-awareness. Remember "Esther," Madonna?

If "The Emancipation of Mimi" was a commercial comeback for Mariah Carey, it was in spite of her doppelganger, not because of it. Besides, Carey already had gone crazy in public under her own name.

Beyonce joins this disreputable crowd with "Sasha Fierce," who represents, we're guessing from the photos on the CD's insert, her wild, vampy, too-much-eye-makeup wearing side.

To emphasize the whole two faces of B thing, "Sasha Fierce" splits just more than 40 minutes of music into two discs, the first being "I Am," I guess, and the second "Sasha Fierce."

Well, we always liked crazy girls. And Sasha's disc is the keeper here.

Disc One leads off with "If I Were a Boy," and its sober mid-tempo sets the pace for the rest of the songs, all ballads and mostly on the verge of tears. It's pretty, there's no denying, and the singing is some of Beyonce's best. But the effect is dull gray and oh-so-serious.

"Sasha" just wants to have fun. "Put a Ring on It" may preach matrimony but the beats flirt like they've had one too many. "Radio" is a timeless club classic, while "Sweet Dreams" recalls some of the great disco-rock fusion of the early '80s. "Diva" and "Video Phone," though, show that Sasha vamp can be as derivative as she is flamboyant. Oh, you nasty girl.

Surely someone could have sequenced this into a cohesive whole. As it is, the sum is less than the parts of "Sasha."

Download this: "Put a Ring on It"

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT