Beyonce and Jay-Z may be the most interesting celebrity power couple right now. Both artists are widely revered and considered generational talents in their respective genres of music. Both have similar personalities in their music when it comes to brash vocal delivery, confidence to the point where it borders arrogance and generally going with an extravagant aesthetic. It's come to the point where everything they do is considered news-worthy. Whether you like them or not is your opinion, but you can't deny their influence and talent when it comes to their music. Whenever they get together on a song, you can tell these two have incredible chemistry. This release was a surprise as it came out on Tidal this past Saturday. I was shocked this ended up getting a Spotify release as opposed to being a Tidal exclusive (or a non-Spotify release since you can find Jay's latest on Apple Music and Google Play) like their last albums, Lemonade and 4:44. However, the fact that this album is on Spotify means I can finally see what all the fuss is about.
Positives
Beyonce and Jay-Z continue to show amazing chemistry throughout Everything Is Love. Beyonce's singing and Jay-Z's rapping together go like peas and carrots or peanut butter and jelly or any simile that says they mesh well. There were a few tracks on here, specifically "Apeshit" and "Nice," where Pharrell handles production and is the best part of the album from a musical standpoint. The album was also a concise 9 songs and 38 minutes, which meant that it didn't overstay its welcome.
Negatives
There are numerous songs where Beyonce raps and it's just incredibly hit or miss. Aside from "Apeshit," I didn't enjoy much of her raps. I feel like this album wasn't evenly shared, unlike other collaborative projects such as Kids See Ghosts and Watch the Throne. There are points where it feels like Beyonce featuring Jay-Z and there are points where it's Jay-Z featuring Beyonce. Besides the album's closer, "Lovehappy," where the two trade lines during the verses, it sometimes feels like a competition in terms of who wants more attention. I also felt like the production that didn't come from Pharrell was very average. Most of the album's beats fall into the category of trap, and unlike Jay-Z, Beyonce doesn't fit that style most of the time. This album doesn't feel nearly as extravagant as their previous projects and just feels like something they were obligated to do.
Features
Aside from Quavo and Offset providing ad-libs on "Apeshit," there is only one artist who provides a guest verse.
Pharrell Williams (Nice) - I love the song and his production, but I wasn't too crazy about his vocal contribution. It was an interesting choice to use autotune for his verse, as I feel like he doesn't need it, and while he doesn't necessarily ruin the song, it was still the weakest part.
Best Tracks
1) Apeshit - I listened to this one earlier this week when I watched the music video on YouTube. This was one of the few tracks on this album that felt extravagant. Pharrell Williams provides some lavish production, Quavo's ad-libs sound pretty great aside from when he says "yeah" five times in a row. I also found it quite odd that we heard an "OFFSET!" ad-lib even though he wasn't rapping on this track. This song was the only time I found Beyonce's rapping to be tolerable since she's doing her best Migos impression in her verses, which was way better than Vic Mensa's attempt on the hook of his latest single, "Reverse." Jay's verse was the highlight of the track where he name-drops Chief Keef and references declining the Super Bowl and winning zero 2018 Grammy awards despite having eight nominations. I personally prefer the original demo with just Quavo and Offset (it's somewhere on SoundCloud or YouTube), but I think this is a great song overall and probably the most memorable track.
2) Nice (feat. Pharrell Williams) - The song definitely sounds like the title. Pharrell once again provides great production and does an overall good job even if his verse wasn't great. Jay's verse and post-chorus were the highlights of this track for me. I also found this line from Beyonce ironic since I was listening to the album on Spotify:
"If I gave two fucks about streaming numbers, would have put Lemonade on Spotify."
3) Friends - This was one of the few times on this album where Beyonce fits trap production, mostly because she sings and doesn't rap on this song. I thought her flow sounded very nice and her delivery on the chorus sounded great. Jay flows well and delivers a nice verse and unlike Beyonce throughout this album, I think Jay sounds amazing over trap production.
Worst Track
There were many songs that weren't necessarily terrible, but also not very memorable. For some reason, this song stuck out to me.
Heard About Us was the lowest point during the album. The production sounded so minimal to the point where it was just boring. Beyonce is boring and drags the track down hard and Jay-Z couldn't do anything to save it. Did I mention that this song is boring?
Conclusion
Like I said, this would be an amazing album on paper, but it felt like they did it because they were obligated to make an album together. Overall, I was disappointed given the star power on here.
Score: 4/10
I don't consider collaborative projects as albums in the discographies of either artist so I won't rank it among their solo efforts.
This concludes my sixteenth review. I will post my first artist review tomorrow.
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