Queen B reigns supreme

Now let me be frank, I’m pretty biased — I’ve got a pretty massive crush on Queen B and most of my high school years were spent driving around singing “Halo”  until I was hoarse and out of gas.

But this album deserves the hype.

While her last studio effort “4”  seemed to be the pinnacle of Knowles’s career — a sturdy conglomeration of all the Queen’s musical fortes — she continues to excel in this secret self-titled album.

The “visual album,” as Knowles describes it , is nothing short of brilliance. It’s genre-bending, artistically original and a completely new agenda for the music industry.

Knowles shows off her potential as a true artist — as opposed to being a pop music copycat — specifically in her subject matter. She refuses to go for the easy tracks about drinking in the club and instead dredges the depths of motherhood including everything from a therapeutic track about her miscarriage in “Heaven”  to hints of postpartum depression in “Mine.”

“Blow” is an original, disco-infused track that is, quite frankly, sexy as hell. She takes R&B vocals, puts them over an 808 beat and makes the whole track sound like it came straight from “Soul Train: After Dark,” but manages to keep it fresh at the same time. It’s not a tired, worn-out disco that we need to dread.

“Partition”  is just as explicitly sexy but does a complete 180 as Yoncé  shows us how she truly came from the Dirty South. Beginning harmlessly with a sample from her “Mrs. Carter World Tour,”  the track immediately erupts in an urban, bucket drumbeat that confirms she is, in fact, married to Jay-Z.

Tracks like “Jealous”  and “No Angel”  are good and definitively Beyoncé harkening back to a similar feel established in “4,” but they’re nothing spectacular. They don’t hurt the album in any way, but if you’re looking to download select tracks, there’s no need to settle for these.

Overall, the album is an incredible success and should nab best album of 2013 for its ingenuity and execution.

The Queen has definitely given us more tracks to scream until we’re hoarse. I’m pleased.

Deservedly Overrated Tracks: “XO,” “***Flawless”
Underrated Tracks: “Pretty Hurts,” “Drunk in Love”