You must not know 'bout me

All through my teenage years, Destiny's Child(and by extension, Beyonce) were unavoidable. They dared you to say their names, exhorted you to leave your man at home and go jumpin' jumpin', declared their status as independent women, proclaimed that they were survivors, and introduced the term bootylicious to pop-culture(which the scary masculine drag queen otherwise known as Fergie has unfortunately hijacked for her new single). Beyonce then embarked on a successful solo career and scored the undisputed song of the summer with Crazy In Love back in '03, along with a clutch of Grammys and Moonmen(some undeserved, particularly Naughty Girl winning best female video at the 2004 VMAs which I am STILL sore about). She had accomplished so much in a span of under 25 years it made Madonna seem like an underachiever(let's not forget that Madge was 26 before she truly hit gold with Like A Virgin). As if all this wasn't enough, Destiny's Child reunited for another album at the end of 2004 that sold well and spawned the hits Lose My Breathe and Soldier. Beyonce had another banner year in 2005 with the Destiny's Child greatest hit's collection #1s living up to it's name and debuting in pole position, and started 2006 strongly with another solo #1 by way of Check On It.

To me, Beyonce always had a whiff of overrated about her. Sure, Destiny's Child made great music but they were no TLC, and while Crazy In Love deserved every bit of it's success, the Dangerously In Love album was basically a singles and filler affair. I never got the Beyonce hype. Never hated her like I hate Aguilera, but just didn't understand what exactly all the fuss was about.

So when the Beyonce train came around yet again in the middle of the year, I expected the single and album to be big hits, regardless of the quality of her music. Deja Vu caught my attention initially, but it didn't last very long and I was soon skipping it on the I-pod. The infamous scenes of her careening through the fields and doing tribal dances like a woman possessed in the music video actually generated more negative buzz, with her fans petitioning for her to re-shoot the video. Deja Vu started of very strongly on radio but ended up crashing into a brick wall, never hitting the top 10 on CHR Pop. Beyonce's NEW single from her NEW album not going top 10 on pop radio? I was very surprised. The song did hit #4 on the Hot 100 thanks to digital sales, but didn't have staying power and descended the charts very quickly. It reminded me very much of Mariah's Loverboy chart run back in '01 which went 60-2-2-9-24-49-73-out after the 49 cent commercial single was released. There was speculation that the album wouldn't perform to expecations, which prompted Matthew Knowles, daddy and manager, to retort that everything was going well and they were pleased with how the project was faring thus far. For the first time ever, it seemed that Beyonce was suffering from some sort of backlash. Not a Glitter or Nipplegate or American Life to be sure, but serious enough for people to realise that no one, not even Beyonce, was invincible. The album's been out for 8 weeks and will pass the million mark this week, which isn't stellar but when you consider that sales are down in general and that Christina's Back To Flopping has only moved 840 000 plus copies in the 11 weeks it's been out, I suppose things aren't going too badly for Beyonce.

The official US second single was Ring The Alarm, which was perhaps even more frentic than Deja Vu, with an indignant Beyonce staking her claim to her man, although perhaps for the wrong reasons - one gets the feeling that she's more intent on ensuring her rival does NOT get to rock the chinchilla coats and VVS Stones than anything else. Beyonce took her lunacy to another level, strapping herself into a straitjacket for the video. She also performed Ring The Alarm at the 2006 VMAs, although that performance seemed to be heavily inspired by Britney's Me Against The Music at the 2003 AMAs and the choreography highly reminiscent of Janet in Rhythm Nation. While many people didn't appreciate Ring The Alarm (it peaked at #11 on the Hot 100 and was mostly ignored by pop radio), I appreciated that Beyonce was taking risks with her music, and thought it her best single since Crazy In Love. Until...

IRREPLACEABLE! Which is the video you see here. Perhaps Beyonce finally realised that the mad woman persona only endeared her to individuals with very strange inclinations, and on this guitar-driven mid-tempo number she tones down on the hysterics to turn in an understated, classy, heartfelt delivery. I don't relate to the song personally(because I've never been in love and so have not experienced being cheated on), but if you expand the context of the song to include betrayal by friends, I have plenty of experience there. Even in the music video, it's evident that B girl has taken her valium. For someone who's never been a huge Beyonce fan, I really do adore this song, and have been whoring it out to anyone who'll listen. Which is what I'm doing now. What can I say, girl's got mad talent.

PS. LOVE that 'to the left, to the left' hook!