For her upcoming third solo album, the lovely Beyonce Knowles has decided to grace us with two singles at once. “If I Were a Boy” and “Single Ladies” are the two opening tracks from her new, as yet untitled album, which is scheduled to hit stores in mid-November. The videos premiere later today, but until then, I’m sure you’re wondering what the songs sound like (if you haven’t heard them already). You can check them out for yourself on Beyonce’s website.
“If I Were a Boy” is something of a departure for Beyonce. Before actually hearing the song, I was a little concerned that the theme and the song would rip off Ciara’s recent hit “Like a Boy”. While the two songs are thematically similar, Beyonce’s song is more mature from a lyrical and musical standpoint (it should go without saying that Beyonce is a much better singer than Ciara ever will be). I would have loved to hear Beyonce go for the full-on rock treatment and use live drums here, but the song’s still pretty impressive. On the other hand, “Single Ladies” starts off in the same let’s-go-to-the-club vibe as previous Beyonce/ singles like “Jumpin’ Jumpin'” and “Get Me Bodied”. As such, it’s significantly less enjoyable than “If I Were a Boy”. It’s not a bad song per se-again, the beauty of someone as vocally talented as Beyonce is that anything she records is going to at the very least be interesting. However, it’s certainly a letdown after “If I Were a Boy”. Let’s hope that her upcoming album contains more material like “If I Were a Boy” and less material like “Single Ladies”.
