Beyonce

Listening to B'Day, one can chart the course of a normal relationship: lust ("Suga Momma"), love ("Irreplaceable") and, finally, jealousy and estrangement ("Ring the Alarm"). The crunked up "Freekum Dress" introduces a new term to the modern urban lexicon, while the bluesy "Green Light" once again teams her up with Queen-makers the Neptunes. Overall, the album is harder and more aggressive than its predecessors -- thanks in part to production by Swizz Beats and Rich Harrison -- though it still seethes with Beyonce's trademark sass and soul.

On the most arresting moments of her second solo album - including the anguished,
Sixties-tinged ballad "Resentment" and the punk-R&B single "Ring the Alarm" - Beyonce sings
with enough frantic, quavering intensity to make you believe she really is crazy in love.
But in a spoken-word segment, B notes that this disc (which was inspired by her character
in the upcoming musical Dreamgirls) came "effortlessly," and that's sometimes all... More >