I Am...Sold

It's no secret that I love Beyoncé-- she's an incredible singer and performer and, not to mention, gorgeous. Unfortunately, because I love B, my opinion about her work is often discounted because it is expected that I'm in some way deaf and blind, absolutely oblivious to all the wrong she does or can do. Newsflash-- as a huge fan, I'm actually quite critical of everything she does because I don't want to be disappointed and I don't want to have to wait another two years for a new album like I had to do after B'Day (which was lukewarm, at best). Suffice it to say, she has certainly redeemed herself.

As we’ve come to expect from her, on Sasha Fierce she gives us one nutty dance track after another and plenty of ways to tell our delusional boyfriends or play things to get it together or get going (“Single Ladies,” anyone?). Five tracks later, after channeling our inner (or outer) sex kitten to “Sweet Dreams” followed by “Video Phone,” we’re out of breath and have sweated out our perms—Lord help us if we’re playing the deluxe edition because we’ve still got three more tracks.

High-powered up-tempo tracks aside, the real gem of this double set is I Am… She reminds us of the power of her mezzo-soprano on “If I Were A Boy” and “Broken-Hearted Girl” and then creates peaceful harmonies on “Disappear” and “Ave Maria,” both unusually restrained for the powerhouse. And it works. In this disc we see the growth of an artist; this is Beyoncé stepping out from the confines of our expectations of her as a musician. Best of all, she recognizes that though this is not what we’re used to from her, it is her. She told PEOPLE, "Half of the album is my album that I love, called I Am, and half is for the fans, called Sasha Fierce." If for no one else, this album is for her, and there we see the growth.

All in all, it’s definitely my favorite B album thus far, and you’ll certainly be in for a treat. However, if you choose to pass on this one, and even deem the effort to find it on Limewire (or YouTube) entirely too much, that’s fine, you’re only missing her best work to date.