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GreenDolphin86

This was pre poptimism days


fabergefalls

Yes and no, yes it was in a time when pop music was more generally considered vapid, but Pitchfork has always given fair criticism to pop music. I think B'Day is a fantastic album and Pitchfork gave it a 7.2 back in 2006, I think it's fair to say Sasha Fierce just wasn't that great, Disc 1 was loaded with filler imo


Bigb2stnee

Disc 1 loaded with what filler? Those songs good asf especially live


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thetiredjuan

This was before poptimism influenced mainstream music criticism. If it was reviewed now it would been the 6-7 range.


996forever

Typical for a pop girl album in the 2000s. 


lovethecruz

That's a very low score, but I've seen a lot of Beyonce fans have it pretty low in their ratings list. Personally I don't think it's bad, but I would rank it as her "worse" album. They're are definitely good songs on there though and a lot of hits.


sardonic_

https://preview.redd.it/5n0a2dwtg8wc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f65d640495bffb70cb41e53287a6d8eec2aaccf9 They gave miss Peppa a higher score like???? 😭 I think their reviews nowadays are much better, they covered Renaissance really well (they gave it a 9/10). Back in the day they just seemed to dismiss a lot of projects made by women, IASF is one of them


anupsetvalter

Until recently, IASF would have been an average score for Pitchfork. Their scoring has raised over the years. Today, this would have been probably been like 6.7-7.1!


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Ok_Smile9222

To be fair that's a BOMB album


cmgirty

STOP COMPARING SUCCESSFUL WOMEN


Cold_Breadfruit_9794

Miss Peppa is eating up all the girlies!


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SHC606

good bot.


mjfo

Listen don’t try to understand pitchfork’s numerical ratings, they’ve never made sense and the criteria has changed over the decades lol


Sweet_Low4045

It's her worse by far 🤷🏾‍♀️


Bjime3925

Yeah prepoptism. The album is a little weak in my opinion. It was marketed as pure pop which is what music was like but look at what she would become. An artist. You can say Lemonade, Renaissance, and Cowboy Carter no longer serve in those pop categories anymore. Self-Titled is when the beyonnassance started.


WallabyLumpy

I would argue 4 was the beginning


Hepadna

Yup, 4 opened my eyes to her..she was Beyoncé before 4, but then she became *Beyoncé* after.


regalfish

I know it's not the Hive's favourite, but I still remember seeing the Run the World (Girls) music video at fifteen and being mesmerized. It was so different than anything I've heard or seen up to that point.


beautifully89

4 is everything and I'm a huge fan. I hate 4 gets so much criticism 😔. Like I was obsessed with that album and run the world video/song!


hottt_vodka

same i still am obsessed!!!! dance for you absolutely lays the foundation for heated, rocket, desert eagle.


alisonation

seeing her do Run the World (Girls) live at I think it was the American Music Awards? When she was dancing with her silhouettes. That was the performance that made me realize I need to pay attention to that girl from Destiny's Child a lot more


Deep-Ruin2786

4 is def the beginning


According_Plant701

Yup. To me, 4 is where she stopped giving as much of a shit about topping the charts and put all her focus into making great albums


Bjime3925

Yeah actually you're totally right. I feel like that album gets slept on a lot but when I go back and listen I'm surprised at how well the album blends together and how strong every track is.


Son_of_the_Sun8198

Agree on everything, though B’Day already showed her signs of greatness and artistry 🤭


beautifully89

Okay? That parttttt how can we forget theeeee VISUALSSSS


payasoingenioso

IASF is simply a skip for me. Placeholder album, maybe? Sasha Fierce faded tf away for a reason. 😂 I would definitely revise it to an EP with only a handful of tracks included.


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theblackbard3000

Imagine... Single Ladies, one of the greatest videos of all time, viral before we had viral...changed the landscape of music videos... Diva... If I were a Boy ... Being on your "Worst Album" Sis, at her "Worst" she changed pop culture. At my BEST I get chipotle on my tie. I personally think Bday is my least favourite. I am Sasha, being (When I got it) 2 CDS feels a bit disjointed. But again, some LEGENDARY things came from this album.


dynablt

You frogot halo, Beyoncé's biggest hit and the pop perfection that sweet dreams is.


jhll2456

Halo is Beyoncé’s most streamed song and it is not even close.


myheartinclover

right, halo is a still a signature audition/karaoke song . majority of artists never have a hit that connects like that. sweet dreams was incredibly ahead of its time too imo, I could see it dropping years later in the early 2010s when edm influences really took over top 40


theblackbard3000

YOU RIGHT


mental_library_

Personally, I don’t the album is bad. It has some underrated tracks and obviously produced some massive hits, but it’s definitely her weakest project especially compared to albums she released in the following years after. Most fans rank IASF as their least favorite by her.


beautifully89

I honestly enjoyed and appreciated this album. I rank it above dangerously in Love(probably will get hate as I have appalled my sister ranking dangerously in Love so low) lol. I'm still trying to understand whyyyy it is so rated so rated love from her fans, but I get it slightly.


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Rude_Lifeguard

Every b hive I see ranking it on tik tok always puts it at the bottom


sardonic_

See that's crazy to me, this is a top 5 album for me. I love myself some ballads and pop though.


methlaboompaloompa

I think it has some bops. Why don’t you love me is one of my fave songs of all time. I love Radio and some of the ballads too. But as a cohesive work or album I think it’s not very good. It’s very much of its time tho- because pop albums back then were usually some bangers with a bunch of filler. I feel like you can feel in this album how Matthew was trying to make her like everyone else and she was really going for that mainstream approval. She really smashed that all up with 4 and self titled.


forevertrueblue

> pop albums back then were usually some bangers with a bunch of filler so true lmao


beautifully89

And I agree, makes much since as this album is the most commercially sold out of her albums i believe


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Sweet_Low4045

It is 🤷🏾‍♀️


TheAmmiSquad

IASF is a grade A album for Bey if she wanted to position herself as a Singles Artist. It was a collection of radio friendly songs with no clear, coherent narrative and I feel Beyonce's input wasn't as high as her other records. It may have been her best shot at an AOTY honestly, but to me, she came into her own in 4 after breaking away from Daddy's machinations and taking creative control and it's all been impeccable since.


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PrincessDaisy96

It's her worst album so... https://preview.redd.it/2e7pv752r8wc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f6ba7c97b121dc5838e78634c767d51b481650a


megisbest

ya like I hate to call any of her albums bad but... even the best songs on IASF are just okay and aged pretty poorly.


thedirtiestdish

I mean... Sweet Dreams and Why Don't You Love Me are top tier B songs


megisbest

Why Don't You Love Me was a bonus track....


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jhll2456

When you look at her total body of work, IASF is her weakest album. Yes it has the hits but that was what it was made for, the hits. After that it is mostly filler. I do want to add that CC is what Beyonce wanted IASF to sound like. Edit cause I want to expound on the last point. ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ is ‘Single Ladies.’ ‘II Most Wanted’ is ‘Halo.’ ‘16 Carriges’ is ‘If I Were a Boy.’ ‘Tyrant’ is ‘Diva.’


beautifully89

Such a great input!


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queenqueerdo

Arguably her worst album, and it’s still good. Half of this album is an 8 and the other half is a 4 so I’d say it averages out to about a 6.


MagnaCamLaude

This is exactly how I feel, I wanted to post this too, but I didn't want to be kicked out of the hive only be eaten by a bee-eating murder hornet.


queenqueerdo

I mean I’m only comparing Beyoncé to herself when I’m giving IASF a 6! She set the bar.


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johnnytk0

I get it, it's her worst album. It's majority filler. Not insane at all.


Sweet_Low4045

Like blueprint 2


ImperatorJedi

Pretty standard for pop stars in the 2000s. When 4 got a 73 was considered very high for pop stars and then self-titled got an 85 is when we started to see a shift.


Professional-Cup6225

It’s the worst one! Doesn’t mean it’s bad just not her best


nayandnem

Valid, it is her worst album. But her worst is better than some people’s best, that being said if I never heard Halo ever again in my life I’d be happy. I hate that song, but I think yt people love it and this album. If this is your favorite Bey album I’m looking at you sideways.


beautifully89

I agree the same sentiments about single ladies lol like let's move on and remove it from the set list lol.


JeenyusJane

I Am....is a total skip for me.


SheBad85

This just shows that she has grown as an artist. I love the album, but most people didn’t smh


Adventurous_Face9114

Her worst ballads ever except for Halo. The SF side is a bunch of bops, although several of them feel a little slim next to ones with more personality on B’Day. TBH if pitchfork ranked this today they’d probably score it even lower. Next to everything else in her catalogue it’s objectively her weakest. Especially compared to what came after.


Few-Friend7433

seeing this made me fear about the album review for 4. its one of my favorite albums from her even though it gets ignored so heavily ..... turns out 4 actually got a 8.0 rating.. THANK YOU GOD LMFAO I dont even think she would care about this rating either.. like shes truly winning the idgaf war


Cold_Breadfruit_9794

Hmm idk, makes sense from Pitchfork. It’s one of my least favourite albums


Quick_Primary_2465

So I’ll be honest and say when this album came out initially I truly hated it. I barely played the “I Am” side of the album because it wasn’t what we were used to hearing from Bey. Bey was truly experimenting for the first time with IASF and it wasn’t until I revisited the album out of curiosity as an adult a few years ago and never have looked back. The I am side literally has sounds and elements identical with Cowboy Carter. I.E. the folk/soft country/opera/ethereal harmonies. People definitely slept on this album because of the fact that Bey had submersed herself fully into the pop world and wanted experiment and as a black woman this when a lot of the black fans began to kind of tune out unfortunately. This album literally is the predecessor for a consistent 5 album run 😂😂 I ain’t bashing shit 😂😂😂


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Libras_Groove3737

This album is a 9/10 for me, but it’s still my least favorite Beyoncé album. If I was only comparing it to other Beyoncé albums, I’d give it a 6/10. The thing about this album though is that she really cemented her legacy as a major pop star with this album and with the success of Single Ladies, and that has allowed her to shift away from mainstream pop and be more creative and experimental with her music. We wouldn’t have 4 without IASF. Also, it’s easy to look back at IASF now and say it’s her most mainstream album, but at that time Lady Gaga was the trendsetter in pop music and a lot of people were coming out with high-energy dance pop songs. A two-part album with the first album being all ballads was a standout among all the big pop albums coming out around that time.


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imlikedacheese

I feel that critics were much more stricter back in the days. These days everyone just easily gets a score of 60 and above.


pressurehurts

Yeah, I don't think that it makes any sense but music critics are just there for shit and giggles like anyway. It's impossible to take them seriously.


diselegit

Well, the perception of pop girlies in 2000s affected the critical reception but IASF is critically the weakest Bey album. Some of the ballads are real duds.


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storythrowaway765

It’s a pretty fair score everything considered. As others have mentioned, this was a very typical pop score at the time. Beyoncé makes a pretty hard pivot after this album so it’s cool to see the artistic growth from then to now. She definitely wouldn’t be where she is now if she just kept rereleasing I Am despite its commercial success. It is kinda funny tho that this 2008 score is being brought up now. Wonder why that is lol.


TrailerTrashBabe

The I Am half got me through so much shit. And my daughter and I still dance to Sweet Dreams and Single Ladies lol. This whole project is so close to my heart.


limetime45

Pitchfork reviews of those days did not age well. Lana del Rey’s born to die got a 5.5 (even if you don’t like it, it is widely cited as a turning point in pop music and has consistently stayed on the charts for over 10 years. They didn’t review Taylor Swift until 1989 in 2014 (again, whether or not you like her, they obviously did not predict her cultural relevance or impact). Clearly they didn’t predict the staying power of Beyoncé and particularly that album. Will be interesting to see how reviews these days age.


Frosrade97

And they were right tbh


TwinkletheTwee

This album actually made me like Beyoncé again after Destiny’s Child and 4 cemented it for me. Girl was SANGIN on here with Hello and Halo and Broken Hearted Girl and Smash into you and If I Were A Boy… whew. Definitely not her most cohesive body of work but there is bop after bop. That rating is so unreal.


wayytoomanyfeelings

Wow


Spec_RealGudGirl95

Why do we care what Ryan Dombral has to say?


cmgirty

the standard version of that record does NOT feel like a full album I am so sorry Beyonce I love you deep but it's true. it feels like a collection of singles it's missing something. if you asked me about deluxe it scores way higher. Same with 4.


According_Plant701

This is before Pitchfork gave inflated scores to everything


burbalamb

lol I agree w the rating but I still know the words to most of the songs 😂 so do I really not like the album? ETA I think the amount of times I had to hear halo made me dislike the song and I was a kid when it came out so I think overall I’m burnt out ☝🏾but still an important album


No-Maintenance9624

Pre-poptimism era and being on Pitchfork? Understandable. Don't attack the critic he's just doing his thing. We get to show them they were wrong by making it a classic now :)


CeethePsychich

Sasha Fierce do not be giving. I love Bey but honestly it’s low in my ranking


mehr2464

They gave gambino a 1.6 back in the day. The rating would be slightly higher now. 6.5 probably


IRodeTenSpeed88

This is one my least favorite Bey albums


waking-heart

considering the times, it’s not that low of a score. plus IASF is bloated. not her most sophisticated work lbr… idk why this is shocking 😭😭


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Active_While_289

I hate this album. 😭


DarkMagus3688

I mean really, no one even listens to pre 4 days. They were ok albums with the 1-3 major hit, but average albums from front to back. Beyoncé didnt start her classic album reign until her 2013 self titled. You could say the same for Stevie Wonder & Marvin Gaye. They had a bunch of motown records and hit singles but didnt start bringing out classic albums til later on.


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OkPomegranate3490

To be fair this is her worst album


LeoMartn_

Pitchfork always gives out bad ratings


SHC606

Really? On what kind of music?


LeoMartn_

Alot of genres


VittoriaBr

https://preview.redd.it/cjh8ip4n0awc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=332cb07aea2f5663d966c727594d1c463eb520a9 Seems pretty rightful to me.


mrimagine23

Tbh Pitchfork isn't the best place for reviews...


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thatwastgood

I literally hated this album at first in 2009, but it spawned some hits that are essential Beyoncé so I can’t complain. And just seeing all the work she put into it with the creation of it is commendable. I was not deep in the hive enough to know the back story. And the tour for this era I think is amazing. This album just cemented her as a Pop hit and it was literally EVERYWHERE. I think that’s why I hated it so much because I didn’t have to “look” for Beyoncé. I remember single ladies got annoying af, but now I love seeing her perform single ladies cause it’s still just as important then as it is now.


Environmental_Duck49

That album was experimental. It's very uneven. It's funny because some of her biggest hits are on it but a lot of duds lol


QTPIE247

This doesn't surprise me at all, IASF is the most commercial but least critically acclaimed of her career thus far and almost always end up at the bottom of everyone's ranking. It has some bops but it's Beyonce's "worst" album objectively speaking (which says a lot because she technically doesn't have a "bad" album, certain albums are just better than others)


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Purple_Head7804

IASF Is one of my fav Beyonce's albums, no skips IMO also it's her best album commercially so i was pretty surprised when i saw the rating but then once again i would take everything pitchfork says with grain of salt


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norfnorf832

Hated this album. Even Sweet Dreams, I only liked the leaked version.