Disco de Beyoncé: “I Am...Sasha Fierce [Deluxe Edition]”

Who is Sasha Fierce? More importantly, who is Beyonce Knowles-Carter? Music listeners worldwide are more interested in the latter; more curious about divulging into the mind and psyche of Beyonce, the newly married, former lead singer of super girl group Destiny's Child.

But with her third solo album, widely publicized as her most personal project to date, does Beyonce really give insight into what life is like behind the celebrity trappings?

I Am...Sasha Fierce is exactly what was forecasted: a disjointed package of two sounds and ambiences. In what is described as an album illustrating two sides of the vocal powerhouse diva's persona: Beyonce', the artists vulnerable, emotional (sincere) side, and alter ego Sasha Fierce, the domineering, attention capturing diva; the two disc set straddles current music trends of pop on the former, and edgy, street-wise R&B/dance on the latter.

First disc, entitled, I Am, is an adventure in pop sounds and phrasings for the most part. In the grand scheme of this conceptual project, I Am is more rewarding and convincing.

Listening to the twenty-seven-year-old sing about her lover's angelic qualities on "Halo" and pondering her actions as the opposite sex on "If I Were A Boy" is actually a bit refreshing. An abundance of acoustic elements (piano, guitar) and soaring restrained vocals reveal a distinctively new approach to music for the Houston native, famous for cramming more syllables and words into a single breath than her other female counterparts.

Even here, however, the attempts to incite a certain intimacy are futile. Most notably is "Ave Maria", which may have been a decent song without the interpolation of the operatic standard into what is an overly ambitious, under-executed filler track. Conclusively, there is no doubt Mrs. Knowles-Carter has the chords to sing just about anything, and I Am, while pleasant, is almost too easy.

Thankfully, disc two, Sasha Fierce, finds Beyonce channeling her familiar, sure-footed sexiness. It's inevitable that most will skip through a couple of tracks on disc one before they trade it in for Fierce.

With alter-ego in full effect, "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" immediately signals the change of pace and prepares listeners to break out in a sweat. "Single Ladies" is about as synonymous with sophomore album single "Get Me Bodied" as any song could be without being an exact carbon copy. Down to the snappy hand claps and steady foot stomping beat ---both songs even have accompanying dance routines---"Single Ladies" may sound eerily familiar, but it is among Bey's catchiest songs to date.

"Radio" and "Sweet Dreams" are clear attempts to capitalize on the techno craze sweeping airplay as of late. "Radio" finds the singer stepping into Rihanna territory, relying on overemphasis of vowels 'o' and 'a' while in the midst of lyrics that sound like they were written for a teenager . On the other hand, Beyonce owns "Sweet Dreams", embodying the song's irony in her vocal delivery against the bass-thumping, rousing synths and sparkling piano. "Dreams", a clear gem, was unfortunately leaked to radio and dance floors in the early part of 2008.

After listening to I Am...Sasha Fierce, one will realize that Beyonce's work with Destiny's Child on their farewell album, Destiny Fulfilled, is the closest we have gotten (or may ever get) to calling an album by Sasha Fierce herself, personal and probing.

Speaking of the Destiny Fulfilled album, the final track on second disc Fierce, "Video Phone", borrows a lot from "Soldier" off of the DC3 project. Hustlers swagger and pants sagging low are the catalysts for Beyonce to offer a private "video phone" sex tape. "Video Phone" is rather frank.

We appreciate the notion of trying to present a candid, stripped down Beyonce to the world through music, but this is not it. There are interesting surprises, but this double-disc album package is a lot less compelling than it could have been. Given a recording process that stretched over a year, and a goldmine of seventy songs from which these eleven were selected, it's hard to determine whether the album's concept diminished the intended introspective feel or if the concept saved the songs from the project's lapse in cohesiveness.

Beyonce's voice is there. She sings effortlessly. A few good songs are there. Top 40 radio will eat up the catch phrases. But where is the evidence of the singer turned actress and wife blossoming into womanhood and relishing in the bliss of married life?

If Beyonce fights the inevitable, at worst she could end up like Usher; playing catch up by the time she is thirty. If she reinvents herself, she may never need to live her personal life on stage. Instead she can follow in the footsteps of Madonna or Tina Turner and "Sasha" all the way into her fifties and sixties.

3*** stars out of 5

The Good: For the person whose been hiding under a rock and doesn't already have "I am Sasha Fierce", congrats. Now you can own a 18 track edition that includes the upbeat Poison (another Sweet Dreams style of a song)plus the remix of Video Phone featuring Lady Gaga.. This cd is Beyonce's best album to date since leaving Destiny's Child and going solo

The Bad: Why another release or re-release. I strongly resent how record companies seem to produce 10 different versions of the same cd in an effort to maximize profits at the expense of hard-working fans. I already owned the previous Deluxe version with the then bonus 4 tracks. So I had to buy this version just for 2 songs.

The UGLY: Here's the bitter rub. This isn't even the best version. In Europe and Asia, Beyonce's Platinum Edition features 20 songs and a bonus cd of all her videos to-date for practically the same price. Missing on this US and Canadian only version are the amazing ballads: Save the Hero, Why Don't You Love me and Honestly.

The Ultimate version could have been a two cd compilation including the 3 songs on the Euro / Asian version plus the 2 featured on the North American version and then some remixes from Above and Beyonce.

And record companies wonder why cd sales are declining?!!

I must say I was very disappointed with this album. The ballads were awful and she didn't need to separate the two disks. Not very eco-friendly! The only good songs are her "Sasha Fierce" ones. I don't know who she's trying to fool with this whole alter-ego thing. Sasha is Beyonce and Beyonce is Sasha and that's how her fans will always see her. You can't separate the two.

On her website, Beyonce wrote that this album contains what she considers the best music she's recorded to date, and in many ways this is true. The double CD "I Am...Sasha Fierce" manages to appeal to fans of the power ballad songstress from "Dangerously in Love" and the club queen with sick dance moves from "B'Day." And while improving on both those styles, Beyonce also branches out into new territory to generally good, if not great, results.

The first disc of this album (the "I Am..." part) starts off strong with the hit single "If I Were a Boy." The song showcases Beyonce's strong emotional interpretation of songs and her incredible voice (an asset many of her fellow pop divas lack), and quite frankly the track gets better each time I hear it. She immediately one ups herself with the best track on the entire album, "Halo," with soaring vocals and a much stronger melodic structure than many of today's hit ballads. The first disc features nary a misstep, and the acoustic, singer-songwriter vibe of "Satellites" is another highlight. By the end of the first disc, you feel like this album is destined for greatness, and probably a few Grammys.

Then the "Sasha Fierce" portion starts, and things get dicey. "Single Ladies" is a pretty good song, although its success as a single owes as much to the excellent music video as the actual song. But things get worse with "Radio" and the unintentionally funny "Diva," which fail to show off Beyonce's voice or provide a good beat for her to dance to. These ventures into urban hip-hop are off-putting as they are poorly done and even worse, feel forced. I was a huge fan of much of "B'Day," and I wish the Sasha Fierce songs borrowed a bit more of the tribal beats and strong dance grooves of that album. Songs like "Hello" and especially "Scared of Lonely" help redeem the Sasha persona, but most people will probably be left wondering where their Beyonce went.

Also, while I love the concept of separating the two styles in an A Side/B Side type manner, there is not nearly enough content to warrant two discs. You can listen to all 16 tracks in a little over an hour, leaving you feeling a tad cheated. Combined with the generally weaker Sasha Fierce songs, this makes it hard to whole-heartedly recommend the album. Still, Beyonce tackles a lot of new styles and does many of them well, giving her fans and newcomers a lot to like. Maybe on her fourth album she'll finally nail it.

I cant say i was dissapointed because I am not a fan of Beyonce. I bought this album because I fell in love with it's first release "If I Were a Boy", and also because the preview of disc 1 sounded like my style. If I could give this album a 5 and a 1 at the same time, I would. I love the soft sounds and ballads of disc one while I hate SASHA FIERCE. (Becides, what kinda stupid name is Sasha Fierce? And why do you need another name for the same kinda music you've been doing all along) Also, why release two versions of an album at once. Seems like they just wanted to find a way to charge us all an extra 5 bucks. Who would buy an album without all the songs?

I am Sasha Fierce is Beyonce's approach to show she has range in music styles. It's supposed to be her most personal album, yet it sounds like a compilation of love songs and club songs. Disc one is songs of relationship and of a girl in love. Part two is very annoying, the first part with horrible songs that sound like every other rap song on the radio. As the first reviewer on amazon said, it was pointless to have this album on two discs, and plain annoying.

Disc One starts with the beautiful, emotional ballad, "If i were a boy" which beautifully displays Beyonce's voice range. It just feels right at all points. Unfortunately it is the best track on the entire album. Halo, also strong, has a feel-good rhythm, kinda like R.Kelly's "I believe I can fly". The music however, reminds me of 2004 U2.

(one of my fav bands) She kinda sounds like a female, better sounding Bono. I like it, a lot. Dissapear, soft and smooth, (still reminds me of U2 somehow) is calming, and definately a stress reducer. It is very un-beyonce, at times she seems bored with the song herself, like they had to drag her to the studio to record it. Broken-hearted girl and Ave Maria are okay. It's pretty much a nice song about nothing. Probably would mean more to the person it was written for. To the rest of us it makes no sense. Kinda boring after the first 2 times. The rest of Disc 1 is competely forgettable. Sattelite and That's Why your beautiful would put you to sleep. I like mainly because the music reminds me of U2 (did i mention that before?)

Disc 2 = GARBAGE

All the single ladies is one of the most annoying songs you ever heard. I cant describe it better than noise and shear grief. Radio is also quite annoying. Its possibly something you could dance to in the club. Diva is the dumbest song i've ever heard. I sounds like Lil Wayne's "a Million" but like a cheap, effortless, sensless, repeatative, ghetto, and uninspiring version. I would be embarrased to have my name on this song. I kinda like sweet dreams. It's like Beyonce' singing one of Natasha Beddingfield songs. Video Phone is also garbage, and really forgettable. Hello sounds like it belongs on disc one, but it has urban edge in the verses only. Possibly the only song worth listening to on disc two.

Don't buy into the hype. This album is not worth buying. I should have just downloaded "if i were a boy". Beyonce has a beautiful, one of a kind voice. I feel like she's not reaching her full potential with this album. Beyonce fans, don't waste your money. Female U2 and Natasha Bedingfield fans, get it, then throw away Disc 2.