Beyoncé caps 2008 with a big hit

Beyoncé Knowles is ending the year with a bang. Mrs. Jay-Z is in very good form in the charts these days. Billboard Magazine lists her new and third studio CD I Am… Sasha Fierce as the No. 1 selling album in the US this week. While she may not have the No. 1 single in the Hot 100, she has two songs in the tabulation. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) and If I Were a Boy. These are the lead tracks of each of the two discs that comprise I Am… Sasha Fierce.

I guess this means the CDs are being promoted as two different albums by the same artist although they come in a single package. With this device or gimmick, looks like Beyoncé has found a brilliant solution to a dilemma that has plagued pop artists since the long-play album came into being. This is giving in to the urge to be versatile by recording different types of songs, only to discard some of them in the end because they do not fit into the album’s concept.

So instead of sticking to one or the other, she divided the album. There are now two CDs that play like two albums by two different artists. One titled I Am is made up of quiet ballads with simple arrangements. This is Beyoncé, the song artist. Think Listen but simplified. She is a great voice throughout, but without the vocal or musical histrionics. It is just beautiful singing with straightforward arrangements.

The other one, which she called Sasha Fierce has the dance tracks and all those garnishments we have come to associate with R&B mixes. I do not know who Sasha Fierce is or why she calls the CD that. This is her concession to fans, who expect Beyoncé to dance. She didn’t want to do that in I Am and destroy the smooth flow of that album, so she does it in the second, as the dynamic and aggressive Sasha Fierce.

Two hits have emerged out of I Am Sasha Fierce If I Were a Boy from Disc I and Single Ladies from the second. It is all a matter of individual taste but if asked to make a choice for what will keep the album selling I would choose If I Were a Boy. This is drama in short form and it is proof of the saying that a good singer is also a good actress. Beyoncé puts forth a tour de force performance. This is where she belongs and I couldn’t care less if she decides to dance again or not.

Halo, Disappear and Ave Maria, also all on Disc I come in close. Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It), Ego and Sweet Dreams are the best bets from Disc II. But since I have always preferred ballads and I like listening to great voices and then picking out nuances they infused into their songs, I say give me I Am anytime. Then maybe I’ll put Sasha Fierce on the player and forget about it. Who knows, it might help keep me in an upbeat mood throughout my day.

Other cuts in the album are Broken-Hearted Girl, Smash into You, Satellites and That’s Why You’re Beautiful on Disc I while Disc II has Radio, Diva, Video Phone, Hello, and Scared of Lonely.

The Top 10 titles in Billboard’s album listing are I Am….Sasha Fierce by Beyoncé; Dark Horse by Nickelback; David Cook by David Cook; Fearless by Taylor Swift; The Promise by Il Divo; Twilight, the soundtrack of the hit motion picture; Now 29 by Various Artists; High School Musical 3: Senior Year, the movie soundtrack featuring Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens; And Winter Came by Enya; and Black Ice by AC/DC.

The Hot 100 has Live Your Life by T.I. featuring Rihanna; Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) by Beyoncé; If I Were a Boy by Beyoncé; Whatever You Like also by T.I.; Hot N’ Cold by Katy Perry; Love Lockdown by Kanye West; Just Dance by Lady GaGa feat. Colby O’Denis; So What by Pink; Miss Independent by Ne-Yo; and Right Now (Na Na Na) by Akon.