The first song I love, the second song I like the rest of the album...not my type of music. Just as a heads up to my preferences, I love Neosoul, I dislike R&B (old and new). Love on Top is different to me as it isn't Neosoul but the way she delivers sold me. Party is a regular radio song (most of which I dislike as well) but I like it. The rest was too R&Bish for me. I like Anita Baker, Luther Vandross and others but it's not my kind of music. Those who love R&B will love this album!

Thematically the unabashedly immature songs are relatively low in number (including the ladies anthem "Run the World (girls)") but tend to be perfectly innocent fun loving club anthems that don't adversely effect the aural integrity of the album. Beyonce has always been an performer/entertainer and not a Kelly Price or Jill Scott that avoids the clubs and lays the emotion and soul on heavy. I don't understand the apparent desire for a sudden change of persona from a portion of her fan base, even with the changes in her personal life. Especially given the immense success of past club single "Single Ladies". Beyonce is certainly in her comfort zone in this album.

The album has an incredibly diverse sound but manages to blend well and maintain an identity. The 80's influenced "Party" relies heavily on a thick vocal harmony and a catchy saw synth pad/bass combo with simplistic synth drums providing the rhythm in the background. Beyonce keeps it in the 80's realm with the upbeat groovy jam "Love on Top". Sexy horns accent her vocals for much of the song while Beyonce croons about her love being the priority in her lovers life. "Rather Die Young" continues the trend of throwback old era influence with production and vocal arrangements stripped straight from the 70's.

Beyonce takes it to the club with the catchy "Countdown", "End Of Time", and "Run The world (girls)". All with a minimalist production with militaristic, bombastic, marching band appeal. Of these I'm partial to "End Of Time" with it's melodic sing songy chorus and blaring horn arrangement. "Run This World" while bound to be a hit in clubs wasn't the best choice for single as it's not as immediately appealing as her past singles.

The album slows down with the vocally ambitious "1+1", "Best Thing I Never Had" and "I Was Here". "1+1" doesn't quite live up to the ambitions set forth as the vocal inflections begin to sound slightly annoying, especially during live performances but it provides a decent but somewhat forgettable ballad. "Best Thing I Never Had" is the most commercial of the bunch(and hence her 2nd single). A vengeful but very likable celebratory ode to a love that never was. While "I Was Here" has Beyonce proclaiming her desire to be remembered and having a great legacy. A mournful, plodding delivery leaves something to be desired but certainly a meaningful and heartfelt ballad.

Other favorite is hard to pin down but very catchy "Start Over" with it's powerful and moving chorus. On the other hand "I Care" and "I Miss You" bring up the rear. While not bad they just prove to be filler material or to put it more politely, the most likely to be forgotten.

As a whole I was very satisfied and impressed with this album. Vocally Beyonce brings it while only faltering on rare occasion. The production is great with throwback soul sounds, bombastic club anthems and melodic ballads. If you're expecting a transformed Beyonce that departs from her howling, bootylicious, hair swinging ways then you might look elsewhere for your R&B fix. But if you know the larger than life artist and performer Beyonce is and enjoy hearing her doing what she does best than I would completely recommend this album.

This is my favorite Beyonce album. Beyonce's discography is flawless, and this album is fantastic, whether your a die hard fan, a regular Beyonce fan, or just an average fan of good music. This album has a song that reveals a new side to Beyonce that she has never shown, and has such relatable tracks as well. This album has a track that caters to pretty much any emotion that you have. It's such a shame that the general public and mainstream music payed no mind to this album, since it is truly Beyonce's best album.

Love so many songs from this CD that I re-bought it after I thought it lost 2 years ago. Of course, now that I re-bought it, I found the one I had already, but that's okay because now I have a back-up.

WHO RUN THIS MOTHER?????? LOL...WOW MISS B U REALLY SHOWED THEM!! YES FELLAS I'M SORRY BUT IT'S TRUE US GIRLS DO RUN THE WORLD!! I MUST SAY I'M REALLY IMPRESSED WITH THIS CD, I MEAN I DON'T THINK BEYONCE' HAS A GREAT VOICE BUT I DID ENJOY HER SONGS VERY MUCH...MY FAVORITE TRACKS ARE "END OF TIME", "I CARE", "RATHER DIE YOUNG", "LOVE ON TOP", "COUNTDOWN", "RUN THE WORLD(GIRLS)" AND "1+1"!! THE OTHER SONGS I HAVE TO LISTEN TO THEM OVER AGAIN BUT THOSE R THE SONGS I PLAY THE MOST...SO WAY TO GO MISS BEYONCE'!! AHEM I'M EXPECTING A VIDEO OF "END OF TIME"...I HAVE THE PERFECT SETUP IN MY HEAD...LOL...I WISH I WAS A VIDEO PRODUCER BUT DON'T WORRY I'LL BE MAKING MY WAY IN THAT FIELD PRETTY SOON!!

I didnt initially purchase this album but as I heard more of the singles off the album (especially "Love on Top") I thought it might be something to check out so I listened to the samples and decided to purchase the album. Im definitely satisfied with my purchase, IV has been in heavy rotation since I purchased it. My favorites off the album are "Love on Top" , "Dance for You" (which is why i purchased the deluxe ed.), "Countdown", "Party", "Rather Die Young", and "Schoolin Life" (deluxe ed.). Not to say the rest of the album isn't good but those are definitely my faves; overall in my opinion this was a strong album. I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars there were 4 versions (3 on the deluxe ed.) of "Run the World" the original was enough.

Beyoncé is one my favorite entertainers, and i explicitly bought the CD for one cut! but I did enjoy the entire CD

When i first heard this cd to me it didnt sound like beyonce, but then i realized that artist are constantly evolving and so is there music, after listening to it again and really paying attention to it, the songs started to grow on me and then i just started to love the cd. This is good work for beyonce she will always be in business, but you have to keep your mind open to constant changes in music, and then come to appreciate what the artist is trying to convey in there music.