Album: Beyonce - ‘I Am… Sasha Fierce’

It’s hard to attempt an album review of I Am… Sasha Fierce without sounding scornful, bitchy or both. So let’s just be upfront: as concepts, titles, lyrics and executions go, it’s one of the most self-absorbed ego trips of a record you‘ll ever stumble upon. Considering that ego characterises so much of the output of the hip hop world she lives in - oh come on, it’s true - perhaps her tack is easier to understand, but undeniably, this is The Beyonce Show with a cast of one. Plus, she did call her previous album B’Day, apparently regrettably unaware of the phenomenon of bidets…

Her third solo album, I Am…Sasha Fierce is Ms Knowles’ much-publicised attempt to produce an album under the guise of her alter-ego Sasha, the booty shaking minx that good girl and churchgoer Beyonce transforms herself into when on stage. Yes, we know it sounds like a pen name from when you were 13, but here’s her reasoning: 'It's a way for me to differentiate what I do onstage from who I really am - it's a way for me to not lose myself, to keep my life in perspective, because it's really hard sometimes to stay on earth when you're a celebrity.”

Well, at least the intention is earthbound. The problem is in the delivery. While we are all plagued by the traumatically catchy first single If I Were A Boy, the other tracks on this double album (the first disc is the deep and moody one, the second one is ‘playful’) aren’t all similarly infectious. Forthcoming second release Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) will incense the secret feminist in us all (on ‘it’? I’m not an ‘it’! I’m a ‘her’!) but having just drafted in Justin Timberlake to help her promote it on huge US show Saturday Night Live, it’s sure to be a smash despite sounding like Destiny’s Child b-side.

The wannabe epic slow jam of Halo and the 80s beats-led Sweet Dreams call to mind Rihanna’s slick production, but Beyonce’s soaring voice (which is undeniably as incredible as ever) isn’t used to full effect on tracks that even Jordan could pull off. There are some promising moments - Diva, despite its lyrics that sound kinda weird from B (“Now a diva is a female version of a hustlaaaa”), draws wisely from recent Chicago hip hop, and with some deep dub beats thrown in, it sounds like Kid Sister should be guesting - great stuff, but maybe better suited to Eve or Missy Elliot…

The fact is that I Am…Sasha Fierce sends forth no Ring The Alarm, no Déjà Vu, no Irreplaceable, and most importantly nothing coming remotely close to the astounding Crazy In Love. Will Beyonce ever reach those heady heights again? I hope she keeps trying, but maybe Sasha Fierce isn’t the woman for the job.

Buy the album here on Amazon for around £9.

www.myspace.com/beyonce