'Beyonce' Review: New album from King Bey gets high marks from critics

Few things can bring fans of pop in 2013's divisive landscape like Beyonce. When Swedish pop afficianados and futurist R&B heads can't seem to see eye to eye, there is always King Bey. That description unfairly makes Beyonce sound like some boring middle-ground of pop when the truth of the matter is that her music is so polished and well-constructed that anyone with two ears and a love of music is forced to dig her.

That shows in the nearly unanimous praise that is being showered on Third Ward Trill after the surprise release of her self-titled new album, BEYONCE.

Consequence Of Sound

...the precedent for a star the level of Beyoncé releasing a record with no lead-up, with no advance singles, with no warning simply doesn't exist. In any other era, it'd be career suicide. In 2013, it's leading to gold record status over a single weekend. Beyoncé essentially pulled the same trick video game companies have been pulling for years: release big shit right before Christmas. Take advantage of the social impulse to buy shit in December. Even if Beyoncé wasn't any good, she'd have had the best opening weekend of any pop star in 2013. That the record is as good as it is means it's taking a run at platinum in its first week.

LA Times

No one, it seems, says no to Beyoncé - not even her nearly 2-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, who contributes some high-pitched "mommy's" to the album's spaced-out closer, "Blue."

And why would anyone deny her? Songs like the woozy "Mine" and the spooky, almost perversely stripped-down "Partition" reflect her determination, rare among superstars, to keep pushing creatively.

In spite of the misgivings she airs in "Haunted," she'll make money off this - loads of it, no doubt. But, perhaps more important, she'll also keep hold of our attention long enough to surprise us again

Rolling Stone (3 1/2 stars out of 5)

Beyoncé may have gotten "bored" with the popstar routine, as she confesses in "Ghost." But only massive hubris could have made a feat like this album possible. And Beyoncé's hubris makes the world a better, more Beyoncé-like place.

The Guardian (4 out of 5 stars)

The best surprise of all, in an autumn in which Beyoncé's closest competitors - Gaga, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus - made underperforming bids for the throne, is how thoroughly assured, immersive and substantial this album is.

USA Today

BEYONCÉ is a feast for the eyes and the ears, and it's a revealing look at Beyoncé, from Beyoncé's point of view. 

AP Music

Beyonce, a mostly guarded celebrity, has become more open over the years, and that's especially the case with songs like the self-explanatory "Jealous" and "Heaven," a soft and slow song about a loved one's death that could refer to her miscarriages.

"Blue," which includes the voice of her daughter Blue Ivy, closes the album and features Beyonce's beautiful tone and pitch. And that's just it - "Beyonce" is pitch perfect.

SPIN

Beyoncé's creative handlers have managed to collate the relentless feeds of our Tumblr dashes and Twitter pages into a vivid, banging pop opus. The result is artistic click bait, and its genius and connective power is that it doesn't treat music fans as factions. This one is for everyone, all at once.

What do you think of Beyonce's new album?

Sound off in the comments.