Admittedly, Beyonce and her self proclaimed alter ego Sasha are quite fierce. Those big doe eyes, the blonde tresses, the distinctive vocals and let us not forget– a body that just won’t quit. But when the two join forces on Bey’s double disc, I Am… Sasha Fierce, the wonder twins unite to form an almost forgettable experience.
With this effort Bey plays up what we are to believe are the vast differences from her true self (disc one) and Sasha Fierce (disc two)– who is preferred most by the urban fan base that has been around since the days of Destiny’s Child and Destiny’s Child Redux.
I Am, is filled with the type of ballads normally heard from One Republic or Leona Lewis (“Halo,” “Broken-Hearted Girl” and “If I Were A Boy”). Each moody and moving and light years beyond the clumsy, verbose supposedly self penned ballads found on Dangerously In Love. (Obviously she didn’t write these and if the liner notes say differently, rest assured some ghostwriter out there got paid lovely.)
It almost pisses me off that Sasha is seen as some sort of obscure, schizophrenic sidekick that Bey pulls out as some sort of couture accessory, because she embodies more of the key aspects that gave Bey differentiation in the first place. Sasha is brazen and bold (“Diva”), takes risks (“Radio,” “Videophone”), and still the hottest chick in the game (“Single Ladies– Put A Ring On It”).
Overall it seems as though the idea to exploit the once unspoken virtue of Sasha was the making of a marketing plan rather than some organic, artistic duality. Re: great concept, but the jury is still out on the execution. If we are to believe the hype around this alter ego nonsense, the eleven song set would have probably been better served had it been called the Evolution of Beyonce because claiming both is like having her cake and eating it too.
But while you were were lining up for a Beyonce CD signing in hopes that Sasha Fierce will show up, we were wondering… Where the hell is Hova and his requisite placement on Bey’s first release?
