Beyoncé More Gimmicky Than Fierce

Beyoncé’s latest, I Am … Sasha Fierce, consists of two discs: one with “some lovely ballads” and the other “aggressive, sexual, and, well, fierce,” writes Leah Greenblatt in Entertainment Weekly. But despite a few gems, “the collection might have been better served had she edited it down to one disc, rather than belabor what ultimately seems like a marketing gimmick,” Greenblatt notes.

The Sasha Fierce character “sounds more like a pose than a credible alter-ego,” writes Greg Kot writes in the Chicago Tribune. As for lyrics, Beyoncé “presents life as a private hell of romantic travail.” The words are “full of bland self-affirmation and saggy lines,” Christian Hoard notes in Rolling Stone. But he salutes the vocal “restraint” of the typically “melismatic” diva.