Beyoncé - 4 (Deluxe Edition) (2011)

Numbering an album is an easy and common way to mark a milestone, so this is the 4th album of the irreproachable diva of modern R&B, more L'Oréal than ever in the cover photo of her new album. But beyond this lack of imagination, we will notice that in these territories of artists of planetary masses, numbers tend to replace everything else, starting with inspiration.

We will therefore not dwell on the records held by the Usain Bolt of the melodious beat, in terms of records sold, Grammy Awards obtained, fees taken from Gaddafi and other nonsense. To focus only on the songs, orchestrated in this long hiatus (I Am Sasha Fierce already dates from 2008) by various speakers (Chad Hugo from The Neptunes, Babyface or Kanye West being the most visible).

From the start, we see that the beauty falls into the trap of "the album of maturity", and to take care of her audience, which has supposedly aged, she delivers a disc essentially made up of ballads, and no club bangers (rather Babyface or Diane Warren as David Getta). "1+1" or "I Care", in romantic preliminaries, calibrated for the "adult oriented" market, as the Americans fond of very precise categories label it, show again, if need be, that Beyoncé is not just a maddening physique and a creature of music video, but a black singer with the necessary baggage of soul and powerful vulnerability. But it goes bad as soon as “Best Thing I Never Had”, which one would think fell from the throat of a Celine Dion in the middle of a demonstrative firefighter exercise, live from Caesar Palace. Rare vocal guest, André 3000 raps in a nasal and cartoonish way on the sticky "Party", giving him, when he is there, a little nerve.

At 30, married and singing odes to monogamy, Beyoncé seems to have made this (final?) choice of adult music, mid-tempo rather than eurodisco, to continue selling records (to an audience also in their thirties , who grew up with her, and who still checks out with complete albums). With classic rather than digital instrumentation, nods to the Jacksons ("Love on Top") or the Boyz II Men (the sample of "Countdown"), Beyoncé officially declares herself out of the race in the competition of Rihanna or Lady Gaga. She leaves them the debauchery of electro effects, gimmicks for teenagers, surfing the waves initiated by Black Eyed Peas.

From the beginning to the end of 4, she says nothing more than "I'm a big girl, and a real singer, not just a creature calibrated for music videos". To achieve this dozen songs, she would have recorded between 60 and 70, which is a little scary, when you suffer a big disgusting cake like "I Was Here", the saw signed Diane Warren (provider of slows that stick to the fingers since the early 1980s for Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, etc). We have to wait for the final title, “Run the World (Girls)” to find a little dance energy, with happy choirs, brass band beats and a little sound effects in the direction of time. Rather a good song, too, but offered here just to recall past flamboyances.

The time of day is for introspection, the demonstration of a great voice on pieces with peaceful rhythms. Enough to convince those who still doubted that B also knew how to do it. But for the sexy sparkle, we'll wait for another delivery, or we'll look back on past anthems.