Beyonce "I Am...Sasha Fierce"

Beyonce is back with her third solo album, and this time she's brought someone along with her: Her alter-ego, Sasha Fierce. If you're a fan of B you know that she refers to her stage persona as Sasha Fierce, and on the appropriately-titled disc I Am...Sasha Fierce she puts her to good use.

It was reported the Beyonce wrote and recorded some 70 songs for her latest solo project, so what better way to showcase as many as possible by releasing a double album? Disc one features Beyonce singing some slower, more intimate jams with real instrumentation, while disc two highlights the inner diva of Sasha Fierce with dancy club bangers. So let's talk about each...

The Sasha Fierce tracks are well, fierce. Most of them, anyway. The first single "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" should give you an idea of how the rest of that disc goes. Jams like "Radio" and "Sweet Dreams" are instant favorites and, if you're like me, you probably won't like "Diva" at first, but will find yourself playing it over and over again soon after. All the songs are typical Beyonce, and I mean that in an awesome way.

If you ask me, the slower tracks on the Beyonce disc are even better than the fierce ones. There's just something about her singing over live instruments that is just fantastic. I find the slower songs on her previous two albums to be pretty gummy and uninteresting, but these ones seem particularly inspired. Perhaps B has a lot more to draw from at 27 than she did at 22. She is secretly married after all. Stand outs for me are "Ave Maria" (a take on the traditional song, not the same version), "Smash Into You" and my favorite "Disappear".

Overall I think I Am...Sasha Fierce is a pretty killer album, although I'm not sure if we needed a double disc. There are few CDs out there that I can listen to front to back without skipping a track. Most albums today have a few obvious singles and are then flushed out with "filler" tracks. Perhaps if B would have chosen the best 12 or so songs from the full collection and put them on to one album she could have had a masterpiece. Still worth picking up though!

Here's the track list for the deluxe edition of I Am...Sasha Fierce

Disc 1: I Am…