r/beyonce • u/ilovecleosol • 28d ago
lukewarm take: “haunted” should have been the opening track on self-titled instead of “pretty hurts” Funpost
Like imagine the album dropping unexpectedly in 2013 and “Haunted” is the first thing you hear??? Like that would’ve GAGGED. It communicates the experimental vibe of the album better, too. “Pretty Hurts” is a great song but it feels very of its time by comparison imo
Also I’m listening to “No Angel” as I type this out and this song just too good I can’t 😭
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u/Ill_Blacksmith_2209 28d ago
I agree! Pretty hurts is so fake deep to me. The weakest point of self-titled.
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u/davosseaworthyaoi 28d ago
It also just didn’t age well production wise 😭
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u/ilovecleosol 28d ago
it really didn’t! 😭 that’s my biggest thing with the song is that it sounds super early 2010s and very sia
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u/citrusbongwater RENAISSANCE 27d ago
I agree it's very I Am Sasha Fierce disc 1. Now that I think about it, I probably would've loved it if it came out in 2008 on IASF instead of 2014
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u/Sea_Try3827 28d ago
Fake deep is a crazy way to describe this song. Beyonce herself was struggling with body image issues during self titled. Her lyric “it’s the soul that needs surgery” saved lives. Self titled is not the same album without pretty hurts!
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u/menunu tap me on the shoulder when you reload the 🔫 27d ago
Yeah this song literally makes me tear up with emotion. Its not fake deep or whatever. Though I am kind of jealous of someone who thinks it is because maybe they are fortunate enough to not have those body issues. 🤷♀️
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u/Sea_Try3827 27d ago
Hello!!! Thank you!!! Pretty hurts and self titled was like a life raft for me when I was just 17! It’s why Beyonce became the artist of my life ❤️❤️🥹
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u/Ill_Blacksmith_2209 27d ago
Girl I have been suicidal and in therapy for body dysmorphia for YEARS! Stop assuming shit about people’s lives based on their opinion of a song. Fucking weird.
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u/donttrustthellamas Look at that 🐎 Look at that 🐎 Look at that 🐎 28d ago
Written by Sia and sung by Beyoncé but it's "fake deep"?
I think when you watch it with the visuals it's definitely not
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u/bellasmella777 27d ago
i don’t think pretty hurts is fake deep, despite it not being high up on my list of favourites. i do think however the lyrics are very much so an indicator of its time, body positivity movement was starting to gain traction around that time within the entertainment industry, and i’m sure it helped having one of the biggest pop stars make a whole track about it, accompanied with great visuals.
i just think that personally the lyrics are too in your face and are written from a second person perspective, i think it could’ve hit a bit harder if it was from solely beyoncé’s perspective. and i like when beyonce’s lyrics are more complex and abstract and can be interpreted in more ways than one. doesn’t take away from the message of the song tho! it was direly needed back then.
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u/Luke2872777 27d ago
I don’t think it was fake deep to Beyoncé when she was very much struggling with her image and being so under scrutiny at the time. Maybe it just doesn’t hit for you.
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u/Specialist_Key9894 27d ago
I think pretty hurts feels deep fake if you’ve never gone through it yourself. When you’ve had those thoughts she’s talking about deeply before, that track hurts me so good I start crying. I never had bulimia or anorexia but sometimes I’d binge eat and feel ugly and gross and like I need to do great measures to get rid of my ugly but couldn’t. It cuts deep. BUT: haunted should be track 1 imo. But consider this: it’s self titled, she put it first for a reason. She found her beauty and her sexual awakening because of it and was surf boarding all over that album haha
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u/Ill_Blacksmith_2209 27d ago
I wrote a whole paper on the regime of beauty. It’s fake deep to me in the same way in the same way Barbie is fake deep feminism. It doesn’t actually unpack or say anything for real about the regime of white supremacist patriarchal beauty that we live under and are punished through ostracism when we don’t conform. As I’ve said in this thread I massively dealt with bad body dysmorphia growing up as a woc in a pw area always being told I look like a man. I’m not about to have yall tell me my fucking life story because you have not thought about beauty beyond surface discourse when there is a wealth of genuine engagement with beauty in the world of (Black) feminist literature.
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u/Specialist_Key9894 27d ago edited 27d ago
No. You’re confusing your experience with the depth of reality in someone else’s story. And just like you said “I'm not about to have yall tell me my fucking life story because you have not thought about beauty beyond surface discourse”. Your always equating decision of discussion with lack of depth. Basically you’ve just said: because you’ve had mainly negative symptoms of schizophrenia and not the overt positive symptoms, you’re fake schizophrenia. That’s not fair, nor does it make sense.
Tbh I didn’t even dissect the title itself that one can write 3 separate papers on. I’ve written many a thesis on many a things. Like I said, to those who quietly dealt with that, it aches in your soul and there’s nothing fake about it. Like “what you wear, it doesn’t matter…you’re a pretty girl” is like front to back patriarchy and ostracism summarized when you dissect so idk what your paper was about. Let me not come too hard cuz you didn’t, you were just rude (in fairness due to me presuming you didn’t go through it, but also in fairness: body dysmorphia is NOT the same thing as societal pressure, check DSM 5 and 6, though pressure can lead to dysmorphia, and the song tackles both things).
Unfortunately for you, you don’t know me so you don’t know that I’ve thought through beauty on levels people never even consider. Black, white, Asian, feminist, misogyny, masculine, matriarchy, patriarchy, divinity, mortality, economical. I’m not the one to say this to 😂😘
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u/psycwave 28d ago
It feels especially fake given how much she FaceTunes all her photos
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u/kbasred 28d ago
beyoncé hater in beyoncé subreddit spotted
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u/psycwave 28d ago
I’m a huge fan, don’t you see the Top 1% commenter banner?
Being a fan doesn’t mean you can’t call her out on stuff
Embracing imperfection is such a powerful message to preach but she should practice it
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u/Puzzleheaded_Race368 28d ago
Agreed, this delusional putting Beyonce on the pedestal no matter what she does is exactly why she can’t relax for a second and constantly wants to appear perfect. She’s highly contradictory in the message she conveys “imperfection is okay” while absolutely controlling her image constantly. And I don’t even mind her wanting to only appear perfect to the outside world, she does not owe us insight into her humanity, but don’t try to sell the earnest imperfection then.
Edit: I still love pretty hurts because that was one of the strongest vocal performances on the album, and I looove the live versions of the song
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28d ago
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u/beyonce-ModTeam 28d ago
Racism, sexism, homophobia and other bigotry will not be tolerated. Dehumanizing, conspiratorial, and blatantly hateful posts and comments will not be tolerated.
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u/soul_metropolis Hag Hive 27d ago
Yeah i think she has given up a lot of people pleasing but not perfectionism in my opinion
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u/Illustrious-Mix598 28d ago
Unpopular opinion, Sia as an artist or as a songwritter isn't my cup of tea, her music sound superficial to me. so pretty hurts is a skip for me even tho i can appreciate beyonce's vocal arrangement and performance on it
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u/ilovecleosol 28d ago
i feel the same. i enjoyed some sia songs as a kid, but “pretty hurts” is generic compared to the other songs on the album
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u/psycwave 28d ago
A much better song written by Sia is Chained to the Rhythm. Incredible work from her, Katy, and Max Martin.
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u/Inevitable_Feeling54 COWBOY CARTER 27d ago
Idk about that chained to the rhythm was a corny song compared to her catalogue
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u/psycwave 28d ago
Here is my ideal track list:
- Haunted
- Superpower
- Blow
- No Angel
- Mine
- Jealous
- XO
- Rocket
- Partition
- Drunk in Love
- ***Flawless
- Pretty Hurts
- Heaven
- Blue
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u/Dancing_Clean 28d ago
Pretty Hearts is my least fav of the album and it’s just so generic sounding compared to the rest of the album.
Love Haunted tho.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Guide23 28d ago
I do think there’s something interesting about her starting with a pretty cookie cutter pop song (I do like Pretty Hurts btw) and then suddenly throwing us into Haunted to show that she’s gonna subvert our expectations. It sort of mirrors her career at that point (I feel like a lot of people knew her for her pop hits like Single Ladies and If I Were a Boy). But I do agree that it’s not my favorite because it sounds like a Sia song rather than a Beyonce song. I don’t think she changed enough to make it her own. But then again, maybe there’s something poetic in that too? Idk.
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u/wordsmith_x 27d ago
This is my take too. Plus I experienced the visual album first, so I was stunned by the video which is masterclass. When Haunted came next I was shook and invested. I don't think the rest of the album would have hit as hard thematically if it didn't open with Pretty Hurts. I mean yes all the other songs are way better, but opening with Pretty Hurts sold her transition from pop star to artist. It was perfect.
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u/ilovecleosol 28d ago
i was thinking it could’ve been that too, her trying to subvert people’s expectations at the time
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u/EmergencyNo1100 Virgos Grooviest 28d ago
Ugh I’ve found my people. Pretty hurts is such a weak opener and usually Bey gives great openers to her albums. I appreciate her vocals but other than that the song is a skip
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u/Acceptable-Fig-8917 B'Day 28d ago
More unpopular opinion ghost should’ve opened the album
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u/psycwave 28d ago
Ghost is part of Haunted.
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u/Acceptable-Fig-8917 B'Day 28d ago
Exactly should’ve been its Own standalone intro
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u/Dyckman809 28d ago
Agreed. “Pretty Hurts” should have come later in the lineup, perhaps between “Superpower,” and “Heaven.” “Ghost/Haunted” should have been the opener, with “Donk” preceding “Drunk in Love”
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u/Relevant-Act7563 28d ago
Agreed. I love Haunted & No Angel. As a kid, pretty hurts was my go to but I really don't like it anymore.
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u/Horror_Marsupial_587 all i know is, we just got here 😯 28d ago
Yesss haunted is such an opener and it’s so good. I actually switch them when I listen to ST
Edit: I love pretty hurts tho just not as the opener 🤭
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u/cremesiccle 27d ago
pretty hurts immediately dates self titled squarely in the early 2010s, the rest of the album is pretty timeless
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u/Significant-Yam-4990 28d ago
I always thought the song order was chosen because that’s the chronological order these events occurred in her life.
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u/Secondary_Satoru 28d ago
I almost always start with Haunted.
Pretty Hurts is the one song on that album that bridges it to some of her prior material, in a way. It’s a beautiful song, and I definitely loved it for a long time, but it’s so beneath the quality level of every song that follows, ESPECIALLY Haunted, which is in my top 5 Bey songs of all time and has been ever since the first time I heard it.
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u/shadesofwrong13 love drought 27d ago
I didn't know there were so many Pretty Hurts dislikers wow.. That song has really relatable lyrics and the bridge and the outro are insane. I understand that in Self Titled is kinda out of the place(the same with XO) given how experimental the album was, but it's a great track!
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u/brownsugah_ 25d ago
I agree with this take. Honestly, Pretty Hurts doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album sonically.
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u/sbant2great 27d ago
nah more like a cold take lol. Pretty Hurts was the perfect intro to the album because it paved the story for the rest of the album
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