Beyoncé - 4
For most, the leak of an album a month early to its speculated release date, the mixed reception of a lead single and the relatively poor charting position of it would spell disaster. Beyoncé makes it look like a bump in the road. Because with performances like this at the Billboard Awards , a Glastonbury headlining set to come just years after her husband's and a worldwide presence like hers the world is always left to watch in wonder. 3 years after the phenomenal I Am... Sasha Fierce , which spawned a number of singles I can't even count (including the iconic Single Ladies, the beautiful Halo and the questionable Diva), 4 is...her fourth album as a solo artist. The album commences with guitar solos, romance and basic arithmetic on "1+1", the promotional (free) single with a preorder of the album. It's a simple, quiet and restrained musing about partnership and pure compatable bliss that'll piss off the single ladies, but oh well. The instrumentation is minim...