there's only so many songs to sing

HALO
Beyonce
I Am... Sasha Fierce

... remember those walls I built, well, baby they're tumbling down and they didn't even put up a fight, they didn't even make up a sound...

Contrary to Beyonce's delusion, I Am... Sasha Fierce is neither creative nor ground-breaking. The formal introduction of Sasha Fierce to the general public and the dual disc concept – putting all the ballads on one disc and the fiercer, upbeat tracks on the other, are anything but new. Of the sixteen tracks, only five are worth mentioning and the rest are duds – majority of which sound like rewrites of her earlier works. But that's how our girl Beyonce operates. Halo, her latest offering as not-Sasha Fierce, is a majestic piece that harks Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love. True, that after the massive success of the latter, Halo will sound like a pop-perfection manufactured to crossover and dominate all radio formats, and penultimately follow its predecessor's trend. Indeed, it is. But it doesn't matter because Beyonce, as a singles artist, has never been known for her artistry. She thrives on commercial success. So even though Halo lacks genuine soul, the song makes up for it through the elegant and ethereal production and surprisingly, her insanely fantastic vocal delivery.

LONG DISTANCE
Brandy
Human

... there's only so many songs that I can sing to pass the time and I'm running out of things to get you off my mind...

Brandy, on the other hand, has never had a dud album. Not especially with her first effort since the 2004 underrated Afrodisiac and the 2006 car tragedy that she was involved in, Human. The album is a collection of pop and mid-tempo r&b ballads that offers nothing new to the audience. Instead, it relies on the consistency of Brandy's skill to sing of life, love and loss and transform these melodies into the timeless pieces they were meant to be. Like Long Distance, the second single off her new album. It is a piano-driven introspection, about the conditions of a long-distance relationship, that is believable enough that it actually is affecting. To call it a nice ballad would be an injustice. Let's just say that one would think that it was a work done by Diane Warren. It's that good. Lite radio good.

WHITE HORSE
Taylor Swift
Fearless

... I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale, I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell...

Everybody loves dialogues in music videos. So imagine the universe's delight to know that there were multiple speaking lines in the video edit of White Horse. "All I want is you. Do You Love Me," the ex asks. Taylor says, "Yes." Guy asks another question, "Can you give me another chance?" Will she say yes? Who cares. It's like "Rose", "Jack" all over again except this time, the song is genuinely, awesomely good. In fact, it is by far, the best heartbreaking song I've heard since 2005's We Belong Together. "I never thought I'd meet anybody like him. I feel like he's everything I've ever wanted," Swift shares her love story as if reading the words straight out of her diary. Her meeting a prince charming on his white horse - the imagery is just so perfect. And imagining this coming from a pristine country girl just makes it much more real. Then shit had to happen when the whistle blower confesses, "There's something you should know about him." And instead of taking the tired "Before He Cheats" or "Irreplaceable" act, Swift opted to stick to her fairy tale theme and be the heartbroken wide-eyed princess who, apparently, was smart enough to say, "No!"