Beyoncé - The Lion King: The Gift ALBUM REVIEW

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Beyoncé is one of the biggest stars on the planet. She’s mainly a singer, but she’s also known for her philanthropy and her powerful influence on politics. Although she’s less known for this, she’s also an actress. While she has been in one of the Austin Powers movies, she most recently voiced Nala in the ‘live-action’ remake of The Lion King. While the movie wasn’t that great, Beyoncé decided to make an alternative soundtrack to the remake, a la Kendrick Lamar and Black Panther. Titled The Lion King: The Gift, it’s Beyoncé’s take on the all-time classic story of the Disney film with a new musical twist. Let’s get into it and see how it is.

The Lion King: The Gift is an Afrobeats album with hip-hop and R&B undertones. This is a star-studded affair, no doubt. Bey’s husband Jay-Z and her Lion King co-star Donald Glover (as Childish Gambino) appear on the record, along with Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell Williams, 070 Shake, Tierra Whack, SAINT JHn, Jessie Reyez, and Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé’s daughter. There is also an emphasis on African musicians like Wizkid, who’s already had a hit in Drake’s “One Dance.” The Gift also includes African artists like Burna Boy, Shatta Wale, Mr. Eazi, and Yemi Alade, among many others. For those going into this thinking that it’s a full Beyoncé record, this isn’t. She has a big part in the record but isn’t the lead star. She’s mainly the curator, getting these artists together to re-tell the story of The Lion King for a new era. Out of the rosters of big American singers and African musicians, I feel like the African musicians really outshined most of the artists, including Beyoncé. “BROWN SKIN GIRL” is my favorite track off of the album by far. The beautiful message about cultural pride and female empowerment hits hard, and will honestly go down as an important song in the movements going on today.

The best way I found to enjoy The Gift was to completely forget about the latest remake. It isn’t that hard. Nearly half of the tracks are snippets from the new film taken as interludes, and they work pretty well on first listen, but non-essential on the next few listens. Beyoncé has put together a pretty enjoyable set of tracks, but a good amount of them either blend together or get lost in the shuffle. Or both, if I’m being honest. The African tones throughout the record do set it apart from other soundtracks, but without its emphasis on that, The Lion King: The Gift would just get lost in the shuffle.


6/10


Stream The Lion King: The Gift here

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