Music: Beyoncé

 
We interrupt 2013 to bring you Beyoncé. Mrs. Carter dropped her fifth (visual) album directly to iTunes last week - a complete surprise to both her fans and the industry.
 
"I didn’t want to release my music the way I’ve done it,” she said. “I am bored with that. I feel like I am able to speak directly to my fans. There’s so much that gets between the music, the artist and the fans. I felt like I didn’t want anybody to give the message when my record is coming out. I just want this to come out when it’s ready and from me to my fans.”
 
A bold move that paid off in folds. It broke records from the start, the fastest selling debut album ever on iTunes.
 
The album is probably the sexiest musical effort Beyoncé has ever made and wreaks of ego. She is more than comfortable in her own skin making it an amazing contribution to the music industry and her legacy as an entertainer. It's dark, moody, mysterious and an intimate look into her life at this moment. Beyoncé is the most "grown woman" album she has released and she makes no apologies for lyrics like, "he Monica Lewinsky'd all on my gown".
 
And "visual album" does not do it justice! The accompanying 17 videos are dripping with style and artistic influence. So many it's hard to pick my favorite, but I've done my best to bring you the Top 13 moments from Beyoncé according to Dallas.
 

 
13. Beyoncé Rejects Standards of Beauty: For "Pretty Hurts", she portrays herself as a devoted pageant girl and sheds light on the extreme efforts women enlist to project perfection. From backstabbing to bulimia. But the highlight of this video is when the pageant host asks Ms. 3rd Ward what she aspires to in life, and after hesitating she replies, "to be happy".

12. "Rocket" Innuendo: She channels videos like Madonna's "Cherish" and Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" for "Rocket". Filmed in black and white using her body as a landscape she sings about waterfalls, rivers overflowing and well's running dry. And when she repeats "hard, rock, steady, rock" there are brilliant images of innuendo including a gas pump, a match being lit and bubble gum popping.

11. Destiny's Child Cameo: Reunited and it looks so good! Michelle and Kelly make stylish cameos alongside Beyoncé for "Superpower". Look out for Pharrell too!

10. Retro Roller Rink: You know I love the seventies and she does not disappoint in this modern day throwback to a roller rink on "Blow". Beyoncé and her ladies bounce, hop and of course roller skate as she sings, "I can't wait 'til I get home so you can turn that cherry out". Look for a cameo by Solange as part of her lowrider bike gang.

9. Strippers: She gets super gritty for "No Angel" featuring tattooed, muscled gangsters and their extravagant low rider vehicles as well as...ghetto strippers! Watch for the reverse slow motion of one sliding down the pole with money in the air.

8. Drake: I wasn't sure we would officially see Drake during "Mine". There were flashes of him amongst dancers on the beach so I knew he was there. When he did show up in full frame, I can't lie...my heart fluttered a bit. Look at that face.

7. Salty Looks: Beyoncé perfects the un-amused face during "Ghost". My favorite of all her salty looks (her response to the idea of perfection). Honorable mentions go to "Drunk in Love" while she stands next to husband Jay-Z during his rap and her almost threatening salty looks on "***Flawless".

6. Drunk in Love: Speaking of Jay-Z, "Drunk in Love" is probably the most original love song to come out this year. It's a lyrical tale of passion, in which the two wake up in the kitchen after a wild night of love "like how the hell did this shit happen?" Oh baby! Her adoration for her husband in the video is obvious, and beautiful.

5. Ass: Bootylicious does not begin to describe Beyoncé. The videos are overflowing with curves strapped up in lingerie, bandage dresses and fringe shorts. But no scene takes the "cake" quite like the one in "Partition" (above).

4. Fashion: You can always depend on Beyoncé for a look and she does not disappoint. She appears  in every type of lingerie you could imagine, diamond corsets, showgirl costumes, ghetto grunge, masked, hooded and a leather bustier with a pierced nipple. Even when she is everyday casual for videos like "XO" and "Yoncé" she puts hipsters to shame.

3. A Tribute to Paris: The video for "Partition" is a sexy tribute to Paris. Opening at a French chateau with maids at her service, followed by a casual stroll on the grounds in a trench coat and lingerie and ending up at the famed Crazy Horse. See if you can count how many Christian Louboutin's appear in this one.

2. Haunted: "Haunted" is probably the biggest visual feast on Beyoncé. The singer checks into a quiet hotel and soon discovers the twisted and disturbed occupy every room there. Gas masks, gender flexible men, painted faces, mechanical horses, and younger girls on older men. It borrows heavily from Madonna's Erotica era, but she does it with perfection.

And now, the greatest moment on Beyoncé...

1. Crazy Horse Striptease: Let's go back to Paris and "Partition" and start at exactly two minutes and fifty three seconds. Mrs. Carter performs a private striptease at the Crazy Horse for Jay-Z and commands both his attention and the stage.