If you look up old reviews on RottenTomatoes.com, several movie critics panned 1993’s Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, but for many music lovers and those of a certain age, the film about a spirited Vegas performer who goes undercover to whip rebellious high school students into shape at the convent that once sheltered her is an entertaining, heartwarming comedy with a bangin’ soundtrack that’s now perfect 90’s nostalgia. In my opinion, it’s one of the few sequels that’s better than its original (like Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, another movie I adore from my childhood). The usual penetrating light of the incomparable Whoopi Goldberg is wonderfully complimented by the colorful and musically-gifted youth cast, who were then unknowns (I’ll give some cast updates in a moment). One might assume that a movie so fun wouldn’t have takeaways that would stand any test of time, but there were even subtle things beyond the plot that stuck with me. So, in recognition of its 20th anniversary (can’t believe it’s been that long; I feel old), here are the cool-and kind of deep things- I learned and loved from Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.

An Extended Vocabulary
Thanks to this film, I had an impressive vocabulary at age 8. I picked up all kinds of stuff from scenes with the Afro-centric Ahmal (Ryan Toby), dorky Tyler Chase (Christian Fitzharris) and Delores Van Cartier, A.K.A. Sister Mary Clarence (Goldberg). I told my mother we didn’t have to buy tissue anymore if we put in a bidet, a toilet basin used to clean your privates after you’ve used the restroom (Mary Clarence funnily assumes the nuns got her one to snazzy-up her humble quarters). I often told my brother to extricate himself expeditiously from my room (Tyler:" the question at hand is how do we get this nun to extricate herself from us quickly and expeditiously?"). I learned the definition and proper pronunciation of anecdote (Rita: “I'm sorry I don't have any cute stories or antidotes to tell you.” Ahmal: “Anec, anecdote.”  Rita: “Ahmal, shut up, mind your business”) and realized the meaning of the tabloid title, National Enquirer (Sketch: “Sister Mary Clarence said you quit the choir.” Maria: “Inquiring minds want to know”). The teens were in a music class, but there was science and multicultural studies involved: “fusion” was applied to glue Mary Clarence to her chair and Ahmal described his parents as “assimilationist” for giving him the more American name of Wesley vs. an African one like Ahmal. I don’t think my mom expected me to learn about human reproduction: Maria’s messed up mascara reminded Ahmal of the Mangbetu tribe’s ‘signs of fertility.’ There was also a tidbit of criminology. Mary Clarence berates the students for conceding to their cold feet before a live performance, saying “That's ya’ll’s M.O. See, that's how y'all operate—Ooh, something new; better run away." M.O. is Latin for modus operanti. The English translation is “method of operation,” used in criminology to describe the behavioral patterns of serial perpetrators. When that was explained in a college course, I thought “that’s what Mary Clarence meant!” My friend personally connected to the scene where Father Maurice called Mary Clarence “insubordinate” (defiant of authority; disobedient to orders) because his principal called him that multiple times.

Last but not least, I discovered 2 words that are my favorite to this day: plethora (Ahmal: “I'm sure we'll have a plethora of other opportunities”) and eclectic. Remember that scene where Mary Clarence says she’s “eclectic?” I love it; it’s one of my favorites. Margaret (Jennifer Love Hewitt) asks what the word means and Frankie (Devin Kamin), thinking he’s smarter than everyone, says “It’s when you plug your box in the wall and it gives you power, stupid." Ahmal, his somewhat rival, snaps back with “Not electric, eclectic. Stupid.” Finally, Mary Clarence: “What I mean is I like lots of different types of music.” Being the music nerd I was (and future music blogger), I definitely took the word the heart. 

History
Ahmal cites Paul Laurence Dunbar and Shaka Zulu to uplift his peers and Mary Clarence hands Rita a book by Rainer Maria Wilke. Dunbar, a son of newly freed slaves, was a poet known for his dialect writings. Shaka Zulu was an African warrior king who’s military and ruling approaches are praised, criticized and analyzed, due to their both innovative and violent nature. Wilke is considered in literary history as one of the most enchanting visionaries, focused on existentialism at the heart of a transitioning period in poetry between the traditional and modernist eras.

Album Review.
Likes: Pretty Hurts, Haunted, XO, Superpower, Heaven, Blue
Dislikes: Drunk in Love, Partition, Flawless
Overall: Didn’t like it. It’s “I Am…Sasha Fierce” again-half substance, half useless. Great musical production.

After a whole year of watching, waiting and wondering, Beyonce` crept in like Santa Clause a little after midnight and released her new self-titled album for immediate download on ITunes (reportedly, physical copies will be available in stores December 20th). Yep, Beyonce` dropped an album out of nowhere with NO preliminary promotion, sending social media and late night news into a frenzy, saying in a press release that she was “bored” with the usual way of unveiling records. Conceptually branded as a “visual album,” the project comes with accompanying music videos and a mature content warning (mainly because of lyrics, but I’ll get to that). In terms of marketing, everything is very cool, exciting, unique and cutting edge, but is the actual album that way? Kind of, sort of, maybe.

The musical production is simply thrilling and spellbinding; if your dreams, reveries and drunken stupors had a soundtrack, “Beyonce`” would be it. Adding to the shadowy, phantasm-like experience are thoroughly enjoyable, naturally altering mid-song transitions, featuring real-life snippets from home movies. The song topic sometimes changes with the music too, keeping attention. Tracks that multi-task; how about that? Aside from some R&B and hip-hop back beats, “Beyonce`” is practically genre-less, which is always interesting (the production team includes Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Tedder, Boots, Pharrell and Knowles herself). Vocally, Bey stays in a warm, middle spot, generally refraining from her usual riffs and runs (it’s up to you whether you think that’s negative or positive; I’m indifferent) and keeping her trademark harmony layers. Where things fall very far and short is in the lyrics department. There are definite winners (like the Frank Ocean co-penned “Superpower”), but most don’t finish the expedition they go on or they’re just written poorly. Some of these songs function like a story-book with the middle torn out; the starting details are where the whole song finishes. For example on “No Angel,” Beyonce`’s man is (assumingly) disappointed that she isn’t perfect and she kind of drives him crazy. That’s it. What is the “something complicated” that she says she is and also concludes he secretly likes? Why is he “no angel either?” Do their individual faults cause toxicity between them? There was plenty to explore, but instead the repetitively-lined chorus was drawn out and the verses were brief. Others cuts have hardly any lyrical value at all, like the already-popular and Twitter trending “Drunk in Love (likely a favorite because its catchy, thumping music; Bey wasn’t horrible at rapping, by the way),” which is quite literally about being drunk and screwing the night away. Additional cracks at being sexy oddly fail, depending on your definition of the term, which to me, doesn’t include crudeness. Beyonce`, of all artists was crude, with statements such as “He Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown (from “Partition,” which was covered in tawdriness),” “Turn that cherry out” (of “Blow”) and an unnecessary abundance of expletives throughout the record. Although “Rocket” brings D’Angelo’s timelessly sultry “Untitled (How Does it Feel)” to mind, it’s mostly plain execution and overused waterfall metaphors put it on the Kmart versions of “Speechless (from Beyonce`’s 2003 solo debut, “Dangerously in Love”)” list. Beyonce` hasn’t really expressed sexuality with the same illustrative, poetic and sensual sophistication that leaves something to the imagination since “Speechless.” On that note, it’s surprising that sex-especially tacky sex-would be a focal point of her album after building an entire platform not concentrated such, which many respect her for.

“Beyonce`” for me is like a more disorganized, slightly weaker “I Am…Sasha Fierce,” taking its place as my least favorite solo album from her (in fact, I never thought I’d see the day where I’d be so close to disliking one of her albums). It reminds me of “IASF” because half of it has some substance to it, while the other half serves as evidence to those who doubt her capacities (as a fan, the feeding of doubts is most frustrating because I know and have heard her do/write better). The track order doesn’t help because the mid-section is where most of the dimmer moments are and by the time you get to a brighter succession (“XO” is one of my favorite songs; it makes you think of the sweetest, most innocent minute of your love life), you’re brain is fried and you don’t want to take anymore.

Since the music videos are to be considered part of the album, I need to discuss them. Some are pulling, nicely done and give an unanticipated context to the songs. The video for “Jealous” presents a double-meaning; Bey is singing about being jealous and unfulfilled in a relationship, but in the video, she hints at being jealous of the ability of the non-famous to not always be a spectacle. “Partition” is a little less obnoxious, as it gives the viewpoint of a conservative woman wanting to show her mate a different side of her he’s not expecting. The body-image tale of “Pretty Hurts” is the best vignette in my opinion. Destiny’s Child makes an appearance in “Superpower” and Jay-Z in featured in multiple clips.

Collectively, I’m not sure what Beyonce` wanted me to gather from this album. It’s kind of confusing. Musically, it’s apparent the intent is to be raw without having a goal of charting or sales, but the holes in the writing and vapid plops among attractive rhythms say othwerwise. To a degree, “Beyonce`,” seems mixed, matched and slapped together. I’m really curious to hear other songs that didn’t make the final cut. When you think about the initial stylistically-similar tracks, “Standing on the Sun” and “Grown Woman” (heard in Beyonce’s Pepsi and H&M ads), it makes you wonder if the album had a completely different direction at first. Oh, and where is “God Made You Beautiful (available with the purchase of her HBO documentary DVD)?”  What’s crystal clear to me is that, like Beyonce` reiterated on “Haunted,” she’s bored. Good artists don’t get complacent and she’s trying to challenge herself by going into unchartered waters. However, because she’s a perfectionist, she tries too hard to top herself and sometimes bypasses what’s right in front of her.  Instead of taking the obvious, typical sexuality, hard language and controversial route to shake things up, she should’ve went personal. Afterall, the album is self-titled (what’s up with so many artists falling into the post-debut self-titled album jinx?). There were 4 instant topics between “Haunted” and “Mine ft. Drake,” that she could’ve elaborated on: the music business (“I don't trust these record labels”), feeling lost (“Took a trip to clear my mind, now I'm even more lost”), marriage and motherhood (“Been having conversations about breakups and separations, I'm not feeling like myself since the baby”). These items she merely touched on are things many can relate to or would like to hear her perspective about. For that matter, she could’ve turned her whole HBO special into a record, as she openly discussed a prior miscarriage, finding purpose, spirituality and familial affairs. “Beyonce`” could’ve been a really compelling tear-jerker of an album, but shoulda’, coulda’ woulda’, I guess. An album with Rihanna-tasting tracks (ex. Partition) was the follow-up to the lovely, throwback-flavored, love every-other -track-if-not-all “4.” Didn’t see that coming. 

Album Review.
Likes: Perfume, Till It’s Gone, Passenger
Dislikes: Work B****,
Overall: Decent lyrics, less annoyingly repetitive techno, but nothing memorable

First off, the good things. “Britney Jean,” the 8th album from pop priestess Britney Spears, is not as much of a disaster as I thought it was going to be, especially in comparison to the previous “Femme Fatale.” There’s much less predictably-patterned techno-pop, the lyrics actually have some meaning and Spears gave us the thicker, deeper vocals that we heard on her debut album 14 years ago, which I consider to be her “true voice” (it’s so different from the squeaky baby tone most are familiar with, it makes you wonder if that style of singing was forced upon her or more strongly encouraged). Speaking of vocals, Spears’ younger sister and former Nickelodeon star, Jamie Lynn, makes such an inviting appearance on “Chillin’ with You,” I honestly wanted to hear more from her (it also temporarily distracted from the annoying trap chorus beat).

Let me get back and elaborate on the lyrics for a moment. Are “Jean’s” songs the best-written of all time? No, but there are a few that are conceptually interesting and have a certain sadness that amiably reminds me of 2008’s “Circus.” On “Perfume,” Spears wants to make sure that the woman she’s displeased to be sharing her man with knows she exists by blatantly leaving her fragrance in the mist. “Passenger” goes on a topical path rarely taken, as it discusses how tiresome it is to always back yourself and the relief that comes with feeling safe enough with someone to relinquish control. “Hold on Tight,” a deluxe track, is fantasy piece that rides a delicate balance between fairytale romance and erotica. The other 3 deluxe tracks (which include a remix of “Perfume”) aren’t the most danceable tunes, but they’re much needed to make the album feel more complete. Without them, “Britney Jean” would sound like a worthless EP. There are plenty of positives, but the 1 negative about this record is quite important. In my review for the 1st single, “Work B****,” I expressed my worry that there wouldn’t be anything definitively Britney or influential on the finished product, especially since the album was going to be self-titled. I had reason to be concerned. Although “Britney Jean” is stronger in content and musically falls more in line with Spears’ preceding work than “Femme Fatale,” there isn’t anything unforgettable about it. When reading song titles to make notes, I had to refresh my memory on what they sounded like.  Nothing was stuck in my head afterward. Nothing struck me as the “next Britney classic.” There was nothing as infectious or reeking of pop-culture sap as “Baby One More Time,” “Oops, I Did it Again,” “Slave 4 U,” “Toxic,” “Gimme More” or “Womanizer.” Even as exasperating as “Till the World Ends” is, it’s embedded in my subconscious. “Passenger” may not be a commercial single, but because of its matter, it’s the best thing about “Britney Jean.”

Once again, the irony of a self-titled album post-debut rears its ugly head. If I wanted to make a statement about what the name “Britney Jean” means in the music-sphere, this wouldn’t be the album I’d form. The record is like a house in transition; the foundation is there and concrete, but the walls aren’t up yet. It’s missing those key things to make an overwhelmingly great impression.