As a Beyoncé fan I find this hard to say, but I find her new album, “4,” to be lacking the certain bit of oomph that really won my heart and ears over since Destiny’s Child.

Beyoncé’s last album guaranteed songs that would make you want to dance, as well as a deep, ballad-type piece thrown in for flavor, but “4” did a complete 180. Don’t get me wrong – these are great ballads, but I don’t listen to Beyoncé to sit and think about love and loss (that’s what I have Mariah Carey for.) I’ve always loved Beyoncé not just because I could dance to her music, but also because the lyrics are great. “4,” however, seemed to be repetitive of not only itself, but also of songs of the past. “Best Thing I Never Had” was, without a doubt, a clone of her 2006 mega-hit “Irreplaceable,” and “End of Time” defiantly gave me a Michael Jackson “Off the Wall” vibe.

Additionally, within the album, the ballads were basically one long continuation of each other, and the songs lost the deep, ‘goose bump’ impact the first one had as it transitioned into the second song, and so on.

To give credit where credit is due, the album has a much more mature sound that shows the growth she has made since the days of “Crazy in Love” and “Check On It,” but really, how mature is Beyoncé’s audience? Of course you have the soccer moms and school teachers, but even then, the appeal of Beyoncé has always been, most defiantly, her ability to start a dance craze (“Single Ladies” hands, anyone?) and none of the songs on “4” really have the necessary appeal. There are a couple of foot-tappers like “Countdown,” but there’s nothing that could make my mom want to break into random dancing.

I think I would be fine with an album of ballads – even from Beyoncé – if the songs had power and depth, like “Listen,” but ballads or not, this album seemed pretty lukewarm. I had high hopes for this album, since Beyoncé is such a strong artist and always brings the wow factor, and in a way, she did with “4”… as in, “wow, this is kind of bad.” Some people are saying that “4” is proof that Beyoncé thinks she has nothing to prove, and I guess that might be true; I’m sure that, since this is Beyoncé, plenty of people will still buy this album. But just because you can put out a lukewarm album and get away with it, should you? So, over all, I give “4” a score of four out of ten. This is definitely not her best work.