【搬运】【译】叉婊Pitchfork评Beyonce 2019年单曲《Spirits》
搬运自：微信公众号【评论搬一堆】（在原文基础上添加了英语原文与排版调整）
翻译：Tyler Smith
校对：Nina Wang
排版：Peter D
Along with her role as Nala in the new live-action remake of The Lion King, Beyoncé had the opportunity to create a new song for the soundtrack, one that could stand next to the beloved 1996 compositions crafted by Hans Zimmer and South African composer Lebo M. But ever the overachiever, one track wasn’t enough. The Gift, a standalone full-length album that will feature a wide array of African artists and producers, sounds similar in ethos to Kendrick Lamar’s diaspora-hopping Black Panther album last year. But the first taste of the project, a safe gospel-pop ballad called “Spirit,” doesn’t quite follow through on the international, genre-blending promises that she claims The Gift might offer.
Beyoncé（B局长）在新版《狮子王》中为母狮Nala配音，同时还为电影原声带创作了一首全新歌曲“Spirit”，这首歌完全可以与1996年Hans Zimmer和南非作曲家Lebo M.创作的广受喜爱的原声带比肩。但是想要更胜一筹，一首歌是不足够的。《The Gift》这张独立于电影之外的完整版音乐专辑中有各路非洲艺术家与制作人参与制作。在精神内核方面听起来与Kendrick Lamar去年讲述离散流亡的嘻哈专辑Black Panther相似。但是“Spirit”这首保守的福音流行曲作为专辑的开篇之作，并不太符合B局长所承诺的《The Gift》会呈现的国际化、多流派结合的风格。
“Spirit”开头是两个斯瓦希里语男人的吟唱，这是对于《狮子王》中的角色名字来源于东非语言这一事实的认可。这些声音跟着B局长的声音一路走来，架起了非洲和南美合唱传统的桥梁。但这首歌的趣味也到此为止了，B局长唱起了一些毫无意义的歌词。她用有力的声音唱出：“Watch the light lift your heart up/Burn your flame through the night（看那光亮使你心潮澎湃，在黑夜里燃烧你的熊熊烈焰）,”在副歌开始前她浑厚，深情的声音尽其所能把力量用在每一个单个音符的歌词上，只为达到“uplifting（振奋）”的激励作用，仅此而已。“Spirit”是一首典型的迪士尼歌曲，由大名鼎鼎的LSD组合中的L——Labrinth和与Max Martin有密切合作的Ilya共同制作。这首歌不一定是B局长近来最令人兴奋且大胆的流行单曲，但它最终给人的感觉像是B局长正剑指自己的第一个奥斯卡奖；她确实也实至名归。
“Spirit” opens with two men singing in Swahili, a nod to the fact that Lion King characters hold names that originate in the East African language. These voices follow Beyoncé throughout, bridging choral traditions of Africa and the American South. But that’s where the song’s intrigue stops, as Bey starts singing lyrics that err on the side of meaningless. When she belts, “Watch the light lift your heart up/Burn your flame through the night,” in the pre-chorus, her weighty, soulful voice does its best to carry one-note lyrics that fulfill the prompt of “uplifting” and nothing else. Of course this is literally a Disney song produced by Labrinth—best known for his LSD project with Diplo and Sia—and Ilya, a close collaborator of Max Martin’s; not necessarily the thrilling and daring pop Beyoncé has recently bestowed us with. It ultimately comes across like she’s gunning for her first-ever Oscar. Just let her have it.
