搬運(yùn)自：微信公眾號(hào)【評論搬一堆】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語原文與排版調(diào)整）

翻譯：Tyler Smith

校對：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局長）在新版《獅子王》中為母獅Nala配音，同時(shí)還為電影原聲帶創(chuàng)作了一首全新歌曲“Spirit”，這首歌完全可以與1996年Hans Zimmer和南非作曲家Lebo M.創(chuàng)作的廣受喜愛的原聲帶比肩。但是想要更勝一籌，一首歌是不足夠的。《The Gift》這張獨(dú)立于電影之外的完整版音樂專輯中有各路非洲藝術(shù)家與制作人參與制作。在精神內(nèi)核方面聽起來與Kendrick Lamar去年講述離散流亡的嘻哈專輯Black Panther相似。但是“Spirit”這首保守的福音流行曲作為專輯的開篇之作，并不太符合B局長所承諾的《The Gift》會(huì)呈現(xiàn)的國際化、多流派結(jié)合的風(fēng)格。

“Spirit”開頭是兩個(gè)斯瓦希里語男人的吟唱，這是對于《獅子王》中的角色名字來源于東非語言這一事實(shí)的認(rèn)可。這些聲音跟著B局長的聲音一路走來，架起了非洲和南美合唱傳統(tǒng)的橋梁。但這首歌的趣味也到此為止了，B局長唱起了一些毫無意義的歌詞。她用有力的聲音唱出：“Watch the light lift your heart up/Burn your flame through the night（看那光亮使你心潮澎湃，在黑夜里燃燒你的熊熊烈焰）,”在副歌開始前她渾厚，深情的聲音盡其所能把力量用在每一個(gè)單個(gè)音符的歌詞上，只為達(dá)到“uplifting（振奮）”的激勵(lì)作用，僅此而已?！癝pirit”是一首典型的迪士尼歌曲，由大名鼎鼎的LSD組合中的L——Labrinth和與Max Martin有密切合作的Ilya共同制作。這首歌不一定是B局長近來最令人興奮且大膽的流行單曲，但它最終給人的感覺像是B局長正劍指自己的第一個(gè)奧斯卡獎(jiǎng)；她確實(shí)也實(shí)至名歸。

“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.