Beyoncé (album)

''Beyoncé'' (often stylized in all caps) is the fifth studio album by American singer Beyoncé. The record was released on December 13, 2013, by Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. Developed as a "visual album", its songs are accompanied by non-linear short films that illustrate the musical concepts conceived during production. Its dark, intimate subject material includes feminist themes of sex, monogamous love, and relationship issues, inspired by Beyoncé's desire to assert her full creative freedom.

The album's initial recording began in New York City, where Beyoncé invited producers and songwriters to live with her for a month. During extensive touring the following year, the album changed as she conceived of creating a visual accompaniment to its songs and resumed recording sessions with electronic producer and rock musician Boots. Their collaboration led to more sonically experimental material, which combined contemporary R&B with electronic and soul music. Throughout this period, the album's songs and videos were composed in strict secrecy as Beyoncé devised an unexpected release.

''Beyoncé'' was released digitally on the iTunes Store without prior announcement or promotion, and debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200, earning Beyoncé her fifth consecutive number-one album on the chart. The album sold over 617,000 copies in the United States and 828,773 copies worldwide in its first three days of sales, becoming the fastest-selling album in the history of the iTunes Store up to that point. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), ''Beyoncé'' was globally the tenth-best-selling album of 2013. The album was reissued in November 2014 as part of a platinum edition, along with an extended play of new songs, and has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. Part of the album was promoted on The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour during the 2014 legs.

''Beyoncé'' received widespread acclaim from critics upon release who praised its production, exploration of sexuality, vocal performance, as well as the album's surprise release strategy which was subsequently replicated by many artists. In 2020, ''Beyoncé'' was ranked 81st in ''Rolling Stone'''s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Background and development

Following the release of her fourth studio album '' 4'' (2011), Beyoncé gave birth to her first child, Blue Ivy on January 7, 2012. Just four months after labor, she pursued a three-night residency at Revel Atlantic City's Ovation Hall, entitled Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live. The choice to hold concerts so soon was purposeful; Beyoncé intended to demonstrate to mothers that they need not halt their careers despite having had children. Most of the summer following the residency was spent in The Hamptons, New York, where she took time out from the public to spend time with her daughter and to begin sessions for her next album. She resumed work in early 2013, performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at President Barack Obama's second inauguration and headlining the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, where there were expectations she would debut new music, although these rumors never materialized. She also released a self-directed autobiographical documentary in February, entitled '' Life Is But a Dream''.

In March 2013, a two-part hip hop track entitled "Bow Down/I Been On" was released onto Beyoncé's SoundCloud account. "Bow Down", produced by Hit-Boy, was written after Beyoncé woke up one morning with a chant stuck in her head, feeling angry and defensive. This was melded with a Timbaland-produced second half "I Been On" that makes prominent use of a pitch-distorted vocal as a homage to the Houston hip hop scene. Michael Cragg of ''The Guardian'' described the song as "brilliantly odd", commending its loud, abrasive production, while ''Pitchfork''s Lindsay Zoladz noted the song's assertiveness and believed it served as an introduction of what was to come. "Bow Down/I Been On" was perceived as a significant departure from Beyoncé's existing catalogue, particularly for its aggressive nature. The song's atmosphere and its controversial "Bow down, bitches" refrain drew a mixed reaction from those who questioned whether the lyric was aimed at women or merely a moment of braggadocio. Beyoncé clarified after the album's release, where elements of "Bow Down" appear on the track " Flawless", that the song and its refrain were intended as a statement of female empowerment.

Neither Beyoncé or her representatives commented on the release of "Bow Down/I Been On", and many journalists questioned the nature of its release in the context of the release of her upcoming album. Further confusion was created when portions of other tracks "Grown Woman" and "Standing on the Sun" were used for television advertising campaigns, with a similar lack of explanation as to their purpose. Through much of 2013, the media intermittently reported that the album was delayed or scrapped, with one story alleging Beyoncé had scrapped fifty songs in favor of starting again. In July 2013, a spokesperson for Beyoncé denied speculation that her album had been delayed, stating there was no official release date to begin with and that when a date is set, it would be announced via an official press release. There was considerable confusion among music journalists and fans as Beyoncé engaged in extensive touring, while not discussing the album or its release.

Recording and production

Recording sessions began in the summer of 2012 in the Hamptons, New York, where Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z were living. She invited producers and songwriters to accompany them, including Sia, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and The-Dream. Beyoncé described the atmosphere as unconventional, saying, "we had dinners with the producers every day, like a family ... it was like a camp. Weekends off. You could go and jump in the pool and ride bikes ... the ocean and grass and sunshine ... it was really a safe place." She would spend the majority of her day with her newborn daughter, taking some hours out to record music. The album's opening track "Pretty Hurts", co-written by Sia, was completed during these sessions. The project was suspended until 2013 and relocated to Jungle City and Oven Studios in New York City, where most of the album was recorded. In an interview for ''Vogue'' in January 2013, Jason Gay described Beyoncé's attention to detail as "obsessive" when observing her studio, noting the vision boards she created for inspiration, which contained potential song titles, old album covers and pictures of performances.

In mid-2013, a relatively unknown artist Boots, signed a publishing deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation. In an interview for ''Pitchfork'' after the album's release, Boots was coy when answering questions about how Beyoncé discovered his demo or of his work previous to the project, only confirming his signing. In June 2013, they met in person for the first time and Boots presented Beyoncé with material he felt would resonate with her. However, Beyoncé was more interested in his experimental material, and he reluctantly played her his song "Haunted" on his cellphone. She refused to ignore its potential. At a later meeting, he played her a stream of consciousness rap called "Ghost", which he wrote after an exasperating meeting with a potential record label. Boots began by composing a melody that reminded him of a hypnotic state, then layering guitar arpeggios to resemble the work of English electronic musician Aphex Twin. Subsequently, "Ghost" became the first half of "Haunted"; he later described Beyoncé as the "only visionary in the room" for her ability to find potential in scraps of songs. Following these sessions, Boots would go on to work on eighty percent of ''Beyoncé''.

While recording in New York City, the previously released "Bow Down" was incorporated into a track that became "Flawless". During its composition, Beyoncé chose to interpolate a portion of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED talk "We Should All Be Feminists" into it as she identified with her interpretations of feminism. Organic approaches were taken when writing and recording "Drunk in Love" and "Partition". When working with Detail and Timbaland on a beat that became "Drunk in Love", she was inspired by what she described as pure enjoyment, as both she and Jay-Z free-styled their verses for the track in the studio. Similarly, the bassline of " Partition", which Beyoncé found reminiscent of hip hop music during her early romance with Jay-Z, influenced her to accompany the track with sexual lyrics. She took to a microphone without pen and paper and rapped the first verse, finding herself initially embarrassed by the explicitness of the lyrics. When composing "Partition", a rap known as "Yoncé" was used as the opening of the track, the beat of which was built by Justin Timberlake banging on buckets in the studio.

Only four songs were not recorded entirely in New York studios: "Superpower" and "Heaven", which were partially recorded in California, as well as " No Angel" which was composed in London and "XO" in Berlin and Sydney. Although the demo of "XO" was recorded when Beyoncé had contracted a sinus infection, the vocals were never re-recorded as she felt their imperfections fit more appropriately. In October, the album began taking shape and "Standing on the Sun" and "Grown Woman" were removed—songs which had been previewed in 2013 on television advertisements—from ''Beyoncé'' to fit in with its minimalist approach. During Thanksgiving week, the vocals on the album were edited and producers were notified to submit their final cuts. Beyoncé spent less time on vocal production than she had done with her previous projects, instead focusing on perfecting the album's music. ''Beyoncé'' was mastered at Sterling Sound in New York City. In total, eighty songs were recorded for the album.

Visuals

Beyoncé first considered the idea of creating a "visual album" in June 2013, when only three or four songs had been completed. Explaining her motivation, she said she would often connect images, childhood memories, emotions and fantasies to songs she was in the midst of composing, and that she "wanted people to hear the songs with the story that's in my head as that's what makes it mine". She highlighted the immersive experience of Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'' (1982) as the principal influence for creating a body of work that "people would hear things differently and ... actually be able to see the whole vision of the album".

The videos were filmed between June and November 2013 in various countries as the singer traveled on her world tour. Todd Tourso, who directed the videos for "Jealous" and "Heaven", served as the creative director for the entire project. Much of his role concerned liaising between Beyoncé, who for most videos already had concepts, and the respective directors who also had propositions. As most videos were shot outside of the US, the crew surrounding the videos was small, consisting only of Tourso, the director of photography and producer, as well as Beyoncé and her stylist, make-up artist and security. When filming in public, Beyoncé would wear in-ear headphones instead of having the music played out loud, in order to maintain the secrecy of the project and prevent any songs leaking. By the time of post-production, the songwriting process began to converge with the content of the visuals and Beyoncé would watch unedited footage to fit the music to them. "Flawless", "Rocket" and "Mine" were noted as having been changed by their visual counterparts, Tourso commenting that "she would rewrite some lines, or she would add certain audio, or she would add bridges" and believed that "it would complete the picture of where the audio needed to go".

Several videos were intended to demonstrate the album's central theme of "finding the beauty in imperfection". While working on "Flawless", Beyoncé was reminded of her loss on television competition ''Star Search'' as a child, which she saw as a defining moment in her career, and believed that the competition had taught her how to embrace imperfection in the future. The theme was represented in the videos by the recurring use of trophies, which the singer saw as referencing "all of the sacrifice I have made as a kid, all of the time that I lost". It was also carried into how the visuals were created, with the videos for "Drunk in Love", "Yoncé", "No Angel", "XO" and "Blue" shot without prior preparation, as the singer found enjoyment in the spontaneity of the filming locations and in resisting the urge to perfect them. Noting some of the visuals' explicit content and exposure of her body, Beyoncé said she found shooting them liberating and expressed her intention to demonstrate sexuality as a power that women should have, and not lose after becoming a mother. She went on to say, "I know finding my sensuality, getting back into my body, being proud of growing up, it was important to me that I expressed that ... I know that there are so many women who feel the same way".

Music and lyrics

''Beyoncé'' is a fourteen track set with seventeen short films: a video for each audio track, two extra videos to accompany the two-part tracks "Haunted" and "Partition", as well as a bonus video for "Grown Woman", which lacks an equivalent audio counterpart. Departing from the traditional R&B leanings of its predecessor, ''4'' (2011), ''Beyoncé''s songs are predominantly alternative R&B. Hence, musically, the album may be located in the post-dubstep era, fusing electronic music with R&B and soul. The album's dark, moody production is more textured than previous releases and songs are characterized by heavy bass and loud hi-hats, as well as prominent synthesizers. A quality of restraint features among most songs "with subdued pulses, ambient effects and throbbing grooves that sneak up on you, threatening to explode but only occasionally transforming".

The album adopts unconventional song structure and as Evan Rytlewski of ''The A.V. Club'' notes, many songs " mphasizemoody, shifting beats and drawn-out vibe sessions" and are left to slowly unfurl. This is particularly prominent on "Haunted" and "Partition" which function as two-part suites. The dream-like state created on "Haunted" is ushered in with a stream of consciousness rap entitled "Ghost" which transitions from "smoky ethereality to off-kilter club beat", amid a shifting bassline and ghostly keyboards. "Partition" begins with "Yoncé", a slick rap set over a simple Middle Eastern rhythm. The song is divided by a brief interlude of camera clicks and the whirring of a car window, before launching into a second-half that melds synthesizer pulses with finger snaps to create a Southern hip hop bassline. Over this, the song follows a candid narrative that describes sex in the back of a limousine when travelling to a nightclub.

Several critics noted the album's extensive exploration of sexuality. Having been a singer since the age of nine, Beyoncé felt "stifled" by the perception she was a role model for young children, and now into her thirties, believed she had "earned the right to ... express any and every side of erelf". Addressing the album's sexual content specifically, Beyoncé said: "I don't at all have any shame about being sexual and I'm not embarrassed about it and I don't feel like I have to protect that side of me." Several critics described ''Beyoncé''s sex songs as a celebration of monogamous love. "Drunk in Love" is a duet with her husband Jay-Z, and features lyrics heavily laden with double entendres that explore lust within their sexual relationship. It fuses intermittent trap beats with heavy bass, skittering synthesizers and drums, and Arabic-scale vocal arpeggios. Beyoncé's vocals are diverse, including a melodramatic chorus sung in her upper register and a half-rapped second verse. "Blow" veers from a thumping jazz beat created with sparse piano chords and guitars to a "swinging electro-funk groove" with elements of neo-disco. Its erotic, tongue-in-cheek lyrics include a running cunnilingus metaphor of "licking Skittles" in its chorus. The slow-jam "Rocket" is a homage to D'Angelo's soul-infused "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" (2000). Described by ''Entertainment Weekly''s Nick Catucci as a "slippery, six-and-a-half-minute funk excursion", Beyoncé adopts a slow, harmonious vocal as she instructs her love interest to watch her perform a striptease.

Much like her previous albums, the record is feminist, with greater exploration of gender issues and conflated with "an unwavering look at black female sexual agency". Soraya McDonald of ''The Washington Post'' viewed ''Beyoncé'' as significant to black feminism as it celebrates black female sexuality in mainstream music and in the context of hip hop, where it is typically only shown through the male perspective. The album's most explicit commentary on gender is the three-part "Flawless". It opens with the earlier released "Bow Down", before seguing into an excerpt of a speech by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the socialization of girls. The final part uses a staccato, trap beat as Beyoncé reflects on her own feminist attitudes, encouraging self-acceptance among women and criticizing misogynist sentiments.

Other songs allude to darker themes of fear and personal insecurities. Beyoncé noted that the album displayed "sides of erthat only a few people had seen", adding that "all of us want happiness ... sometimes you have to take the insecurities to get to the secure place. And all of those things I feel happy to express". Caitlin White of '' The 405'' believed the songs as "hold forth on the most important issues in a woman's life by delving into he singer'spersonal experience with them". "Jealous" addresses fidelity and features lyrics in which the protagonist experiences "promises, suspicion and potential revenge". It contains an "uncanny mix of tones and styles", most prominently a morose bassline replete with electronic yelps. "Mine", a futuristic R&B song with jazz elements, is self-reflective, with lyrics that reference marital strife and difficulties with postnatal depression. The neo soul song "Pretty Hurts" is a self-empowerment anthem that decries society's obsession with harmful and unattainable standards of beauty. The song uses audio snippets of beauty pageants which Beyoncé contested in to frame the song in the context of her childhood.

''Beyoncé''s vocal production is diverse; several songs are half-rapped and half-sung with particular use of falsetto and head voice. ''The Telegraph''s Neil McCormick notes that while the singer uses her expansive vocal range, unlike her previous releases, she restrains from belting and vocal runs as to increase tension in the music. "No Angel", a chillwave song with influences of minimalist hip hop music, is noted for its use of the falsetto vocal register, with a delivery that is "threatening to fray". The doo wop-inspired duet with Frank Ocean "Superpower" is sung in the lower register of both singers, while employing girl group harmonies similar to Beyoncé's work in Destiny's Child. The love song "XO" uses several vocal techniques to evoke a celebration of love and life, including echo and several hooks. Its ascending chorus lines use call and response, as well as backing vocals of a sing-along crowd, as Beyoncé sings of how her "darkest nights" are enlightened by her lover's face. The album's closing tracks are midtempo ballads "Heaven" and "Blue". "Heaven" is an emotive, piano-led hymn with gospel elements, while "Blue" is built on a piano melody over which Beyoncé sings of the love for her daughter, using her full vocal range.

Artwork, release and promotion

Throughout 2013, Beyoncé worked on the project in strict secrecy, sharing details of the album with a small circle of people and continually shifting the deadline, which was only finalized a week before its release. She later explained that her intent was to reinstate the idea of an album release as a significant, exciting event that had lost meaning in the face of hype created around singles.

Tourso and his small team of designers were tasked with designing ''Beyoncé''s album cover, which he found difficult considering it was a visual album and thus "inundated with imagery". Over three months he considered over a hundred options, only to proceed with his very first idea. He was inspired by the cover of Metallica's eponymous fifth studio album (1991) to create a bold statement, specifically to deviate from a "beauty shot" of Beyoncé which he felt would be expected. They used a font similar to placards used in boxing matches to represent abrasive masculinity, which was contrasted by the greyish-pink font which they described as "a subversion of femininity".

In early December 2013, Beyoncé and her management company Parkwood Entertainment held meetings concerning its release with executives from Columbia Records and the iTunes Store, using the code name "Lily" for the album. Meetings were also held with Facebook executives in regard to advertising that resulted in the album benefiting from the social network's then new "Auto Play" feature for videos. On December 9, 2013, Rob Stringer, Chairman of Columbia Records, knowingly told media that the album would be released at some point in 2014 and it would be "monumental". On December 13, 2013, the album was released in the early hours of the morning without any prior announcement or promotion exclusively on the iTunes Store. The singer commented that she was "bored" of her music being marketed as it had been done previously, and wanted its release to be a different experience for her fans. The album was available exclusively on iTunes Stores until December 20, 2013, when physical copies were distributed to other retailers. Parkwood Entertainment had a seventy-two-hour turnaround from the moment the album was released online to prepare its physical release.

As soon as the album became exclusively available to iTunes Stores, Sony Music handed down an edict that forbade retailers to put the album up for pre-order, as to further protect the exclusivity with the iTunes Store. It was then reported that American retailers Target and Amazon Music refused to sell the physical copies of the album. According to a Target spokesperson, the store was only interested in retailing albums that were released digitally and physically simultaneously. On December 21, 2013, all the videos from the album were screened at the SVA Theater in New York City.

After the album's release, Beyoncé performed "XO" during the remaining stops of the North American leg of The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in December 2013. In early 2014, she performed "Drunk in Love" for the first time at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards on January 26. " XO"'s first televised performance was at the 2014 BRIT Awards on February 19, marking her first performance at the ceremony since the one held in 2004. Later that month, songs from the album were added to the set list of the second European leg of The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. All the music videos from the album were screened at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival on June 13 along with commentary from three of the videos' directors who were present at the ceremony. To further promote the album, Beyoncé embarked on her first co-headlining stadium tour with Jay-Z. The On the Run Tour kicked off in Miami on June 25, 2014, and ended in Paris on September 13, 2014. A pre-recorded performance of "Partition" from the tour was broadcast at the 2014 BET Awards on June 29. Beyoncé performed a sixteen-minute medley of the album's songs at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards on August 24.

On December 12, 2014, just about one year after the release of ''Beyoncé'', a short film entitled ''Yours and Mine'' was uploaded to Beyoncé's website and to YouTube. The entirely black and white spoken-word film, which features behind-the-scenes footage and repurposed imagery from the music videos of ''Beyoncé'', was described as "a retrospective short film celebrating the one-year anniversary of the self-titled visual album".

Singles

Two lead singles were released from ''Beyoncé''. " XO" impacted contemporary hit radio in Italy and hot adult contemporary radio in the United States on December 16, 2013. The following day, it impacted urban contemporary, rhythmic contemporary and contemporary hit radio stations in the United States. "XO" peaked at number forty-five on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached the top twenty in charts around the world.

Accompanying the release of "XO", the other lead single " Drunk in Love" was serviced to urban contemporary radio stations in the United States on December 17, 2013. It peaked at number two on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number one on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Rhythmic charts. "Drunk in Love" also peaked at number seven in New Zealand and number nine in France and the United Kingdom. The song was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting sales of one million digital copies.

" Partition" impacted urban contemporary radio in the United States on February 25, 2014, as the album's third single. It peaked at number twenty-three on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number one on the US Dance Club Songs.

On April 24, 2014, the music video for the fourth single "Pretty Hurts" was made available for streaming via ''Time'' magazine's official website to accompany Beyoncé's feature as one of the world's most influential people. The song impacted contemporary hit and rhythmic radio in the United States on June 10, 2014 and contemporary hit radio in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2014.

" Flawless" was released as the fifth and final single from the album. Its remix, featuring Nicki Minaj, was released on August 12, 2014.

Critical reception

''Beyoncé'' received widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received a high score of 85, based on 34 reviews. Critics generally commended the album as thematically and musically bold, as well as emphasizing its visual aspect and surprise release; many said it was her ''magnum opus''. Summarizing the album for ''Pitchfork'', Jillian Mapes calls ''Beyoncé'' "MJ-level talent met pop-perfectionism in a moment that defined album-cycle disruption nda victory lap Bey took as pop feminism's reigning goddess".

The album's exploration of sexuality was particularly well received by reviewers. ''The New York Times'' chief critic Jon Pareles

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