B'Day (Beyoncé album)

Background

In 2002, Beyoncé had productive studio sessions while making her debut album, Dangerously in Love, recording up to forty-five songs. After the release of Dangerously in Love in 2003, Beyoncé had planned to produce a follow-up album using several of the left-over tracks. However, on January 7, 2004, a spokesperson for her record label, Columbia, announced that Beyoncé had put her plans on hold in order to concentrate on the recording of Destiny Fulfilled, the final studio album by Destiny's Child, and to sing the US national anthem at the Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston, which was a childhood dream of hers. In late 2005, Beyoncé decided to postpone the recording of her second album because she had landed a lead role in Dreamgirls, a film adaptation of the 1981 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. As she wanted to focus on one project at a time, Beyoncé decided to wait until the movie was completed before returning to the recording studio. Beyoncé later told Billboard magazine, "I'm not going to write for the album until I finish doing the movie."

While having a month-long vacation after filming Dreamgirls, Beyoncé went to the studio to start working on the album. She said, "[When filming ended] I had so many things bottled up, so many emotions, so many ideas," prompting her to begin working without telling her father and then-manager, Mathew Knowles. Beyoncé kept the recording of B'Day somewhat quiet, telling only her artists and repertoire man Max Gousse, and the team of producers they contacted to collaborate for the album. She began working with songwriter-producers Rich Harrison, Rodney Jerkins, Sean Garrett, Cameron Wallace; the Neptunes, Norwegian production duo Stargate, American hip hop producer-rapper Swizz Beatz, and Walter Millsap. Two female songwriters were also included in the production team who helped structure the album: Beyoncé's cousin Angela Beyincé, who had previously collaborated in Dangerously in Love, and up-and-coming songwriter Makeba Riddick, who made her way onto the team after writing "Déjà Vu", the lead single off the album.

Recording and production

Beyoncé rented the Sony Music Studios in New York City, and was influenced by her husband Jay-Z's method of collaborating with multiple record producers; she used four recording studios simultaneously. She booked Harrison, Jerkins and Garrett, each with a room to work in. During the sessions, Beyoncé would move from studio to studio to check her producers' progress, later claiming this fostered "healthy competition" among producers. When Beyoncé conceived a potential song, she would tell the group who would deliberate, and after three hours the song would be created. While Beyoncé and the team brainstormed the lyrics, other collaborators such as the Neptunes, Jerkins and Swizz Beatz would simultaneously produce the tracks. They would sometimes begin working at eleven o'clock, spending up to fourteen hours a day in the studios during the recording process. Beyoncé arranged, co-wrote and co-produced all the songs. Makeba Riddick, in an interview with MTV News, recounted her experience in the production:

[Beyoncé] had multiple producers in Sony Studios. She booked out the whole studio and she had the biggest and best producers in there. She would have us in one room, we would start collaborating with one producer, then she would go and start something else with another producer. We would bounce around to the different rooms and work with the different producers. It was definitely a factory type of process.

B'Day, which is titled as a reference to Beyoncé's birthday, was completed in three weeks, ahead of the originally scheduled six weeks. Swizz Beatz co-produced four songs for the album, the most from a single producer in the team. Beyoncé recorded three songs a day, finishing recording within two weeks. Twenty-five songs were produced for the album; ten of the tracks were selected for the track list, and mastered in early July by Brian "Big Bass" Gardner in Los Angeles.

Music and lyrics

Many of the themes and musical styles of the album were inspired by Beyoncé's role in Dreamgirls. The plot of the film revolves around The Dreams, a fictional 1960s group of three female singers who attempt success in the mainstream music industry with the help of their manager, Curtis Taylor. Beyoncé portrays Deena Jones, the lead singer of the group and the wife of Taylor, and is emotionally abused by him. Because of her role, Beyoncé was inspired to produce an album with an overriding theme of feminism and female empowerment. In the bonus track, "Encore for the Fans", Beyoncé says, "Because I was so inspired by Deena, I wrote songs that were saying all the things I wish she would have said in the film."

B'Day was influenced by a variety of American genres, and, like Beyoncé's previous album, incorporated urban contemporary elements including contemporary R&B and hip hop. Some songs have 1970s and 1980s styles, inspired through record sampling. "Suga Mama", which employs blues-guitar samples from Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers' "Searching for Soul", contains a 1970s funk- and 1980s go-go-influenced melody. "Upgrade U" is sampled from the 1968 Betty Wright song "Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do". "Resentment" used Curtis Mayfield's 1972 "Think (Instrumental)", from the Super Fly soundtrack. "Déjà Vu" has 1970s influence, "Green Light" is a classic groove, and "Get Me Bodied" features twang, a musical style that originated from Texas.

Beyoncé crafted most songs on B'Day through live instrumentation and diverse techniques. This is evident on "Déjà Vu", which utilizes bass guitar, conga, hi-hat, horns and the 808 drum; it also features rap vocals by Jay-Z. In an interview with MTV, Beyoncé said, "When I recorded 'Déjà Vu' [...] I knew that even before I started working on my album, I wanted to add live instruments to all of my songs..." The album's second single "Ring the Alarm" is noted for the use of a siren in its melody. It was called a song that "shows a harder edge to Beyoncé'ss sound". "Freakum Dress" is a crescendo that uses a two-note riff and galloping beats. The song "advises women who have partners with straying eyes to put on sexy dresses and grind on other guys in the club to regain their affections." Meanwhile, the use of the "uh-huh huh huh" vocals and brassy stabs in the song "Green Light" is a direct echo to "Crazy in Love", according to Peter Robinson of The Guardian.

Release and promotion

In collaboration with Sony Urban Music and Music World Music, B'Day was first released outside of North America through Columbia Records on September 4, 2006 to coincide with Beyoncé's 25th birthday. The following day, it was released in North America. Seven months after the release of the original version, an expanded double-disc deluxe edition of the album was released in the United States on April 3, 2007. In addition to the original track listing, the deluxe edition features five new songs, including "Beautiful Liar", a duet with Colombian singer Shakira. The single made Billboard Hot 100 history when it moved ninety-one positions—from number ninety-four to number three—on April 7, 2007. "Amor Gitano" ("Gypsy Love"), a Spanish-language flamenco-pop duet with Mexican singer Alejandro Fernández served as a soundtrack for Telemundo's "El Zorro" telenovela, was included in the deluxe edition, alongside Spanish re-recordings of "Listen" ("Oye"), "Irreplaceable" ("Irreemplazable") and "Beautiful Liar" ("Bello Embustero"). The idea of recording songs in a foreign language emanated from her experience when Destiny's Child collaborated with Alejandro Sanz for "Quisiera Ser" (2000). Beyoncé worked with producer Rudy Perez for these recordings in order to retain the same feeling of the English version of the song into the Spanish translation. The Spanish language EP on the deluxe edition was later released independently under the title Irreemplazable.

B'Day Anthology Video Album was released simultaneously with the deluxe edition; the anthology features thirteen videos including the director's cut of "Listen" and the extended mix of "Get Me Bodied". Most of the videos were accompaniments for the up-tempo tracks on B'Day; which featured retro stylization, use of color and black hair styles, as Beyoncé thought it would create a resemblance between herself and the character she played in Dreamgirls, Deena Jones. The shooting of the videos was completed in two weeks; they were directed by Jake Nava, Anthony Mandler, Melina Matsoukas, Cliff Watts, Ray Kay, Sophie Muller, Diane Martel and Beyoncé. Initially the DVD was available exclusively in Wal-Mart, but was later released to other markets. The Spanish songs were not included on international releases of the deluxe edition, but instead feature the thirteen music videos from the anthology DVD.

Singles

"Déjà Vu", featuring Jay-Z, was released on July 31, 2006, as the album's lead single. "Green Light" was planned to be released as the second single for the international market, but the management opted for "Ring the Alarm" instead, which was released in the United States only. "Irreplaceable" was serviced to international markets as the second international and third overall single from B'Day. "Ring the Alarm" was released on October 3, and became her highest-charting single debut, opening at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100. "Upgrade U", also featuring Jay-Z, was released as a promotional single in November 2006, and reached number fifty-nine on the Hot 100.

The album's third single "Irreplaceable" became the best-selling single in the US in 2007 and the 25th most successful song of the 2000s (decade), according to the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade. "Irreplaceable" became the most successful single to be released from the album, received positive critical reception, and spent ten consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. The single's music video features the debut performance of her all-female band, Suga Mama. "Get Me Bodied" was released on July 10, 2007 as the fifth single. "Get Me Bodied" peaked at number sixty-eight on the Hot 100. The single's accompanying music video features sister Solange Knowles and former Destiny's Child band-mates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams in its 1960s-influenced instructional music video. "Green Light" was released in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2007. Along with the release of the single, the remix EP Green Light: Freemasons EP was released on July 27, 2007 as a digital download.

Tour

In mid-2006, Beyoncé looked for an all-female band for her 2007 tour, The Beyoncé Experience, to promote the album. She held an audition for keyboard players, bassists, guitarists, horn players, percussionists and drummers around the world. Beyoncé named the band Suga Mama. Although the band only consisted of women, both male and female backup dancers performed onstage. As well as singing songs from B'Day, Beyoncé also performed songs from Dangerously in Love and gave a medley of Destiny's Child songs. She embarked on the tour in Japan on April 10, 2007 and concluded it in Tapei, Taiwan on November 12, 2007. At the Los Angeles show Jay-Z and Destiny's Child bandmates Rowland and Williams made guest appearances. Footage from this show was filmed and released on November 20, 2007 as a live album titled The Beyoncé Experience Live.

Critical reception

B'Day received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70, based on 23 reviews. Jody Rosen, writing for Entertainment Weekly, commented that the album's songs "arrive in huge gusts of rhythm and emotion, with Beyoncé's voice rippling over clattery beats". Jonah Weiner of Blender commented that "sweaty up-tempo numbers prove the best platform for Beyoncé's rapperly phrasing and pipe-flaunting fireballs". Andy Kellman of Allmusic felt that, despite "no songs with the smooth elegance" of "Me, Myself and I" or "Be with You", the album is "lean in a beneficial way". The Boston Globe's Sarah Rodman commented that the production team helped Beyoncé "focus on edgier, up-tempo tracks that take her sweet soprano to new places". Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian felt that, "apart from a few pop-R&B space-fillers, there's not much to dislike about B'Day". Robert Christgau from MSN Music said "on most of [the songs] she's wronged yet still in control because she's got so much money" and felt that Beyoncé "earns her props" if "opulence can signify liberation in this grotesquely materialistic time, as in hip-hop it can".

In a mixed review, Jon Pareles of The New York Times found the album "tense, high-strung and obsessive", and said that it was neither "ingratiating or seductive". Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times observed that Beyoncé "heads into a new, more challenging terrain", but "some of the experiments don't click". Although he found the album "solid", Mike Joseph of PopMatters said that "aside from its relatively short running time, it sounds suspiciously under produced". Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone averred that "while the mostly up-tempo disc never lacks for energy, some of the more beat-driven tracks feel harmonically and melodically undercooked, with hooks that don't live up to 'Crazy in Love' or the best Destiny's Child hits". Priya Elan of NME cited only "Freakum Dress" and "Ring the Alarm" as highlights and criticized that "too many tracks sound like updated versions of former glories", with no song on-par with "Crazy in Love".

Accolades

In 2007, B'Day was nominated for five Grammy Awards at the 49th annual ceremony, including Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Ring the Alarm" and Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration"for "Déjà Vu". The Freemasons club mix of "Déjà Vu" without the rap was put forward in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category. B'Day won the award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The following year, B'Day received two Grammy nominations for Record of the Year for "Irreplaceable" and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Beautiful Liar" (with Shakira). The same year, she also received a Grammy nomination for her work on Dreamgirls. In April 2013, Vibe magazine named B'Day the 41st best album since 1993, as well as the greatest party album of the last twenty years.

Commercial performance

Despite an average commercial performance of the album's first two singles, "Déjà Vu" and "Ring the Alarm", B'Day peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, the official albums chart in the United States, on September 23, 2006. The album sold 541,000 units in its first week of release. B'Day was Beyoncé's highest debut week album sales, until it was surpassed by her self-titled fifth album, which sold 617,213 digital copies in its first week. The album gave Beyoncé her second number-one album following Dangerously in Love, which also topped the chart on its debut. This feat was noted by Keith Caulfield of Billboard magazine, surmising that perhaps "its handsome debut was generated by goodwill earned from the performance of her smash first album Dangerously in Love". By the end of 2006, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and became the thirty-eighth best-selling album of that year in the US.

The album's commercial performance was reinforced by the subsequent release of its editions. The release of the deluxe edition helped B'Day re-enter the top ten at number six, gaining 903 percent in sales. On April 16, 2007, the RIAA re-certified B'Day as triple platinum, combining the sales from the original edition of album with those of the deluxe edition. However, B'Day's extended life in the music market has been attributed to the release and eventual success of "Irreplaceable", which is the album's certifiable smash hit. The single, which was released by the end of 2006, helped the album in regaining its strength, having re-entered into the top ten of Billboard 200. As of July 2014, the album has sold 3.4 million copies in the US.

In the United Kingdom, B'Day debuted at number three on September 11, 2007 selling 35,012 copies in its first week. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified B'Day platinum for shipping 300,000 units, and the deluxe edition gold for shipping 100,000 units. As of July 3, 2011, B'Day has sold 385,078 copies in the UK. The album peaked at number three on the European Top 100 Albums, while reaching the top ten in the albums charts of Denmark, Flanders, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. The album reached number two on the Canadian Albums Chart, where it stayed for two weeks and receiving a platinum certification from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). Across Oceania, it had the same reception debuting on Australian Albums Chart and New Zealand Albums Chart both at number eight on the same week, September 11, 2006. B'Day remained on the charts for twenty and twenty-five weeks respectively, and was certified platinum by both the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ). As of September 2013, B'Day had sold 8 million copies worldwide.

Controversy

The cover art for the single "Ring the Alarm" fueled controversy after Beyoncé used alligators during the photo shoot. Beyoncé revealed that using the animal and taping their mouths shut was her idea. PETA, an animal rights organization which had previously confronted her after she had used furs for her fashion line's clothing design, contacted a biologist who later wrote a letter to her, stating "As a specialist in reptile biology and welfare, I'm concerned about your posing with a terrified baby alligator for your new album cover. Humans and alligators are not natural bedfellows, and the two should not mix at events such as photo shoots. In my view, doing so is arguably abusive to an animal."

In 2007, Beyoncé appeared on billboards and newspapers across Australia showing her holding an antiquated cigarette holder. Taken from the back cover of B'Day, the image provoked response from an anti-smoking group, stating that she did not need to add the cigarette holder "to make herself appear more sophisticated". In the same year, three weeks after their release, the deluxe edition and the video anthology DVD were temporarily ceased for retail in stores. A lawsuit was filed for breach of contract of using "Still in Love (Kissing You)", a version of British singer Des'ree's original song "Kissing You". Not intended for the album's inclusion, Des'ree's deal also stipulated that the title of the song was not to be altered, and a video was not to be made. After the infringement case, the re-issued version of the album does not include the track, and instead includes "If" as a replacement. The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in October 2007.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of B'Day.