Irreemplazable

Background and promotion

Growing up in Houston, Texas, Beyoncé was surrounded by the Spanish language, and learned some Spanish as a child, which she later forgot. When re-recording songs for Irreemplazable, Beyoncé's vocal coach provided the Spanish lyrics phonetically, and each line was recorded up to four times for the EP. Beyoncé has stated that she intends to take up Spanish lessons in the future. She said of the EP's recording, "This is such an honor for me to be able to connect with all my fans. I had so much fun singing in Spanish. It reminded me of growing up in Houston". The Denver Post's John Wenzel interpreted the release of Irreemplazable as "an effort to meet the exploding market for Spanish language music".

Irreemplazable was released as the bonus disc on the B'Day deluxe edition in the United States on April 3, 2007, before being released separately by Columbia Records on August 28, 2007. iTunes Store began selling the EP on August 27, 2007. However, a remix of "Get Me Bodied" was available only on the individual release of Irreemplazable. Beyoncé appeared on Tr3s' television show Mi TRL on August 2, 2007 and showed a behind-the-scenes special, "Making of the Spanish EP".

Composition

The Spanish-language songs in the EP were written by Cuban American composer Rudy Pérez and he wrote the lyrics phonetically to help Beyoncé perform the songs in Spanish. "We spent hours and hours working on it. She wanted to make it perfect. She worked hard. That's why people are saying it sounds like she's fluent in Spanish," Perez added. Pérez changed some of the words in Spanish as he felt it they "didn't fit the music" and "doesn't make sense". He assisted with Beyoncé on pronouncing her r's in Spanish. Irreemplazable opens with "Amor Gitano", a duet with Alejandro Fernández originally from Fernández' fifteenth studio album, Viento a Favor. "Listen", a theme song from Dreamgirls, in which Beyoncé appears, was re-recorded under the title "Oye". The EP's title track is a Spanish version of "Irreplaceable", a song that was highly successful in its English recording. Three recordings of "Beautiful Liar" appear on Irreemplazable: a Spanish version (titled "Bello Embustero"), a remixed English version and a Spanglish version. A norteña remix of "Irreemplazable" is the EP's seventh track, while Timbaland's remix of "Get Me Bodied", which features vocals from Voltio, closes Irreemplazable. An exclusive DVD accompanied the EP in Wal-mart stores, containing behind-the-scenes footage and taped performances from The Beyoncé Experience and Beyoncé's appearance on The Early Show, as well as a documentary named "La Evolución Latina de Beyoncé" ("The Latin Evolution of Beyoncé").

Reception

Giving it two and a half stars, Andy Kellman of Allmusic said that "there's not that much to the disc," and alleged that it was unnecessary, concluding "if you're a die-hard Beyoncé fan, you'll probably feel jerked around a bit — especially if you bought B'Day when it came out in September 2006 and bought the deluxe edition seven months later, only to find out that the bonus material would later come out on its own (with a track not on the second disc of the deluxe edition!)." Kellman selected "Amor Gitano", "Irreemplazable" and the "Get Me Bodied" remix as the highlights of the EP. The EP led to Beyoncé receiving a nomination for Pop New Artist of the Year at the 2008 Lo Nuestro Awards, and "Bello Embustero" was nominated for Record of The Year at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2007.

Irreemplazable debuted on the United States Billboard 200 at number 105 on the chart of September 15, 2007, selling over 6,000 copies that week. It remained on the chart for three weeks. On the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, the EP made its entry at number forty-one on September 15, 2007, and lasted five weeks. Irreemplazable performed better on the Latin charts, debuting at number three on the Top Latin Albums and number two on the Latin Pop Albums. The EP stayed on the charts for twelve and thirteen weeks, respectively. As of October 6, 2010, Irreemplazable had sold 57,000 copies in the United States.

Personnel

Credits for Irreemplazable, adapted from Allmusic and album's liner notes.