Beyoncé is the fifth studio album by the American singer and songwriter Beyoncé. A visual album, it was surprise-released on December 13, 2013, through Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. The songs and videos were recorded in secrecy for the unexpected release.
Beyoncé initially worked with various producers and songwriters, inviting them to live in her mansion for a month in mid-2012. After a disruption caused by touring, Beyoncé resumed work in early 2013 and experimented with styles outside contemporary R&B. The result is an electro-R&B record with elements of alternative R&B, electronic, and soul. Its textured, ambient soundscape is characterized by heavy bass, percussion, and synthesizers. Beyoncé's desire to assert full artistic autonomy influenced the album's dark, personal lyrics, which address sexuality and monogamy from a feminist perspective.
Upon release, Beyoncé broke the record for the fastest-selling album in the history of the iTunes Store. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and has been certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album also reached number one in Australia, Canada, Croatia, the Netherlands, and Poland. Five songs were released as singles: "Blow", "XO", "Drunk in Love", "Partition", and "Pretty Hurts"; "Drunk in Love" reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100. The album was reissued as the Platinum Edition on November 24, 2014, and was supported by the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour and the Jay-Z co-headlining On the Run Tour.
Beyoncé received universal critical acclaim for its experimental production, Beyoncé's vocals, and its exploration of sexuality; various critics consider it her magnum opus. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015, it won Best Surround Sound Album, and "Drunk in Love" won Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance. Often considered one of the greatest albums of all time, Beyoncé has been credited with popularizing the contemporary visual album, and its surprise release prompted the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry to change Global Release Day from Tuesday to Friday.
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, and held a concert residency, Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live, four months after labor. Beyoncé performed soon after giving birth to show mothers that they need not pause their careers after having children. After the residency, she spent mid-2012 in the Hamptons, New York, where she stepped away from the public eye to spend time with her daughter and begin working on 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. She also released a self-directed autobiographical documentary in February, entitled Life Is But a Dream.
In March 2013, Beyoncé released a two-part hip-hop track titled "Bow Down/I Been On" on SoundCloud. "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. The Timbaland-produced "I Been On" is built on a chopped and screwed vocal as an homage to the Houston hip-hop scene of Beyoncé's hometown. Michael Cragg of The Guardian described the song as "brilliantly odd", commending its loud, abrasive production, while Pitchforks 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 catalog, 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 nor 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 arose when portions of other tracks "Grown Woman" and "Standing on the Sun" were used for television advertising campaigns, with a similar lack of explanation about 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 The original plan was to create the entire album in a month and a half, but in the end it took a year and a half. Beyoncé rented a 40-bedroom mansion for the recording process. Recording sessions began in mid-2012, taking place at Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z's residence in the Hamptons. She invited the "world's best" producers and songwriters to accompany them, including Sia, Timbaland, Eric Bellinger, Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, 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 due to touring and was 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, the 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 about his work before 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 cell phone. 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. "Ghost" subsequently 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 went on to work on 80 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. Beyoncé used organic approaches 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 she and Jay-Z freestyled 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; "No Angel", which was composed in London; and "XO", which was recorded in Berlin and Sydney. Although the demo of "XO" was recorded when Beyoncé had contracted a sinus infection, the vocals were never re-recorded because she felt their imperfections fit the song. 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 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 on 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 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 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 (1983) 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 United States, the crew surrounding the videos was small, consisting only of Tourso, the director of photography and producer, as well as Beyoncé and her stylist, makeup 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 from leaking. By post-production, the songwriting process began to converge with the content of the visuals and Beyoncé watched unedited footage to fit the music to the visuals. "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 said that "it would complete the picture of where the audio needed to go".