B'Day is the second studio album by Beyoncé, released on her 25th birthday, September 4th, 2006. The album was originally planned to be released in 2004 to follow-up her debut album Dangerously in Love (2003). However, the project was put on hiatus due to the recording of Destiny's Child's final studio album, Destiny Fulfilled, and her role in the film Dreamgirls.
Background[]
In late 2005, Beyoncé postponed the recording of her second studio album because she had landed the lead role in Dreamgirls, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. She wanted to focus on one project at a time. Beyoncé decided to wait until the film was completed before returning to the recording studio.
The album was scheduled to be completed in six weeks, but was instead a three-week period. During early-to-mid 2006, Beyoncé enlisted Rich Harrison, Rodney Jerkins, Sean Garrett, Cameron Wallace, the Neptunes, Stargate, and Swizz Beatz as producers. She booked a room for Jerkins, Garrett and Harrison each at Sony Music Studios in New York City. At times, Beyoncé and her team would spend up to 14 hours a day in the studios.
Deluxe edition[]
Seven months after the release of B'Day, an expanded double-disc reissue, subtitled Deluxe Edition, was released in the US on April 3, 2007. In addition to the original track listing, the Deluxe Edition featured five new songs, including "Beautiful Liar", a duet with Shakira. "Amor Gitano", a Spanish flamenco-pop duet with Mexican singer Alejandro Fernández was included in the Deluxe Edition bonus disc 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 performed "Quisiera Ser" with Alejandro Sanz at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards (2002). Beyoncé worked with producer Rudy Pérez for the recordings in order to retain the same feeling of the English versions of the songs into the Spanish translation.
The B'Day Anthology Video Album was released simultaneously with the Deluxe Edition and featured 13 music videos, including the director's cut of the performance version of "Listen" and the extended mix of "Get Me Bodied". Most of the videos were accompaniments for the uptempo songs 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 herself.
Beyoncé performed "Get Me Bodied" at the 2007 BET Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on June 26, wearing a gold robot gear, which she removed to reveal sleek lamé gold pants and a matching bra top. As she continued singing, her younger sister Solange and former Destiny's Child bandmate Michelle Williams appeared onstage as her backup dancers; a few moments later, Beyoncé introduced her former Destiny's Child bandmate Kelly Rowland, who performed her song "Like This" with Eve. After Rowland's performance, Beyoncé, Solange and Williams appeared onstage with Rowland to complete the Destiny's Child reunion.
Singles[]
- Déjà Vu was released as the lead single on June 24, 2006.
- Ring the Alarm was released as the second single on August 5, 2006
- Irreplaceable was released as the third single on September 8, 2006
- Upgrade U was released as a promotional single in January 17, 2007
- Beautiful Liar was released as the fourth single and solo single from the deluxe on February 12, 2007
- Get Me Bodied was released as the fifth single on July 10, 2007
- Green Light was released as the sixth single on July 27, 2007
.jpg "Déjà Vu (Single Artwork).jpg (374 KB)")
.jpg "Get Me Bodied (Single Artwork).jpg (192 KB)")
Gallery[]
Click here for the full photoshoot.
Track listing[]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Déjà Vu" (featuring Jay-Z) | Darkchild · Beyoncé · Jay-Z · Delisha Thomas · Makeba · Keli Nicole Price | Darkchild · 808-Ray · Beyoncé | 4:00 | ||||||
| 2. | "Get Me Bodied" | Beyoncé · Kasseem Dean · Sean Garrett · Makeba · Angie Beyincé · Solange Knowles | 3:26 | |||||||
| 3. | "Suga Mama" | Beyoncé · Rich Harrison · Makeba · Chuck Middleton | Rich Harrison | 3:25 | ||||||
| 4. | "Upgrade U" | Beyoncé · Angie Beyincé · Solange Knowles · Makeba · Sean Garrett · Jay-Z · Willie Clarke · Clarence Reid | Swizz Beatz · Cameron Wallace · Beyoncé · Sean Garrett | 4:33 | ||||||
| 5. | "Ring the Alarm" | Beyoncé · Swizz Beatz · Sean Garrett | Beyoncé · Swizz Beatz · Sean Garrett | 3:23 | ||||||
| 6. | "Kitty Kat" | Beyoncé · Pharrell Williams · Jay-Z | Beyoncé · The Neptunes | 3:55 | ||||||
| 7. | "Freakum Dress" | Beyoncé · Rich Harrison · Makeba · Angie Beyincé | Rich Harrison | 3:21 | ||||||
| 8. | "Green Light" | Beyoncé · Pharrell Williams · Sean Garrett | Beyoncé · Sean Garrett · The Neptunes | 3:29 | ||||||
| 9. | "Irreplaceable" | Ne-Yo · Beyoncé · Stargate · Espen Lind · Amund Bjorklund | Ne-Yo · Beyoncé · Stargate | 3:48 | ||||||
| 10. | "Resentment" | Beyoncé · Walter W. Millsap III · Candice Nelson · Curtis Mayfield | Walter W. Millsap III · Candice Nelson · Beyoncé | 4:41 | ||||||
| 11. | "Check On It" | Beyoncé · Swizz Beats · Bernard Freeman · Sean Garrett · Angie Beyincé · Stayve Thomas | Swizz Beats | 3:31 | ||||||
| 12. | "Encore for the Fans" | 0:40 | ||||||||
| 13. | "Listen" | Beyoncé · Henry Krieger · Scott Cutler · Anne Preven | The Underdogs | 3:38 | ||||||
| 14. | "Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix)" | Beyoncé · Solange · Angie Beyincé · Makeba | 6:00 | |||||||
Total length: |
51:50 | |||||||||
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Beautiful Liar" (featuring Shakira) | 3:19 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Irreplaceable" | 3:48 | ||||||||
| 3. | "Green Light" | 3:29 | ||||||||
| 4. | "Kitty Kat" | 3:55 | ||||||||
| 5. | "Welcome to Hollywood" | 3:18 | ||||||||
| 6. | "Upgrade U" | 4:33 | ||||||||
| 7. | "Flaws and All" | 4:08 | ||||||||
| 8. | "World Wide Woman" | 3:42 | ||||||||
| 9. | "Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix)" | 6:00 | ||||||||
| 10. | "If" | 3:18 | ||||||||
| 11. | "Freakum Dress" | 3:21 | ||||||||
| 12. | "Suga Mama" | 3:25 | ||||||||
| 13. | "Déjà Vu" | 4:00 | ||||||||
| 14. | "Ring the Alarm" | 3:23 | ||||||||
| 15. | "Resentment" | 4:41 | ||||||||
| 16. | "Listen" | 3:38 | ||||||||
| 17. | "Amor Gitano" | 3:48 | ||||||||
| 18. | "Listen (Oye) (Spanish Version)" | 3:41 | ||||||||
| 19. | "Irreplaceable (Irreemplazable) (Spanish Version)" | 3:47 | ||||||||
| 20. | "Beautiful Liar (Bello Embustero) (Spanish Version)" | 3:20 | ||||||||
| 21. | "Beautiful Liar (Remix)" | 3:00 | ||||||||
| 22. | "Beautiful Liar (Spanglish Version)" | 3:19 | ||||||||
| 23. | "Irreplaceable (Irreemplazable) (Norteña Remix)" | 3:50 | ||||||||
Total length: |
87:00 | |||||||||