Dangerously in Love is the debut solo studio album by Beyoncé. It was officially released on June 20, 2003, by Columbia and Music World.
Background[]
Beyoncé launched her career as the lead singer in the R&B group Destiny's Child in the late 1990s. While recording their third album Survivor in late 2000, the group announced they would be put on hiatus in order for the members to work on solo projects in the coming years. The idea of individual releases emanated from the group's manager and Beyoncé's father, Mathew. Beyoncé debuted on the big screen, starring in the comedy film "Austin Powers in Goldmember" and recorded her debut single "Work It Out" which is featured on the soundtrack to the film. In August 2002, she collaborated with then-boyfriend Jay-Z as featured vocalist on the song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde." The single earned Beyoncé credibility and paved the way for the release of the album. Beyoncé also starred in The Fighting Temptations and recorded another solo single, Summertime.
Music and composition[]
In an interview with MTV News in 2003, Beyoncé commented on Dangerously in Love saying "My album is a good balance of ballads and mid-tempos with just ridin'-in-your-car feels, to a lot of ... up-tempo club songs, to really sexy songs, to songs that make you feel emotional. It's a nice mixture of different types of tracks."
Beyoncé's father and then-manager Mathew Knowles said Dangerously in Love showcased Beyoncé's musical roots. The singer's first single, "Crazy in Love" contains hip hop influence and lyrics about the effect of love. The second single, "Baby Boy" features Arabic influences. Beyoncé said she had mainly written ballads for the album. The albums hip hop influences came from Jay-Z, Outkast, and Lil' Kim, while the reggae influences came from Sean Paul. Beyoncé and the producers also used a wide array of instrumentation.
The third single, "Me, Myself and I", is an R&B song performed in a moderately slow manner. "Naughty Girl" was lauded by critics, who noted that "Beyoncé borrowed a portion of Donna Summer's naughty classic "Love to Love You Baby" to create this celebration of sensual naughtiness."
Promotion[]
Beyoncé's song "Crazy In Love" was sent to clubs in April 2003, to select the lead single. Beyoncé also promoted the album by premiering songs from the album during her first solo concert and the pay-per-view television special titled Ford Presents Beyoncé Knowles, Friends & Family, Live From Ford's 100th Anniversary Celebration in Dearborn, Michigan. By the night of the album's release, Beyoncé's concert was broadcast in over 20 theaters across the United States. By the night of the album's release, Beyoncé's concert was broadcast in more than twenty theaters across the United States.
Beyoncé said that she had trouble convincing executives at Columbia Records to release the album. She recounted that it almost was not released: "In 2003, I had my first solo album. But when I played it through for my record label, they told me I didn't have one hit on my album. I guess they were kinda right, I had five. 'Dangerously in Love', 'Naughty Girl', 'Me, Myself and I', 'Baby Boy' and 'Crazy in Love'."
From the original release date of October 2002, the album was pushed to December in the same year and to May in the following year. While Beyoncé was wrapping up the album, several of its songs had leaked online. In efforts to prevent more tracks in the album from being spread illegally, as well as being a victim of bootlegging, Columbia Records with high commercial expectations from the album pulled the release of "Dangerously in Love" to June 20, 2003, two weeks ahead of the planned July 8 release.
Buyers who pre-ordered the album online received links where they could download a song called "I Can't Take No More." the promo lasted until the album's release.
By April of 2003, Beyoncé's management was choosing the album's lead single between two songs. Finally, "Crazy in Love" was released as the lead single off the album. With commercial success that included crossover music markets. The single spent eight consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. "Baby Boy" followed and received greater success than "Crazy in Love." With its dominance on radio airplays, the single surpassed Crazy in Love's chart performance, remaining on the top spot for nine consecutive weeks. "Me, Myself and I" was released as the third single and "Naughty Girl" as fourth and last.
Although the last two releases only reached the top five on the Hot 100, like "Baby Boy", it attained more immediate and commercial successes which propelled the album atop the chart and helped it earn multi-platinum certifications.
Singles[]
- Crazy in Love was released as the lead single on May 14, 2003
- Baby Boy was released as the second single on August 10, 2003
- Me, Myself and I was released as the third single on September 20, 2003
- Naughty Girl was released as the fourth single on January 15, 2004
.jpg "Crazy In Love (Single Artwork).jpg (432 KB)")
.jpg "Baby Boy (Single Artwork).jpg (205 KB)")
.jpg "Me, Myself and I (Single Artwork).jpg (250 KB)")
.jpg "Naughty Girl (Single Artwork).jpg (246 KB)")
Track listing[]
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Crazy in Love" (featuring Jay-Z) | 3:56 | |
| 2. | "Naughty Girl" | 3:28 | |
| 3. | "Baby Boy" (featuring Sean Paul) | 4:04 | |
| 4. | "Hip Hop Star" | 3:42 | |
| 5. | "Be With You" | 4:20 | |
| 6. | "Me, Myself and I" | 5:01 | |
| 7. | "Yes" | 4:19 | |
| 8. | "Signs" (featuring Missy Elliot) | 4:58 | |
| 9. | "Speechless" | 6:00 | |
| 10. | "That's How You Like It" (featuring Jay-Z) | 3:39 | |
| 11. | "The Closer I Get to You" (with Luther Vandross) | 4:57 | |
| 12. | "Dangerously in Love 2" | 4:53 | |
| 13. | "Beyoncé Interlude" | 0:16 | |
| 14. | "Gift from Virgo" | 2:43 | |
| 15. | "Daddy" | 4:58 |
Sony Music exclusive pre-order edition (bonus download)[]
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16. | "I Can't Take No More" | 4:46 |
European, Latin American and Australian edition[]
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15. | "Work It Out" | 4:06 | |
| 16. | "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" | 3:25 | |
| 17. | "Daddy" | 4:58 |
Asian special edition[]
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17. | "Crazy in Love" (featuring Vanness Wu) | 3:56 | |
| 18. | "Daddy" | 4:58 |
Japanese edition[]
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15. | "What's it Gonna Be" | 3:37 |
France and Belgium edition[]
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14. | "Bienvenue" (by IAM, featuring Beyoncé) | 4:05 |
Composition[]
Tina Knowles, Beyoncé's mother said that "Dangerously in Love" showcases her musical roots. While Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland were on gospel and alternative pop, respectively, Beyonce focused on recording R&B songs. The songs in the album are varied: from mid-tempo and club-oriented tracks in the first half, and ballads in the second half.
Beyonce commented "My album is a good balance of ... ballads and ... mid-tempos with just ridin'-in-your-car feels, to a lot of ... up-tempo club songs, to really sexy songs, to songs that make you feel emotional. It's a nice mixture of different types of tracks." With high-energy songs like "Crazy in Love" and "Naughty Girl", however, the album's focal mode is slow and moody. Beyoncé said that she had written lots of ballads for the album. According to her, she wanted to be understood as an artist and showcase her range and by doing so, she blended various genres and musical influences in the album. The album incorporates R&B, hip hop, soul and reggae influences. It also took hip hop influences from Jay-Z, Outkast and Lil' Kim. The reggae is from Sean Paul and courtesy of Storch, the album explores Arabic music.
When "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" was released as a single in late 2002, critics and the public had speculated that Beyonce and Jay-Z were having a mutual affair. Despite widespread rumour, they remained silent about their relationship. Even though love is the theme Beyoncé had incorporated in the album, "most the material is vague enough to be about any relationship," however, there are songs that suggest affirmation of their relationship. In the song "Signs", Beyonce sings being in love with a Sagittarius which coincidentally is jay-Z's zodiac sign.
In response to the persistent rumors about them, she stated:
"People can come to whatever conclusion they like ... That's the beauty of music ... I'm a singer, I'll talk about writing songs all you want. But when it comes to certain personal things any normal person wouldn't tell people they don't know, I just feel like I don't have to [talk about it]."
Beyoncé said that Dangerously in Love is lyrically similar to Destiny's Child's albums, but because she only had to write for herself, she had the chance to compose personally deeper songs than their previous records. With a theme that is based upon different stages of a romantic relationship, "Dangerously in Love" contains songs that speak of love and honesty. In addition, Beyoncé admitted that there are songs about love-making.
The personal content of the album, however, was not generally attributed to Beyoncé's experience—although some were based from hers—instead, because the theme kept recurring in her mind.
She later explained:
"I wanted to have an album that everyone could relate to and would listen to as long as I'm alive and even after ... Love is something that never goes out of style. It's something everybody experiences, and if they are not in love, people usually want to feel that ..."
While some songs merely focus on the "beauty of love", the album also explores the other side, of which songs that "celebrate breakup" and songs that narrate a woman's desire to having a degree of control in a relationship. The album's hidden track, "Daddy" is a tribute to her father whom she was with in the industry for years since Mathew Knowles fronted the group as their manager. The song is an account of Beyoncé wanting her future husband and child to possess qualities similar to her father's. Originally, she did not intend to include the track in the album, having thought its lyrics would make her appear immature. However, considering it one of the songs that reflect Beyoncé's life at that transitional moment, she instead relegated the song "Daddy" as the closing track.
Critical Reception[]
"Dangerously in Love" received generally positive reviews from music critics.
At Metacritic, the album received an average score of 64 based on 16 reviews.
Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone viewed that it presents Beyonce in two styles, one "far more flattering" than the other and found the ballad-oriented songs on the album least flattering, commenting that Beyonce has "plenty of time" to develop the style maturely that would "[make] sense for her."
Entertainment Weekly's Neil Drumming commented that the album validates Beyonce's "taste in innovation." He also viewed that Beyoncé's collaboration with various record producers explores new directions in contemporary music, doing more reinventing than revisiting. Like DeCurtis' review, however, Drumming pointed out that "most of the disc's missteps" are in its latter part.
Slant Magazine's Sal Chiquemani wrote: "Beyoncé is allowed more room to experiment vocally as a solo artist, exploring softer registers and lathering on the coquettish persona that was only hinted at on Destiny's Child tracks like 'Bootylicious."
Mark Anthony Neal of PopMatters called it an "artistic leap" and wrote that it "finds Ms. B in the midst of a fully flowering womanhood and doing the best singing of her career."
In a retrospective review, AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented that "The first half is good enough to make Dangerously in Love one of the best mainstream urban R&B records released in 2003, and makes a strong case that Beyonce might be better off fulfilling this destiny instead of reuniting with Destiny."
Awards[]
"Dangerously in Love" and its singles earned Beyonce numerous awards.
In 2003, "Crazy in Love" won her three awards at the MTV Video Music Awards including "Best Female Video" and "Best R&B Video."
In the same year, Beyonce was recognized the "New Female Artist" and "New R&B Artist" among the four awards she won during the Billboard Music Awards.
The following year, she won "Best Contemporary R&B Album" and "Best R&B Song," "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" for "Crazy in Love," "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "The Closer I Get to You" with Luther Vandross and "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for "Dangerously in Love 2" at the Grammy Awards.
The 1000th issue of the Entertainment Weekly which celebrates "the new classics: the 1000 best movies, TV shows, albums, books, etc. from 1983 to 2008" ranks Dangerously in Love 19th of the Top 100 Best Albums of the past 25 years.
The album is ranked at number 183 on the 200 definitive albums that shaped rock and roll according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2009, British magazine NME voted the album's lead single "Crazy in Love" as the best song of the decade.
The song was also ranked at number three on Rolling Stone's 100 "Best Songs of the Decade," number four on Pitchfork Media's list of "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s," number seven on a list produced by The Daily Telegraph and number six on Slant Magazine's list of the "100 Best Singles of the Decade."
Album Personnel[]
- Beyoncé Knowles – lead vocals, producer, executive producer, vocal producer, songwriter
- Nat Adderley, Jr. – producer, arranger, electric piano, string arrangements
- Tawatha Agee – backing vocals
- Vincent Alexander – engineer
- Sanford Allen – concertmaster
- Chuckie Amos – hair stylist
- Skip Anderson – arranger, programming, additional keyboards
- Ray Bardani – string engineer, mixing
- Sherrod Barnes – producer
- Mark Batson – producer, arranger, instrumentation, conductor
- Carlos Bedoya – engineer, vocal engineer
- Big Boi – rap, additional vocal production
- Kevin Bird – prop stylist
- Craig Brockman – co-producer
- John "Jab" Broussard – additional guitar
- Al Brown – string contractor
- Dan Bucchi – assistant mix engineer
- Chris Carmouche – additional engineer
- Jim Caruana – engineer
- Demacio "Demo" Castellon – assistant mix engineer
- Tom Coyne – mastering
- Ian Cuttler – art director
- Dahlen – photography
- Jason Dale – assistant mix engineer
- Makeda Davis – backing vocals
- Delroy "D-Roy" Andrews – producer
- Missy Elliott – rap, producer
- Focus... – producer, engineer, instrumentation
- Guru – engineer
- Phil Hamilton – guitar
- Ivan Hampden – drums
- Rich Harrison – producer, instrumentation
- Andreao "Fanatic" Heard – producer
- Cissy Houston – backing vocals
- James Hunter – graphic artist
- Jay-Z – rap
- Bashiri Johnson – percussion
- Scott Kieklak – mixing
- Markus Klinko and Indrani – photography
- Mathew Knowles – executive producer
- Tina Knowles – stylist
- Brendan Kurtz – assistant mix engineer
- Tony Maserati – mixing
- Errol "Poppi" McCalla, Jr. – producer
- Byron Miller – bass
- Mr. B – producer
- Sean Paul – vocals
- Greg Price – assistant engineer
- Mally Roncal – make-up
- Dexter Simmons – mixing
- Sleepy Brown – vocals
- Matt Snedecor – assistant mix engineer
- Brian Springer – engineer
- Nisan Stewart – co-producer
- Scott Storch – producer
- Candace Thomas – backing vocals
- Pat Thrall – engineer
- Luther Vandross – vocals, vocal arrangement
- Luz Vasquez – assistant mix engineer
- Stan Wallace – engineer
- Brenda White-King – backing vocals
- Theresa LaBarbera Whites – A&R
- Bryce Wilson – producer
- Pat Woodward – assistant mix engineer
- Dan Workman – guitar, engineer