Beyonce

• The album was nominated for many awards and led to a successful concert tour
• Destiny's Child disbanded, leaving Beyoncé free to pursue her solo career exclusively

  2005
• Beyoncé and Jay-Z married, becoming the most prominent 'power couple' of contemporary American popular music

  2008
• Her albums and singles continued to dominate the charts and she appeared in more films
• She starred as blues singer Etta James in the film 'Cadillac Records'
• Beyoncé sang at President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony

  2009
• Beyoncé released Lemonade; a combined film and album


  2016
• Beyoncé's solo studio albums

  • Dangerously in Love (2003)
  • B'day (2006)
  • I am ... Sasha Fierce (2008)
  • 4 (2011)
  • Beyoncé (2013)
  • Lemonade (2016)
• Beyoncé's solo studio albums


  • All occupied the #1 slot in the US album charts
• Dangerously in Love (2003)

  Includes #1 singles Crazy in Love and Baby Boy. Beyoncé became 1st female artist to simultaneously top the singles and albums charts in both the US and UK
• B'day (2006)


  Includes #1 single Irreplaceable 10 weeks at the top. Other singles include: Déjà vu, Beautiful Liar (duet featuring Shakira). Many themes of the album relate to the film Dreamgirls in which Beyoncé starred
• I am ... Sasha Fierce (2008)


  Double album, supposed to show 2 sides of Beyoncé (Sasha Fierce being a bold, outspoken alter ego for the singer). Includes #1 single Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It). Other singles include: If I were a Boy, Halo
• 4 (2011)


  Singles include: Run the World (Girls), Best Thing I Never Had, Love on Top
• Beyoncé (2013)


  Singles include: Drunk in Love (reached #2), 7/11
• Lemonade (2016)


  Multi-media release; album/film. Singles include: Formation, Sorry
• Research suggestions


  • Genres: Contemporary R&B; Hip-hop; Rap
  • Production: Sampling; 'beatmaking'
  • Beyoncé as a performer: her voice; her dancing; her image and commercial success
  • Social/political: female empowerment and sexuality in music; US racial politics
• The song 'Countdown' from '4' (2011) has a playful, quirky character which comes from the fast tempo (about 160 bpm), the use of slightly mechanical or childlike repetitions and sequences, the 'artificial' synth sounds, and the mixture of features from different styles/genres
• Commentary on 'Countdown' from '4' (2011)

  1. 0:00-0:02: Opens with wordless solo vocal melisma on a rising pentatonic line which covers more than an octave (compound minor 3rd); timbales come in just at the end with a fill

  2. 0:03-0:15: Verse 1 Voice melody begins in high register (starts on 5th of chord); features typical R&B melisma and vibrato; accompaniment uses 4 chord pattern d minor – g minor – F major – C major played by a horn section in staccato repeated notes in a rhythm which sounds on the edge between being playful and aggressive; percussion includes top line of horn section doubled by xylophone sound, military sounding bass drum and cymbals

  3. 0:15-0:24: Repeats the previous section, but with addition of repeated constant cymbal semiquavers and strings added to the horn chords

  4. 0:25-0:37: Features a vocal sample of a male group counting down from 10 to 1 in chromatically descending chords (a sample from the opening of the song 'Uhh ahh' by Boyz II Men); the chords are built on 4ths; the sample intertwines with the female vocal lead, which circles round a few notes in a narrow riff; the snare drum keeps a constant 4-to-the-floor pulse; there are rising electronic tones (filter sweeps) which gradually get higher as the chords in the vocal sample descend

  5. 0:37-0:49: Texture reduces again – just voice, some drum machine sounds and synth; synth part has a high-pitched staccato riff (doubled by soft rim-shot sound); bass answers high pitched synth; vocal melody very simple 3-2-1-7-1 shape repeated x3 (with dip down to lower 5th as a melisma at end of each phrase)

  6. 0:49-1:00: Based on previous section, but brass riff returns; some vocal overdubbing of solo part at phrase ends (harmonising in 3rds ); drum machine part more prominent

  7. 1:00-1:11: Similar to previous section

  8. 1:12-1:34: Same music as at 0:37-0:49, but with added bass brass riff filling each phrase end