Portal:R&B and Soul Music/Selected article/5
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"Déjà Vu" is a song by American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles featuring rapper Jay-Z. The 70s-inspired funk song was produced in 2005 for Beyoncé's second solo album, B'Day, and was the album's opening track. "Déjà Vu"'s live instrumentation is varied; including bass guitar, conga, hi-hat, horn and 808. It was part of Beyoncé's vision of making records out of live instruments, parallel to Rodney Jerkins, who co-produced the song, and John Webb's aspiration during the pre-production of "Déjà Vu". The song's title and lyrics refer to a woman constantly being reminded of a past lover.
The track was released as the album's lead single in July 2006 to mostly negative reviews from music critics. While it failed to match the success of Beyonce's 2003 single, "Crazy in Love", "Déjà Vu" entered the top ten on most charts, topping many of Billboard's component charts and also reaching number one in the United Kingdom. Although the single received several award nominations, the quality of its accompanying music video displeased fans, thousands of whom petitioned for it to be re-shot.
Beyoncé had previously collaborated with producer-songwriter Rodney Jerkins on her former group Destiny's Child's 2004 single "Lose My Breath". In 2005, Jerkins and composer John Webb began working on "Déjà Vu" for Beyoncé's album B'Day. Webb said, "Rodney and I came up with the concept of doing an old-school track, a throwback with real bass and horns; that's part of why the title is 'Déjà Vu'." Beyoncé also enlisted Delisha Thomas, Keli Nicole Price and Makeba Riddick, who made her way onto the B'Day production team after co-writing the song.[1] Jerkins recorded a demo version of the song with Makeba on vocals, and presented it to Beyoncé, who later approved.[1] Jay-Z, who is featured in the song with an extended rap, originally never planned to work with her; but when Beyoncé saw his lips moving when he first heard the track, she asked him to go to the studio and record what he had done.
