Beyoncé (album)

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Beyoncé
A black background; the word "Beyoncé" is stylized in pink font and located in the center of the image.
Studio album by Beyoncé
Released December 13, 2013 (2013-12-13)
Recorded 2012–13
Genre
Length 66:35
Label
Producer
Beyoncé chronology
  • Beyoncé
  • (2013)
Singles from Beyoncé
  1. "XO"
    Released: December 16, 2013
  2. "Drunk in Love"
    Released: December 17, 2013

Beyoncé (styled as BEYONCÉ) is the self-titled fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Beyoncé, released on December 13, 2013 by Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. Described by Beyoncé as a "visual album", the record consists of fourteen tracks, each having an accompanying music video. Musically, the album explores electro-R&B and pop elements, combining minimalist production, loose song structure and emotive vocals. Beyoncé revisits her common theme of self-empowerment, but takes on much darker themes previously unexplored in her music, such as postnatal depression, insecurities of womanhood and frank, often explicit, discussion of sex.

Beyoncé served as executive producer, co-writer and co-director of the album's seventeen music videos, while significant musical contributions came from Boots, Timbaland and Pharrell Williams. Recording began in 2012 in The Hamptons, New York, and continued during Beyoncé's world tour in 2013 under strict secrecy. In December 2013, it was unexpectedly released to the iTunes Store, with no prior promotion or announcement.

Beyoncé garnered acclaim from critics who commended its experimental production and her vocal performance. In the United States, Beyoncé debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with three-day sales of 617,213 digital copies, giving Beyoncé her fifth consecutive number-one. It became the highest first-week sales of her solo career, and the best-selling debut week for a female artist in 2013; six days after release it had sold one million digital copies worldwide. "XO" was chosen as the lead single for both the US and worldwide, while "Drunk in Love" was released to urban radio in the US only. The album has sold 3 million units worldwide as of January 2014.[2]

Background

In June 2011, Beyoncé released her fourth studio album titled 4. Musically, the album consisted of mid-tempo R&B songs, as well as experimented with other genres including 1970s funk, 1980s pop and 1990s retro soul.[3][4] 4 received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics upon its release.[5] It was a commercial success and reached the top ten in over twenty national charts, including number one on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 310,000 copies. This gave Beyoncé her fourth consecutive solo debut at the top of the chart, making her the second female artist and third artist overall to have her first four studio albums debut atop the Billboard 200.[6]

Beyoncé's Super Bowl halftime show and world tour contained no new music, despite media and fan expectation of it doing so.[7] On March 17, 2013, Beyoncé posted a track called "Bow Down / I Been On" onto her Soundcloud account,[7] a track that later became part of "Flawless".[8] Beyoncé also previewed snippets of "Grown Woman", in a Pepsi commercial,[9] and "Standing on the Sun", which was used in commercials for H&M and L'Oréal.[10] However, only the former would materialise on Beyoncé as a bonus video.[11]

Recording

Beyoncé first discussed the composition of Beyoncé with Jason Gay of Vogue in January 2013. Gay describes Beyoncé's attention to detail as "obsessive", noting the vision boards she had created for inspiration, which contained potential song titles, old album covers and pictures of past performances.[12] Recording began at The Hamptons in New York during Summer 2012.[12] Beyoncé was accompanied by husband Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy, as well as Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and The-Dream.[12] Beyoncé found the atmosphere relaxing, 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."[12] While creating "Flawless" there,[13] Beyoncé considered how she lost the television competition Star Search to The Skeleton Crew.[14] A sample of Ed McMahon introducing her as "the hip-hop rapping Girl's Tyme" during the competition was included as Beyoncé felt it fit the aggression of the song; a portion of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED talk "We Should All Be Feminists" was used as Beyoncé identified with her interpretation of feminism.[14] The recording of "Pretty Hurts" was also begun at The Hamptons.[13]

Most of the album was recorded at Jungle City and Oven Studios in New York.[13] Boots, an unknown producer, who was most known for fronting rock band Blonds, would ultimately produce eighty percent of the album. In an interview for Pitchfork, Boots would not speak of his projects previous to Beyoncé or how Beyoncé found his demo, only confirming he signed a publishing deal with Roc Nation in June 2013. At Boots' first meeting with Beyoncé, he had already written songs he believed would resonate with her, but she was more interested in his experimental material. Having recorded a piano demo on his iPhone, Boots reluctantly played "I'm Onto You" (what later became "Haunted"), believing the song to be initially lacklustre. Beyoncé thought differently and refused to leave the song alone, saying to Boots, "This shit has to knock harder than any rap album out there." Boots would describe Beyoncé as the "only visionary in the room", for her ability to find potential in scraps of songs.[15]

Following an infuriating meeting with a record label, Boots wrote the stream of consciousness rap from "Ghost" and played it for Beyoncé in the early stages of recording. She identified with its content as she had similar experiences from signing a contract at a young age. Boots made the song in a hypnotic state, saying "I started with guitars, just building the layers until they resembled Aphex Twin soundscapes. And then I completely contained them within the beat." He also worked on the production of "Blue", recording birds chirping outside the studio as a way for him to remember that particular day, especially due to Blue Ivy Carter talking more.[15] A new producer Detail, approached Beyoncé about a beat he had created called "Drunk". Beyoncé and Jay-Z free-styled their verses for the song and Timbaland contributed keyboards.[16] In October, the album began taking shape and Beyoncé removed "Standing on the Sun" and "Grown Woman" from the project to fit with its minimalist approach.[17] During Thanksgiving week, the vocals on the album were edited and producers were notified to submit their final cuts.[17] In total, Beyoncé recorded 80 songs for the album.[16]

Composition
"Partition"
A two-part hip hop song, "Partition" exemplifies the album's typical nuances: minimalistic production, loose song structure[18] and explicit themes.[19]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Beyoncé contains fourteen tracks as well as a total of seventeen short films: a video for each audio track, two extra videos to accompany the two-part tracks "Haunted" and "Partition", as well as a bonus video for "Grown Woman", which lacks an equivalent audio counterpart.[20] Described by NME as "post-dubstep tinted future R&B",[21] the album delves into the motifs of futuristic R&B music: strong, emotive vocal performances, minimalist production and streams of consciousness.[8] The album is also described as an electro-R&B album, noting a heavy usage of electronic production in several songs.[22][23][24] Song structure is loose, with songs reaching six-minutes long, with beats of "subdued pulses, ambient effects and throbbing grooves."[25] Similar to previous releases, Beyoncé's central theme is postfeminism,[26] now explored in greater depth and conflated with "an unwavering look at black female sexual agency."[8][25][27] Darker themes, previously unexplored in her music, also feature "bulimia, postnatal depression [and] the fears and insecurities of marriage and motherhood."[21]

The album's opening track, "Pretty Hurts", is a smoky pop and neo soul song[26] "with speechy lyrics about the tyranny of the beauty industry".[25] It decries society's obsession with unattainable and harmful standards of beauty: "Brush your hair / Fix your teeth / What you wear / Is all that matters."[8] The staccato trap song,[24] "Flawless" is perhaps the most explicit commentary on gender discrimination, with an excerpt of a speech by Nigerian feminist writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie entitled "We should all be feminists".[26] The track presents a more aggressive and confrontational stance, in which Beyoncé yells the refrain "bow down, bitches" over a clattering beat,[28] with the intention of carrying power and camaraderie amongst women.[8]

A man's head and shoulders are shown
A woman smiling
Beyoncé's husband, Jay-Z, and Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie were two of the featured artists on the album.

Throughout the album, Beyoncé reflects on her personal life, particularly since her marriage and motherhood. "Mine", a collaboration with Canadian rapper Drake, finds Beyoncé ruminating on her everyday fears for her family, her postpartum depression and past moments of weakness in her marriage[8] against a jazzy understated flow.[18] "Haunted" was described as "a two-part dream", and features murky keyboards, recessed vocals and a creeping bassline.[18] The song opens with Beyoncé in a robotic cadence[29] rapping over an arrhythmic heartbeat and considering her lifestyle versus "all these people on the planet working 9 to 5 just to stay alive".[26] "Heaven" is a mournful piano song[24] that features gospel overtones. It lyrically speaks about her mother losing her best friend.[18] The closing track of the album, "Blue", a song about her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, who is credited as a featured artist, is a piano-laden pop ballad.[19]

The album's unconventional and futuristic production was well-received by critics. The mysterious alternative R&B song[30] "Superpower" (a Frank Ocean duet),[18] centres on a "cinematic" beat by Pharrell Williams[8] and sang with low-supple vocals and harmonies reminiscent of Beyoncé's Destiny's Child era.[26] "XO" is a midtempo pop song[30] that is built on jittery keyboards, synthesizers, looped organ riff and electronic flourishes.[30][31] The following track "Jealous" is a self-referential song with a dark, brooding beat; the lyrics describing the protagonist as making their ex-lover envious.[8] "No Angel" is a synthpop and electronic[30] track with heavy bass[8] and a minimalist beat[18] that sees Beyoncé declare that she, and the object of her affections, are by no means perfect.[26]

The deeply sexual nature of the album is explored through such songs as "Partition", a two-part hip hop, dancehall and electro[32][33][34][35] track that begins as a "lady-thug anthem", before transforming into an Eastern rhythm.[18] Its narrative describes sexual intercourse in the back of a limousine, featuring frank, memorable lines such as "oh he Monica Lewinsky'd all on my gown."[19] "Blow" is a disco-tinged retro R&B song with heavy bass[30] and sparse piano chords;[18] the track drew comparisons to Justin Timberlake and Prince.[26][30] Lyrically, it refers to cunnilingus through heavy innuendo[8] and features a French-language interlude.[30] "Drunk in Love" is described having "a riot of warm, hazy synths and chunky trap beats",[30] which lyrically dispenses of any subtlety that some of the other tracks possess[25] as an explicit ode to love-making.[8] Jay-Z features on the track, providing a controversial verse that compares his sex life to the marriage of Ike and Tina Turner.[18] "Rocket", a retro soul song[28] reminiscent of the work of D'Angelo,[18] was described as "a slippery, six-and-a-half-minute funk excursion."[24]

Visuals

The music video for "Flawless", directed by Jake Nava, was popular with fans and critics for its innovative choreography—particularly the hand movement pictured. The New York Times described its attention online as creating a "ripple effect".[1]

All of the music videos, including the bonus "Grown Woman", were released onto iTunes on December 13, 2013. The videos were filmed between June and November 2013 as Beyoncé travelled on her world tour.[36] The locations of which include a Brazilian beach, the Cyclone at Coney Island in New York, a Parisian chateau, a roller-skating rink Beyoncé frequented as a child and a South American church.[36] Todd Tourso, who directed the videos for "Jealous" and "Heaven", served as the creative director for the entire project.[37]

In June 2013, Beyoncé began considering the creation of a "visual album", wherein she would create a video for every song. By then, only three or four songs had been composed. The rest of the songs existed as loose ideas; Beyoncé would think of the visual and then tweaked the music behind it to fit. Much of Tourso's 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 US, the crew surrounding the videos was small, consisting only of Tourso, the director of photography and producer, as well as Beyoncé and her stylist, make-up artist and security.[37] When filming in public, Beyoncé would wear ear-buds instead of having the music played out loud, in order to prevent any snippets of the songs from leaking online.[38] In line with album's theme of rebelling against perfection, many of the music videos were shot organically and Beyoncé and her team would turn up at a location without preparation.[16]

Brandon Soderberg of Vice saw the music videos as a celebration of Beyoncé's sexuality and motherhood.[39] The motif of a trophy, first seen in the video for "Pretty Hurts", also continued through several others; Tourso saw this as representing the chaos of life, and how the things important to us at one moment, appear futile later.[37] Beyoncé elaborated that the trophy represents her lost childhood and the time spent trying to begin her music career at a very young age.[14] Music subcultures are referenced in the video for "No Angel", which features the Houston hip-hop scene extensively, while "Flawless" sees the punk rock scene of the 1970s.[39] When exploring sexuality in the films, directors like Saiz used techniques such as close shots of fishnets, leather and straps and the featured models to create a video that was "voyeuristic and raw".[40]

The project's exclusive online release meant that that the videos could be shared through platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. Jenna Wortham of The New York Times identified how this had created a "ripple effect"; the choreography and lyric "I woke up like this" from the song "Flawless" exemplifies a moment that became instantly popular with fans and thus generated a vast amount of attention.[1]

Release and reaction

"I miss that immersive experience, now people only listen to a few seconds of song on the iPods and they don't really invest in the whole experience. It's all about the single, and the hype. It's so much that gets between the music and the art and the fans. I felt like, I don't want anybody to get the message, when my record is coming out. I just want this to come out when it's ready and from me to my fans."

 — Beyoncé describing her intentions with the unorthodox release of Beyoncé.[41]

Throughout 2013 Beyoncé worked on the project in secrecy, sharing details of the album with a small circle of people and shifting the deadline, which was only finalized a week before its release.[17] In July 2013, a spokesperson for Beyoncé denied speculation that Beyoncé's 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.[42]

In early December 2013, Beyoncé and her management company Parkwood Entertainment held meetings concerning its release with executives from Columbia Records and iTunes, using the code name "Lily" for the album.[17] On December 13, 2013, the album was released without any prior announcement or promotion exclusively on the iTunes Store. Beyoncé explained that she was "bored" of her music being marketed as it had been done previously.[43] The album was available exclusively on iTunes until December 20, 2013, when physical copies were distributed to other retailers.[44]

The surprising release caused "hilarious, honest and hysterical" reaction among Beyoncé's fans,[45] and "shock" among other celebrities.[46] According to data provided by Twitter, the release generated over 1.2 million tweets in 12 hours.[46] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield wrote, "Beyoncé has delivered countless surprises in her 15 years on top of the music world, but she's never dropped a bombshell like this. The Queen Bey woke the world in the midnight hour with a surprise 'visual album' – 14 new songs, 17 videos, dropped via iTunes with no warning. The whole project is a celebration of the Beyoncé Philosophy, which basically boils down to the fact that Beyoncé can do anything the hell she wants to."[22] Additionally, Peter Robinson of The Guardian hailed the shock release as "Beyoncégeddon", describing it as a "major triumph" which "employ[ed] the favoured imagery of many Beyoncé fans" and "a masterclass in both exerting and relinquishing control."[47]

As soon as the album became exclusively available to iTunes, Sony Music Entertainment handed down an edict that forbade retailers to put the album up for pre-order, as to further protect the exclusivity with iTunes.[48] It was then reported that major retailers in the US, namely Target and Amazon,[48] were refusing to sell the physical copy of the album. According to Target spokesperson, the store was only interested in retailing albums which were released digitally and physically simultaneously.[49] As a result of Beyoncé's partnership with Starbucks, on December 20, 2013 the album became available at more than 7,000 Starbucks stores across the United States.[50] On December 21, 2013, all the videos from the album were screened at the SVA Theater in New York.[51] By December 26, 2013, Beyoncé had been illegally downloaded via file sharing websites almost 240,000 times. If that same amount of copies had been purchased legally, the album would have grossed $3.8 million in sales.[52] Beyoncé was included in Forbes staff member Zack O'Malley Greenburg's "Music Industry Winners 2013" list.[53]

The sampling of a NASA flight controller during the 1986 Challenger disaster on the song "XO" was criticized by the families of the lost crew.[54] Beyoncé responded that the song's intention was to heal those who had lost and the songwriters had included the sample as a tribute.[54]

Singles

Beyoncé's lead singles followed a dual, simultaneous release format, with each single impacting a different type of radio station. Initially, the songs "Blow" and "Drunk in Love" were reported by Billboard as being the record's lead singles, respectively impacting contemporary hit radios and urban contemporary stations. However, the release of "Blow" was scrapped in favor of the song "XO", which impacted contemporary hit stations in Italy and adult contemporary radios in the United States, on December 16, 2013.[55][55] The following day, it impacted US-based urban, rhythmic and mainstream stations.[56][57][58] Written by Ryan Tedder, Terius Nash and Beyoncé, the song garnered positive commentary from music journalists, who described it as "stadium-filling" and "magnificent".[8][59] Its music video, directed by Terry Richardson and filmed in Coney Island,[60] depicts Beyoncé with fans and having fun on the amusement park.[61]

Accompanying "XO"'s release, "Drunk In Love" was serviced on December 17, 2013 to urban contemporary radio stations, exclusively in the United States.[62] Critical response to the track was generally positive, with contemporary music critics noticing its distinctive appeal to urban radios.[8] Its respective visual was filmed in black-and-white, at a beach, and prominently features Beyoncé twisting her body on the sand, having Jay-Z join her later on.[63] Thus far, its commercial performance has been successful, peaking at number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as peaking atop of the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Streaming Songs charts,[64] and number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.[65] To promote the song, Beyoncé and Jay-Z performed it at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.[66][67][68]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 86/100[69]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [70]
Billboard 90/100[8]
Entertainment Weekly A–[19]
The Independent [23]
Los Angeles Times [28]
NME 8/10[71]
Pitchfork Media 8.8/10[59]
Rolling Stone [22]
Slant Magazine [72]
Spin 9/10[29]

Upon its release, Beyoncé received universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100, it has an average score of 86 out of 100, based on 32 reviews.[69] Kitty Empire of The Observer praised the album for its "squeaky sexed-up falsettos, hood rat rapping, wordless ecstasies and effortless swoops"; she highlighted the album's overt feminist message as a particular highlight.[26] The Telegraph applauded Beyoncé as "one of the most technically gifted vocalists in pop, with gospel power, hip-hop flow and a huge range." The publication also noted the album's sexual tone, quality of restraint and loose song-structure as distinct features.[25] Jon Pareles of The New York Times describes the tracks as "steamy and sleek, full of erotic exploits and sultry vocals; every so often, for variety, they turn vulnerable, compassionate or pro-feminist."[24] Will Hodgkinson of The Times commented that the album "lacks a title, but does have plenty of classy modern pop-soul."[73] Greg Kot for the Chicago Tribune saw that "the singer demands to be treated as an equal in the boardroom and the bedroom", concluding that the album is a merger of "trap beats, punk defiance and feminist theory."[18]

Evan Rytlewski of The A.V. Club summarised that Beyoncé made "an emotional album that’s dense and substantial but never difficult or self-important."[74] Spin compared the album to its predecessor, 4 (2011), saying that Beyoncé was more textured in terms of sound and content, noting Beyoncé's movement from "diva pop/R&B".[29] Jim Farber of New York Daily News said that while Beyoncé was not in her full roar, "she gives fans much more to listen to." He also stated, "The mood draws on the warmth and mystery of trance music, enveloped in an echo which recalls subdued production sounds used by Phil Collins in the early 1980s."[75] Bey Nick Catucci of Entertainment Weekly praised the album, and commented that "Some fans will no doubt feel lost in this murky, intermittently thrilling new territory. For them — and everyone else with a heart — there's 'Blue', which features her baby-talking toddler Blue Ivy reverbed into infinity at the end, but more importantly, proves that not every piano-laden pop ballad need bring the doldrums on. Like much of Beyoncé, it balances formal inventiveness with emotional directness. Share it with your little niece, or someone else you love."[19] In a less enthusiastic review, The Independent's Andy Gill found its feminist message significant, but its music too similar to contemporary R&B.[23]

Accolades

Beyoncé was included on many year-end best-of lists. It was ranked the best album of the year by Billboard,[76] Houston Chronicle[77] and Los Angeles Times,[78] while Spin ranked it the best R&B album of the year.[79] The album ranked within the top 10 on lists by Associated Press,[80] HitFix[81] and MTV News,[82] which placed it at number five, and Digital Spy, which placed it at number nine.[83] Beyoncé was ranked at number 11 on Metacritic's 25 best-reviewed albums of 2013 list.[84] In the annual Pazz and Jop mass critics poll of the year's best in music, the album was ranked number four.[85] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it eighteenth on his own year-end list.[86]

In his accompanying essay for The Barnes & Noble Review, Christgau remarked that the sex depicted on the album is "the raunchiest and most convincing I can recall on record, and married sex at that", while the density and "juicy physicality" of the songs suggest "ideals of interactive performance absent from both Yeezus's feckless abandon and the regal self-possession that stiffens Beyoncé's supposedly more serious songs."[87] Geeta Dayal of Slate compared the album to Michael Jackson's Thriller, calling it a "tour de force", "unstoppable", and suggested it is helping to reinstate ideas of "the album as an event. The album as a grand, career-defining statement."[88]

Commercial performance

During its first day of release in the United States, Beyoncé sold 80,000 digital copies in its first three hours[89] and a total of 430,000 digital copies within 24 hours.[90] In its second day, the album sold 120,000 digital copies, which brought its two-day sales total to 550,000.[91] Billboard predicted it to sell around 600,000 digital copies by the end of the tracking week on December 15, 2013.[90] Beyoncé debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with three-day sales of 617,213 digital copies.[92][93] This gave Beyoncé her fifth consecutive number-one album, making her the first female artist to have her first five studio albums debut atop the chart.[93] It also became the largest debut sales week for a female artist in 2013, and the highest debut sales week of Beyoncé's solo career.[93] Beyoncé marks the fourth-largest sales week of the year, behind Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience, Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP 2 and Drake's Nothing Was the Same.[93]

In its second week, the album remained at number one, selling 374,000 copies.[94] Ten days after release, Beyoncé had sold 991,000 copies in the US, making it the best-selling album by a female artist in 2013.[94][95] A third week at number-one with sales of 310,000 copies brought the album's US sales to 1.3 million after 17 days of release,[96] positioning it as the eighth best-selling album of the year, and the first to enter the year-end top 10 based on just three weeks of sales availability in the Nielsen SoundScan era.[97] In its fourth week, sales reached 1.43 million, surpassing the total sales of Beyoncé's previous album, 4 which was released in 2011 and had sold 1.39 million in total in the two years since its release.[98] As of February 5, 2014, Beyoncé has sold 1,668,000 copies in the US.[99]

On December 16, Apple announced that Beyoncé was the fastest selling album in the history of the iTunes Store, both in the US and worldwide.[92] It sold 828,773 digital copies worldwide in just three days, and reached number one on iTunes Store charts in 104 countries.[92] Six days after release, the album had sold one million digital copies worldwide on the iTunes Store.[100] Beyoncé debuted at number five on the UK Albums Chart on December 15, with two-day sales of 67,858 digital copies.[101][102] The Official Charts Company's chief executive Martin Talbot noted that "few (if any) albums have sold as many digital copies in such a short space of time."[102] It was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry on December 20, for sales of 100,000 copies.[103] In its fifth week, the album climbed to a new peak of number two.[104] As of February 2014, Beyoncé has sold 300,000 copies in the UK.[105]

The album entered the Canadian Albums Chart at number one, with 35,000 digital copies sold.[106] It debuted at number 24 on the French Albums Chart with two-days sales of 12,100 digital copies, and peaked at number 15 in its fourth week.[107] In New Zealand, Beyoncé debuted at number two and was certified platinum by Recorded Music NZ for sales of 15,000 copies.[108] In the Netherlands, the album debuted atop the Dutch Albums Chart, giving Beyoncé her first number-one album in the country.[109] In Australia, Beyoncé entered the ARIA Albums Chart at number two, with first-week sales of 31,102 digital copies.[110] The album topped the chart in its third week, becoming Beyoncé's first number-one album in Australia.[111] It spent three consecutive weeks at number one and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for sales of 70,000 copies.[112][113] As of January 2014, Beyoncé has sold three million copies worldwide.[2]

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Beyoncé.[114][115]

Beyoncé – Disc 1 (CD)
No. TitleWriter(s)Producer(s) Length
1. "Pretty Hurts"  
 4:17
2. "Haunted"  
 6:09
3. "Drunk in Love" (featuring Jay Z)
  • Detail
  • Knowles
  • Timbaland[b]
  • Harmon[b]
  • Boots[b]
  • Soko[b]
 5:23
4. "Blow"  
 5:09
5. "No Angel"  
  • Polachek
  • Knowles
  • Asher[b]
 3:48
6. "Partition"  
  • Timbaland
  • Harmon
  • Timberlake
  • Knowles
  • Key Wane
  • Dean[b]
  • Boots[b]
 5:19
7. "Jealous"  
  • Fisher
  • Knowles
  • Proctor
  • Diaz
  • Soko
  • Asher
  • Detail
  • Knowles
  • Boots[b]
  • Hit-Boy[b]
  • Proctor[b]
 3:04
8. "Rocket"  
  • Timbaland
  • Knowles
  • Harmon[a]
 6:31
9. "Mine" (featuring Drake)
 6:18
10. "XO"  
  • Tedder
  • Nash
  • Knowles
  • Hit-Boy[b]
  • HazeBanga Music[b]
 3:35
11. "Flawless" (featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
  • Hit-Boy
  • Knowles
  • Rey Reel Music[a]
  • Boots[b]
 4:10
12. "Superpower" (featuring Frank Ocean)
  • Williams
  • Frank Ocean
  • Asher
  • Knowles
  • Williams
  • Boots[b]
  • Knowles[c]
 4:36
13. "Heaven"  
  • Asher
  • Knowles
  • Boots
  • Knowles
 3:50
14. "Blue" (featuring Blue Ivy)
  • Asher
  • Knowles
  • Boots
  • Knowles
 4:26
Total length:
 66:35
Notes
  • ^[a] signifies a co-producer
  • ^[b] signifies an additional producer
  • ^[c] signifies a vocal producer
  • "No Angel" is stylized as "Angel".[114]
  • "Flawless" is stylized as "***Flawless".
Sampling credits

Personnel

Credits adapted from Beyoncé' website.[115]

Performers and musicians
  • Kelly Rowland – background vocals (track 12)
  • Michelle Williams – background vocals (track 12)
  • Stefan Skarbek – background vocals (track 12)
  • Kwane Wyatt – additional background vocals (track 2)
  • Melissa Vargas – "The Lord's Prayer" reciting (track 13)
  • Katty Rodriguez – horns (track 4)
  • Adison Evans – horns (track 4)
  • Crystal Torres – horns (track 4)
  • Mike Scott – guitar (track 8)
  • Dwayne Wright – bass (track 8)
  • Margot – violin, violin arrangement (tracks 12, 14)
  • Steven Wolf – live drums

Technical personnel

  • Beyoncé – executive production, production (tracks 1–8, 10, 11, 13, 14), vocal production
  • Ammo – production (track 1)
  • Boots – production (tracks 2, 13, 14), additional production (tracks 3, 5–7, 11, 12), recording (tracks 2, 13, 14), instruments (tracks 2, 3, 7, 11), additional arranging (track 11)
  • Noel "Detail" Fisher – production (tracks 3, 7)
  • Pharrell Williams – production (tracks 4, 12)
  • Caroline Polachek – production (track 5), recording (track 5), synths and drum programming (track 5)
  • Timbaland – production (tracks 6, 8), additional production (track 3), co-production (track 4)
  • Jerome Harmon – production (track 6), additional production (track 3), co-production (tracks 4, 8)
  • Justin Timberlake – production (track 6), background vocals (tracks 6, 8)
  • Key Wane – production (track 6), intro keys and intro programming (track 9)
  • Noah "40" Shebib – production (track 9), recording (track 9)
  • Terius "The Dream" Nash – production (track 10)
  • Ryan Tedder – production (track 10), recording (track 10), instruments and programming (track 10)
  • Hit-Boy – production (track 11), additional production (tracks 7, 10), additional drum programming (track 2)
  • Rey Reel Music – co-production (track 11)
  • Brian Soko – additional production (track 3)
  • Mike Dean – additional production (track 6)
  • Andre Proctor – additional production (track 7)
  • Majid Jordan – additional production (track 9)
  • Sidney "Omen" Brown – additional production (track 9), additional drum programming (track 9)
  • Stuart White – recording (all tracks), mixing (tracks 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 13), digital editing and arrangement (tracks 4, 12), additional mixing (track 5), mix engineering (track 7)
  • Chris Godbey – recording (tracks 4, 6, 8), mixing (track 8)
  • Bart Schoudel – recording (tracks 4, 6)
  • Andrew Coleman – recording (tracks 4, 12), digital editing and arrangement (tracks 4, 12)
  • Ann Mincieli – recording (track 6)
  • Noel Cadastre – recording (track 9)
  • Jordan "DJ Swivel" Young – recording (track 11)
  • James Krausse – recording (track 12), mix engineering (tracks 2, 3, 7, 11, 13), assistant mix engineering (track 4), assistant engineering (track 14), mastering (track 1)
  • Mike Larson – recording (track 12)
  • Rob Cohen – recording (track 13)
  • Jonathan Lee – recording (track 14)
  • Ramon Rivas – second engineering (tracks 1, 2, 4–11, 13, 14), assistant engineering (tracks 3, 12)
  • Rob Suchecki – second engineering (tracks 1, 7, 11)
  • Hajiba Fahmy – spoken words recording (track 6)
  • Derek Dixie – additional synth sounds (tracks 1, 3, 6), additional SFX (track 1), mix consultation (tracks 2–4, 6, 7, 11), horns arrangement (track 4)
  • Niles Hollowell-Dhar – additional synth sounds (track 6)
  • Tony Maserati – mixing (tracks 2, 3, 6, 7, 11–14)
  • Andrew Scheps – mixing (tracks 5, 10)
  • Noel "Gadget" Campbell – mixing (track 9)
  • Justin Hergett – mix engineering (tracks 2, 4, 7, 11) assistant mix engineering (tracks 3, 5, 6, 12), assistant engineering (tracks 10, 13, 14)
  • Tyler Scott – assistant mix engineering (track 2), assistant engineering (track 11)
  • Matt Weber – assistant engineering (tracks 4, 6, 8, 12)
  • Jon Castelli – assistant engineering (track 12)
  • Christian Humphreys – assistant engineering (track 13)
  • Paul Pavao – assistant mix engineering (track 4)
  • Edward Valldejuli – assistant mix engineering (track 4)
  • Chris Tabron – mix engineering (track 6), assistant mix engineering (track 12)
  • Matt Wiggers – assistant mix engineering (track 6)
  • Chris Cannon – assistant mix engineering (track 8)
  • Carlos Perezdeanda – second engineering assistant (track 7)
  • Tom Coyne – mastering (tracks 2–14)
  • Aya Merrill – mastering (tracks 2–14)

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2013–14) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[116] 1
Australian Urban Albums (ARIA)[117] 1
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[118] 12
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[119] 4
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[120] 9
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[ 1] 1
Croatian Albums Chart[121] 1
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[ 1] 5
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[122] 2
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[123] 1
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[124] 5
French Albums (SNEP)[125] 10
German Albums (Media Control)[126] 11
Greek Albums (IFPI)[127] 12
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[ 1] 26
Irish Albums (IRMA)[ 1] 2
Italian Albums (FIMI)[128] 14
Mexican Albums (AMPROFON)[129] 15
New Zealand Albums (Recorded Music NZ)[130] 2
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[131] 2
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[ 1] 2
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[132] 3
Russian Albums Chart[133] 1
Scottish Albums (OCC)[ 1] 2
Slovenian Albums Chart (SLO TOP 30)[134] 5
South African Albums Chart[135] 5
South Korean Albums Chart (GAON)[136] 9
South Korean International Albums Chart (GAON)[137] 2
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[138] 8
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[139] 27
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[140] 4
Taiwanese International Albums Chart (G-Music)[141] 2
UK Albums (OCC)[ 1] 2
UK R&B Albums (OCC)[ 1] 1
US Billboard 200[ 1] 1
US Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums (Billboard)[ 1] 1
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[ 1] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (2013) Position
Australian Albums Chart[142] 23
Australian Urban Albums Chart[143] 3
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[144] 180
Dutch Albums Chart[145] 39

Certifications

[153]
Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[113] Platinum 70,000^
Brazil (ABPD)[146] 2× Platinum 80,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[147] Platinum 80,000^
Ireland (IRMA)[148] Gold 7,500x
New Zealand (RMNZ)[149] Platinum 15,000^
Poland (ZPAV)[150] Platinum 20,000*
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[151] Gold 15,000x
United Kingdom (BPI)[152] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[154] Platinum 1,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region Date Format Label Ref.
Worldwide December 13, 2013 Digital download
[155]
Australia December 20, 2013 CD+DVD [156]
France [107]
New Zealand [157]
Poland [158]
United Kingdom [159]
United States [160][161]
Mexico December 26, 2013 [162]
Turkey January 3, 2014 [163]
Portugal January 13, 2014 [164]
Japan February 12, 2014 Sony Music Entertainment Japan [165]

See also

Book icon
  • Book: Beyoncé (album)

References

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  148. ↑ "2013 Certification Awards". IRMA. December, 2013. Retrieved January 31, 2014. 
  149. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Beyonce – Beyonce". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. 
  150. ↑ "Polish album certifications – Beyonce – Beyonce" (in Polish). Polish Producers of Audio and Video (ZPAV). January 29, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2014. 
  151. ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Beyoncé; 'Beyoncé')". Hung Medien. 
  152. ↑ "British album certifications – Beyonce – Beyonce". British Phonographic Industry.  Enter Beyonce in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
  153. ↑ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a548525/beyonce-celine-dion-albums-certified-platinum-in-uk.html
  154. ↑ "Gold & Platinum – Beyoncé". Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). February 3, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2014. 
  155. ↑ "BEYONCÉ AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE NOW". Columbia Records. December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2013. 
  156. ↑ "Beyonce – CD/DVD". Sanity. Retrieved December 20, 2013. 
  157. ↑ "Beyonce - Beyonce". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved January 12, 2014. 
  158. ↑ "Beyonce - Beyonce" (in Polish). Empik. Retrieved December 15, 2013. 
  159. ↑ "Beyonce [CD+DVD]". Sainsbury's Entertainment. Retrieved December 16, 2013. 
  160. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (December 16, 2013). "Target Won't Sell Beyoncé's New Album". Billboard. Retrieved December 16, 2013. 
  161. ↑ "Beyonce (Explicit) (CD/DVD)". Walmart. December 20, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013. 
  162. ↑ "BEYONCE (CD + DVD) (EXPLICIT VERSION)". Mixup. Retrieved December 18, 2013. 
  163. ↑ "BEYONCE (CD + DVD)". D&R. Retrieved December 22, 2013. 
  164. ↑ "Beyoncé (CD+DVD)". Fnac. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2013. 
  165. ↑ "Beyonce CD+DVD". CDJapan (in Japanese). Retrieved December 23, 2013. 
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