4 the fourth album from one of the greatest artists of the current music era, Beyonce, celebrates its 10th anniversary this week. The album marked a slight trajectory change in Beyonces' career. It followed the severing of professional ties with her father and manager Matthew Knowles and also saw her incorporate a variety of traditional R&B elements in its sonics.
On her website at the time of its release she wrote that, "the album is definitely an evolution. It's bolder than the music on my previous albums because I'm bolder. The more mature I become and the more life experiences I have, the more I have to talk about. I really focused on songs being classics, songs that would last, songs that I could sing when I'm 40 and when I'm 60."
4 would peak at #3 on the New Zealand Albums chart. It's success has been debated in the music community. It was Beyonces' first album to not produce a Top 10 hit in the US. Two of the seven singles were Top 10 hits here in NZ. It terms of sales it ranks #6 for Beyonce having sold the least out of her six studio albums.
With all that being said this album was considered a more intimate, personal album emphasising independence, female empowerment, and self-reflection. 4 contains some of Beyonces' most powerful songs to date. Let's take a look back.
No song grabbed the bull by the horns for the theme more than the first single "Run The World (Girls)." While some complained that the theme was similar to some of her previous songs like "Independent Women" with Destiny's Child and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" this song took a more direct approach with its unapologetic message promoting female empowerment. It peaked at #9 on the NZ Top 40.
The ballad "Best Thing I Never Had" was released as the second single and peaked at #5 on the NZ Top 40. The song was originally not written to be a ballad. Early demos have more of a hip-hop influence as Doug E. Freshs' 1985 single "The Show" was inspiration for the song.
"Party" was the first song Beyonce worked on for the album. While the video featured a verse from rapper J. Cole the album version featured Andre 3000 of the group OutKast, it would be the only feature for 4. When asked about the collab with Beyonce, Andre 3000 said, "I've always felt Beyonce was one of the best performers of out time, so to collaborate with her was an honour and a pleasure."
The music video for "Love on Top" was insipired by New Editions video for "If It Isn't Love." In the song she goes through a total of four key changes and has a different outfit for each key in the video. It would be the eighth song picked for the album. Beyonce was inspired from her role as Etta James in the 2008 film Cadillac Records in making the song.
"When I played Etta James it was the most I'd learned about myself until the recording of this album. When I went into the studio I used the same passion, honesty, and approach with my vocals I channelled as Etta James. It does not sound like the vocals on my past albums. It's a lot rawer. It comes from a deep place."
"Love On Top" would win Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 5th Grammy Awards.
Featured as the fifth single from the album "Countdown" saw Beyonce mix musical styles of the 90s with the 80s. The video was notable for the featuring a pregnant Beyonce.
Probably the least prominent of all the singles released "I Care" was distributed as the sixth single off of 4. "I Care" falls in the power ballad arena and features Beyonce belting with power and emotion. It was the second song to be chosen overall for the album.
The seventh and final single from the album was "End of Time." Originally it was considered to be the second single behind "Run The World (Girls)." It was the tenth song chosen for 4.
As a whole project 4 sometimes gets lost in the Beyonce catalogue. That's nothing against the album or the songs on it. It is a solid project overall. It probably suffers from having the least overall interesting story when compared to the Sasha Fierce era, her debut or even a project like Lemonade.
All in all were just hoping to get through this without offending the Beehive. But 4 is certainly worth a celebration on its 10th anniversary and you can do so with a listen below.
