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Daddy Lessons (2016)Īlways smart in her choice of collaborators, Beyoncé’s pairing here with Nashville refuseniks the Chicks is particularly inspired. The original version of I Care is great, a maelstrom of drums and floating, ambient synth over which Beyoncé does her wronged-woman thing with style, but the live version on Homecoming turns everything – rhythm track, emotional intensity – up to full, and throws in marching band horns for added urgency. And the vocal is spectacular – check out the improvisation panning between left and right speakers at 3min 36sec.

The negative image of Crazy in Love, Me, Myself and I moves seamlessly from heartbroken to screw you – “come pick up your clothes” – to sing-it-with-me-girls empowerment over a super-cool G-funk-ish beat.

Interest in Lemonade tended to focus on what it revealed about the state of the Carter-Knowles marriage, but it was as musically adventurous as it was soul-bearing, as evidenced by Freedom, a flatly astonishing explosion of 60s psychedelia, Alan Lomax field recordings, punishing beats and ferocious Kendrick Lamar guest appearance.Īt the 2008 American Music awards. Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s collaborative album, Everything Is Love, paled a little by comparison to their preceding solo releases, particularly Lemonade, but it had its moments, not least the trap-infused Apeshit, which proved what Savage later underlined: that Beyoncé is pretty great at rapping. It’s electrifying from start to finish: the see-sawing organ part, the pounding drums, the explosive backing vocals, the unexpected melodic climb into the chorus. Freakum Dress (2006)Ī song that belatedly provoked a TikTok meme, quite why Freakum Dress wasn’t released as a single from B-Day remains an enduring mystery. “A diva,” announces Beyoncé’s drag-queen-inspired alter ego Sasha Fierce, “is a female version of a hustler”. Diva (2008)Īudibly similar to Lil Wayne’s A Milli, but none the worse for that, Diva’s brilliance lies in the way it snappily reclaims an insult hurled at women, particularly successful ones. Photograph: Courtesy of Parkwood Entertainment/Parkwood Entertainment 23. A beautifully written song about the seldom-explored topic of long-term monogamy, its musical setting nods towards 60s southern soul, lent extra power by the emotional commitment in her voice.Ī still from Homecoming. All Night (2016)Ī low-key delight amid Lemonade’s attention-grabbing hell-hath-no-fury, All Night is, in its own way, as striking as anything on the album. There’s an argument that, while less hooky, it’s a melodically stronger song than its more famous sibling, and the intro, where Beyoncé gradually introduces each instrument over an urgent bassline, is spectacularly exciting. Déjà Vu (feat Jay-Z) (2006)Ī Jay-Z guest slot, blasting brass and a distinct old-school funk feel, but Déjà Vu is more than just Crazy in Love 2.0. A song about the messy cocktail of alcohol and sex, its lyrics are filled with gleeful double entendres – “park it in my lot”, “ride it on my surfboard” – while its music is equal parts woozy and euphoric. Drunk in Love (feat Jay-Z) (2013)ĭrunk in Love feels symbolic of a distinct loosening up of Beyoncé’s expertly choreographed image.

But it’s all about the vocal performance on her solo version, its switches from intimacy and vulnerability to full-throttle power always maintaining a hint of rawness.

On one level, Dangerously in Love – previously recorded by Destiny’s Child – is a decent, standard-issue R&B ballad, nothing like as distinctive as Beyoncé’s greatest songs. Photograph: Kevin Winter/BET/Getty Images for BET 27.