: This was her first album after parting ways professionally with her father/manager, Mathew Knowles, allowing her to take full creative control. Visual Direction
However, another notable feature from the album is: album 4 beyonce
By 2010, Beyoncé was the undisputed queen of pop-R&B. But behind the scenes, she was exhausted. In a now-famous interview, she revealed that she had recorded over 60 songs for 4 before scrapping nearly everything. The initial sessions leaned into the slick, Auto-Tuned, electro-pop sound dominating the charts. Her label, Columbia Records, reportedly pushed for more obvious hits. Instead, Beyoncé fired her longtime manager (her father, Mathew Knowles) and started over. : This was her first album after parting
Listening to 4 today feels like reading a diary. It is lush, romantic, and textured. It gave us the vulnerability of "Best Thing I Never Had" and the swag of "Party" (featuring Kanye West and André 3000). In a now-famous interview, she revealed that she
At the time of its release, 4 was considered a commercial risk because it ignored the "EDM" trends of 2011. However, it is now viewed as the project where Beyoncé "started making masterpieces," paving the way for her subsequent groundbreaking visual albums like Lemonade and Renaissance .