Dangerously in Love
Dangerously in Love is the debut solo studio album by American singer Beyoncé. It was released on June 23, 2003, by Columbia Records and Music World Entertainment.
This article is about the Beyoncé album. For the Destiny's Child and Beyoncé song, see Dangerously in Love 2.Dangerously in Love
During the recording of Destiny's Child's third studio album Survivor (2001), the group announced that each member would produce solo albums. Recording sessions for Dangerously in Love took place from March 2002 to March 2003 at various recording studios, during the group's hiatus. As the executive producer of the album, Beyoncé took a wider role in its production, co-writing a majority of the songs, choosing which ones to produce and sharing ideas on mixing and mastering. Although she remained discreet about her interpretation of the album's songs, their underlying meanings were attributed by media outlets as an allusion to her intimate relationship with rapper, Jay-Z. Musically, the album is a mixture of uptempo tracks and ballads, all of which are primarily R&B songs, while also incorporating elements of soul, hip hop and Arabic music.
Upon its release, Dangerously in Love received generally positive reviews from music critics, many of whom praised Beyoncé's "artistic leap". An international commercial success, the album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, selling 317,000 copies in its first week and earning Beyoncé the highest debut-week sales among Destiny's Child members' solo albums. At the 46th Annual Grammy Awards (2004), the album and its songs won five awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album; Beyoncé consequently tied with Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones for the record of most Grammy Awards won by a woman at a single ceremony.[l] Dangerously in Love has been certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and, as of 2011, has sold over 11 million copies worldwide.
Dangerously in Love produced four singles. "Crazy in Love" spent eight consecutive weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100, reaching the top ten almost everywhere it charted and winning two Grammy Awards. "Baby Boy" replicated the international commercial success of "Crazy in Love" while outlasting it atop the Billboard Hot 100 by one week. "Me, Myself and I" peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 while attaining lower peaks than its predecessors internationally. "Naughty Girl" peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and within the top ten in several additional countries. Beyoncé promoted the album via numerous live performances and two concert tours—Dangerously in Love Tour (2003) and Verizon Ladies First Tour (2004), the latter of which was co-headlined with Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott, while the former produced the live album Live at Wembley (2004).
Background and development[edit]
Beyoncé launched her career as the lead singer in the R&B girl group Destiny's Child in the late 1990s. According to Corey Moss of MTV News, "fans [were] eager to see" how Beyoncé, after years with the group, performs solo.[2] While recording their third album Survivor in late 2000, Beyoncé announced the group would be put on hiatus in order for the members to produce solo albums in the coming years, which they hoped would boost interest in Destiny's Child.[3] The idea of individual releases emanated from the group's manager and Beyoncé's father Mathew Knowles.[4] With different musical styles for each member to produce, the albums were not intended to compete on the charts. Destiny's Child's management strategically planned to stagger the release of each group member's album to maximize sales.[5]
Michelle Williams was the first to release a debut solo album, titled Heart to Yours, in April 2002.[5] Meanwhile, Beyoncé had her film debut in the comedy film Austin Powers in Goldmember, and recorded her debut single "Work It Out", which was featured on the film's soundtrack.[5] Kelly Rowland collaborated with American rapper Nelly on the song "Dilemma" (2002) as a featured artist; it became a US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, leading the label to advance the release date of her debut solo album Simply Deep to October. Beyoncé additionally starred in The Fighting Temptations (2003) and recorded another solo single. In August 2002, she collaborated with her now-husband Jay-Z as a featured vocalist on his song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde". Peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, the song earned Beyoncé credibility as a solo artist and paved the way for the release of Dangerously in Love.[5][6]
Music and lyrics[edit]
Beyoncé's father and then-manager Mathew Knowles said Dangerously in Love showcased her musical roots.[17] While Williams and Rowland explored on gospel and alternative pop styles, respectively, Beyoncé focused on recording R&B songs.[18] The album's tracks vary, ranging from mid-tempo and club-oriented tracks on the first half, to ballads on the second half.[10][19] Beyoncé commented: "My album is a good balance of ... ballads and ... mid-tempos with just ridin'-in-your-car feels, to a lot of ... up-tempo club songs, to really sexy songs, to songs that make you feel emotional. It's a nice mixture of different types of tracks."[20] Although it contains high-energy tracks such as "Crazy in Love" and "Naughty Girl", the album's focal mode, however, is slow and moody.[9] Beyoncé said she had mainly written ballads for the album.[10] She added that she wanted to be understood as an artist and showcase her range, and by doing so, she blended various genres and musical influences;[10] consequently, the album incorporates R&B, hip hop, soul, reggae and Arabic music influences.[21] Its hip hop influences came from Jay-Z, Outkast, and Lil' Kim, while the reggae influences came from Sean Paul.[10] Additionally, Scott Storch's personal study of Arabic music gave the album a Middle Eastern vibe.[22] Beyoncé and the producers also used a wide array of instrumentations.[21]
Lyrically, love was the theme Beyoncé had incorporated for Dangerously in Love the most. Surrounding the release of the album, there were persistent rumors of her relationship with Jay-Z, which would later be proven true. Though "most the material is vague enough to be about any relationship", the album consists multiple tracks suggesting affirmation of their relationship.[12] On "Signs", Beyoncé sings about being in love with a Sagittarius, Jay-Z's zodiac sign.[12] Beyoncé said the album was lyrically similar to Destiny's Child's albums. However, since she had to write only for herself, Beyoncé had the chance to compose personally deeper songs than previous records with the group.[10] With a theme based upon different stages of a romantic relationship, the album contains tracks speaking of romance and honesty. In addition, Beyoncé admitted some address sex.[9] The personal content of the album, however, was not generally attributed to Beyoncé's own experiences—although some songs were—instead, the theme kept recurring in her mind. Beyoncé later explained: "I wanted to have an album that everyone could relate to and would listen to as long as I'm alive and even after... Love is something that never goes out of style. It's something everybody experiences, and if they are not in love, people usually want to feel that..."[2] While some songs merely focus on the "beauty of love", the album also explores another side of love, with songs that "celebrate breakup" and songs that narrate a woman's desire to have a degree of control in a relationship.[2] The album's hidden track "Daddy" is a tribute to Mathew Knowles, being an account of Beyoncé wanting her future husband and son to possess qualities similar to her father's.[12] Originally, Beyoncé did not intend to include the track on the album, having thought its lyrics would make her appear immature. However, considering it one of the songs that reflected her life at that transitional moment, she relegated "Daddy" as the closing track.[23]
Title and packaging[edit]
Dangerously in Love was titled after a track of the same title from Destiny's Child's third studio album Survivor (2001), which Beyoncé re-recorded for the album. The song itself is lyrically about being romantically obsessed,[24] as indicated in the chorus: "I am in love with you / You set me free / I can't do this thing called life without you here with me".[25] When "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" was released as a single in October 2002, critics and the public had speculated that Beyoncé and Jay-Z were having a mutual affair.[26] Despite widespread rumors, they remained silent about their relationship.[12] According to critics, the album's title sounded "more intriguing" with Beyoncé singing personal songs.[2] Though love was the theme Beyoncé had incorporated in the album, "most of the material is vague enough to be about any relationship"; some tracks, however, alluded to the accuracy of the rumors.[12] In response to the rumors allegedly echoed in the album's title, Beyoncé stated: "People can come to whatever conclusion they like... That's the beauty of music... I'm a singer, I'll talk about writing songs all you want. But when it comes to certain personal things any normal person wouldn't tell people they don't know, I just feel like I don't have to [talk about it]."[12]
The album cover for Dangerously in Love was photographed by Markus Klinko. Beyoncé asked for a diamond-themed portrait, inspired by Klinko's 2000 campaign for Diamond.com showing Laetitia Casta lying on diamond-studded spider web.[27] Beyoncé's mother and stylist, Tina Knowles, brought a diamond top for the shoot.[28] Tina had brought skirts to pair it with, but Beyoncé felt they would look too "red carpet" with the top, according to Klinko. Instead, he lent Beyoncé his Dolce & Gabbana jeans for the shoot.[29] The photograph was edited in post-production to conceal Beyoncé's breasts.[30] Klinko said: "That famous pose she struck, with her arms out, she just did that. I didn't tell her to do that ... I just captured it."[31] He felt the image "projected who Beyoncé was about to become ... Within a couple of years she had become that iconic, undeniable superstar. The photoshoot created a road map to where she was headed."[30] The diamond top was displayed in the 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame exhibition dedicated to Beyoncé.[32]
Commercial performance[edit]
In the United States, Dangerously in Love debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart dated July 12, 2003, with first-week sales of 317,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.[102] Although its first-week sales failed to match those of Survivor (2001), which sold 663,000 copies, Beyoncé registered the highest single-week sales among Destiny's Child members' solo albums: Kelly Rowland's Simply Deep sold 77,000 copies in its first week, while Michelle Williams' Heart to Yours sold 17,000 copies in its strongest week.[102] Beyoncé became the first female artist and the fifth artist ever to simultaneously top both the single–with "Crazy in Love"–and album charts in the United States and the United Kingdom, following the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Rod Stewart and Men at Work.[103] In its second week, the album registered a 42-percent sales decrease to 183,000 copies, descending to number two behind Ashanti's Chapter II.[104] It remained behind Chapter II at number two in its third week, selling 132,000 copies.[105] The album has been certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[106] It remains Beyoncé's best-selling album in the country to date,[107] with cumulative sales of five million copies as of June 2016.[108][109] In Canada, the album debuted atop the Canadian Albums Chart[110] and has since been certified triple platinum by Music Canada.[111]
Across Europe, Dangerously in Love reached the summit in Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland and Norway, also peaking atop the European Top 100 Albums.[112][113][114][115] In November 2003, it was certified platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for sales of one million copies across Europe.[116] By July 2011, the album had sold over 1,143,000 copies in the UK,[117] being certified quadruple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[118] In Australia, the album debuted at number three on the ARIA Top 100 Albums, ascending to its peak at number two the following week.[119] It eventually went on to be certified triple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[120] In New Zealand, the album debuted at number 14, peaking at number eight in its second week.[121] It was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ).[122] In Japan, the album peaked at number 12 on the Oricon Albums Chart,[123] being certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).[124] As of 2011, Dangerously in Love has sold over 11 million copies worldwide.[125]
Notes
Sample credits