Becoming Beyoncé

by J. Randy Taraborrelli

  For her next album, Beyoncé realized that she couldn’t simply release another collection of well-produced but typical songs into the marketplace and then hope for the best. She would have to do something that would raise eyebrows, cause a sensation, and, maybe if she was lucky, even break a few barriers. Now more than ever, she needed to make a real statement about herself and her artistry. The stakes were high, and she knew it. “I have a lot to prove with this one, not to just everyone else but to myself,” she said privately at this time. “I’m not blind to it. I know it, and I know what I have to do.”

  Since firing Mathew, for the last couple of years Beyoncé had been pondering the idea of an album that would be experimental in its creation and marketing. The standard way it unfolds in the music business—the way it happened for virtually all of her Destiny’s Child and solo albums—was that the artist hands the music over to the label, which then decides when to schedule its release, leaking a song here or there to whet the public’s appetite weeks, sometimes months, in advance. Then, when the album is finally issued, the label sends the artist out on a promotional tour to promote it. Finally, one video is produced for each single release over a period of months, and then that video is doled out to the public with its corresponding song. That’s how it has been done for at least a generation. However, Beyoncé wondered what it would be like if that wasn’t how it was done. She dreamed of using present-day Internet technology to simply put the music in the hands and ears of her fans when she was ready for them to hear it . . . and the way she wanted them to hear it.

  When Beyoncé shared her idea with associates, they advised her that it couldn’t be done. “Perhaps if you were a new, independent artist just starting out,” reasoned one well-meaning member of her coterie. “But you’re a machine; you can’t even go to the bathroom without your label participating and without the press hearing about it.” Beyoncé knew that wasn’t completely true, though. After all, she had begun work on B’Day without Mathew knowing she was in the studio until it was too late for him to weigh in about it. To Beyoncé, can’t pretty much always means can.

  Her innovative idea was fascinating on another level because it showed an “old school” mentality that was probably, ironically enough considering the circumstances of her recent life, influenced by Mathew. She would note that back in the 1980s (and certainly before), an artist was judged by its audience based on an entire album, not just a few songs. But today, thanks to the Internet age of downloading music, fans don’t have the opportunity to listen to a comprehensive work in total. As the listener points and clicks his way through the music, he’s missing out on the chance to have a song actually grow on him, or to discover something about it he may have missed in the first few listenings.

  “I feel like, right now, people experience music differently,” she said. “I miss that immersive experience,” she said. “Now people only listen to a few seconds of songs on the iPods and they don’t really invest in a whole album. It’s all about the single and the hype. So much gets between the music and the art and the fans. I felt like, I don’t want anybody to give 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. I told my team I want to shoot a video for every song and put them out at the same time. Everyone thought I was crazy.”

  Maybe she was “crazy,” but she was also the boss, and so during the summer of 2012, Beyoncé’s eccentric plan went into full-blown execution mode. The first thing that happened was that she and Jay rented a large home in the Hamptons on Long Island. She had a studio set up there, and then she invited about a dozen songwriters and musicians to come stay with her and Jay to write and record on whim. The idea was that she could kick back with her husband and their new child, and at the same time knock around musical ideas—“a working vacation.” A house staff and chef were hired so that guests would be free to do whatever they liked—swim, play games, or simply relax—as long as they were also making music. In some ways, it was how she had recorded B’Day, with everyone working together at the same time at the Sony studio in New York, except now everyone had his own bedroom and private bath in a five-star setting.

  Since everyone had careers to tend to and couldn’t spend weeks on end at the Hamptons house, recording there eventually folded, and later in 2013 moved to Jungle City Studios in Manhattan. The project gained momentum when Jay introduced Beyoncé to Jordy “BOOTS” Asher, a young songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist who had fronted and/ or worked with several indie rock bands. Meanwhile, Beyoncé continued working with other songwriters and musicians, names she’d collaborated with before such as Ryan Tedder and Pharrell Williams, as well as names that were new to a Beyoncé production, such as Dwane “Key Wane” Weir, who would coproduce for the Beyoncé project the provocative “Partition,” and Chauncey “Hit-Boy” Hollis, who collaborated with Beyoncé and others to create “Jealous,” “XO,” and “Flawless.”

  After the songs were recorded, videos had to be produced for all of them, again under the same cloak of secrecy. The dancers who appeared in the videos didn’t even know exactly what they were filming, or why. All of the work was done while Beyoncé was on the road, and so as the dancers traveled by bus from one destination to the other, they talked among themselves, wondering exactly what was going on, but also knowing not to ask any questions to anyone in charge.

  “It was actually thrilling,” says Tenesha Ksyn Cason, a.k.a. Miss Ksyn. “We knew the song titles, but we didn’t know how or when or even in what form the videos would be coming out. It was a tough schedule, too. I remember we were performing in Mexico during the South American leg of the Mrs. Carter tour. We flew from Mexico to Houston to shoot the beginning of the ‘Blow’ and ‘Cherry’ videos. We then flew back to Mexico the next day to do a show. Then back to Houston the day after that to finish shooting the two videos. Then we flew to Puerto Rico to perform the last show of the South American leg. You can imagine how organized all of this has to be to pull it off. Plus you’re learning lots of new choreography at the same time.

  “I remember being very nervous about using a hashtag I often use when doing makeup tutorials on social media: #Flawless,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘Oh no, I can’t use that hashtag right now because that’s the name of one of the secret songs! They’re gonna think I’m hashtagging a song from the album.’ ”

  Then, finally—like a thief in the night without prior announcement or promotion, in the early morning of December 13, 2013—it came: a fourteen-track collection of all-new songs simply titled Beyoncé. Issued exclusively through the iTunes Store, the initial release of Beyoncé featured no physical copy. Stunning in its musical eccentricity and its bold, in-your-face sexuality, the music was accompanied by seventeen short films that illuminated the album’s lyrical content.

  Immediately, two of the songs took off: “Blow,” produced by Pharrell Williams, and “Drunk in Love,” produced primarily by Timbaland. “XO,” produced primarily by Ryan Tedder, also garnered immediate acceptance. Many stations, though, just played the entire album, which is unheard of these days.

  With this record, Beyoncé had revolutionized the release of popular music in the twenty-first century. With no promotion or marketing platform, she’d put out an album available exclusively as a download in long form only that sold 1.3 million copies in seventeen days—seven days before physical copies were distributed to retailers. By the end of 2014, the album would go on to sell more than five million copies worldwide. Though none of the singles reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100—“Drunk in Love” peaked at number two on that chart—it didn’t matter at all; the album sold close to a million copies in the first week alone, the fastest-selling album in the history of iTunes.

  Beyoncé debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making it her fifth consecutive number one album in America. She had completely changed the game; suddenly, singles and chart positions became nothing more than an archaic frivolity.

  Profess
ionally, the release of Beyoncé was obviously a huge achievement. As she stood in a conference room shortly after its phenomenal success and thanked the many members of her staff at Parkwood, only she, her family members, and her close friends recognized the true gravity of the accomplishment. After all, she’d done what she’d set out to do: She’d proved that she could hold her own without her father. It would never be the same without Mathew at the forefront of her career, and she had to accept as much. That didn’t mean it wouldn’t be worthwhile, though, and maybe even in some ways more rewarding. While the past was in the past, she now knew more than ever that the future held great promise.

  Prologue to a Scandal

  Though it was just a few minutes of grainy black-and-white surveillance footage, it would become the subject of great fascination around the world. It would be examined frame by frame and discussed on the Internet and on major news outlets—ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN—as if of great national importance. It would also make for screaming newspaper and tabloid headlines. Many people would have an opinion about it, even though no one other than the actual participants in the event would know for certain what had occurred.

  In fact, the footage—which was first revealed by the gossip site TMZ—was actually quite astonishing: Solange Knowles was seen kicking and punching Jay Z with all the skill of a novice mixed martial artist while a frustrated but ultimately useless bodyguard did what he could to hold her back. Meanwhile, Beyoncé stood by placidly watching, not making much of an effort to interfere, not looking stunned or surprised, just appearing completely disengaged. If it had been a scene concerning any other major celebrities, it probably would have made news. However, because it involved Beyoncé and Jay, both of whom had gone to such pains for more than ten years to protect their privacy, it took on special significance, as if it was a sneak peak into the shocking reality of their private lives.

  Of course, there are many rumors about what had occurred to cause the dispute, which happened as the trio was leaving the Met Gala, an annual fund-raiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute in Manhattan. In order to understand what happened, it helps to have a little more insight into the kind of woman Solange Piaget Knowles has become with the passing of the years. “Fact is, she’s more badass than ever,” is how one of Solange’s friends put it in 2014.

  As we have seen, Solange has always been fiercely protective of Beyoncé. Back when Lyndall Locke broke up with Beyoncé, it was Solange who wanted to have it out with him. At that time, Beyoncé asked her to please leave the poor guy alone. Years later, Solange would tweet about once plotting to murder her sister’s ex-boyfriend. She didn’t name him, but Beyoncé has only had one other than Jay, and that’s Lyndall. “I had a great plan, too,” she tweeted, along with a happy face; obviously, she was being facetious, but even Lyndall today says he’s glad she didn’t follow up on her “plan,” whatever it was. In more recent times when it comes to Jay, it’s rumored that whenever Solange has felt that he has slighted Beyoncé in some way, she has stepped in to try to set him straight. No doubt she feels that it’s her duty as her sister.

  Beyoncé and Jay must have discussed their boundaries when it comes to cheating back in 2006 when the rumor went around that he was having an affair with Rihanna. Since then it has been widely rumored, especially in 2014, that Jay has cheated on Beyoncé. However, despite all the speculation and innuendo—and a mountain of gossipy tabloid stories—there’s simply no credible evidence to support it. One thing is certain though, at least according to people who know them best: If Solange feels that Jay or anyone else has disrespected her sister, she will not let it pass.

  Solange and Jay have been in each other’s lives for almost fifteen years. Their relationship is said to be complex. They certainly have no animus for each other. They’re more like siblings who have their explosive emotional moments and then get over them quickly and move past them. When Solange is angry with Jay, she makes sure he—and everyone else—knows it. It has been the backstory of their relationship almost from the beginning.

  The Elevator

  It all started on May 5, 2014, when Beyoncé, Jay, and Solange attended the Met Gala. Swarmed annually by celebrities from around the world, the soiree is considered a major public relations and news event. All three were dressed appropriately for the occasion.

  Beyoncé looked stunning as ever in a dramatic sheer black Givenchy evening gown covered in sparkling black-and-gold beads, crystals, and studs. The low neckline, cut almost to her navel, showed off a lot of skin, but she was tantalizingly covered in all the right places. Her makeup showed off a dramatic lip, achieved with deep wine lipstick. It was a classic noir vintage look, especially with her hair styled in a slick side-part chignon and her eyes covered by a veil, reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich’s iconic look. Solange looked glamorous in a sleeveless pink V-neck Phillip Lim dress, with yards of tufted silk fabric and a bubble hem. She wore her hair in a short, choppy pixie cut. Meanwhile, Jay was dapper in his perfectly fitted white tux jacket with matching silk shirt, black slacks, and black bow tie.

  Because of the attention the incident generated, one can’t be blamed for hoping that the reasons behind it were explosive enough to merit such attention. It seems they really weren’t. In fact, it appears to have been just a simple disagreement between family members, one that obviously got out of hand.

  In talking to people who know Beyoncé and Jay and Solange, everyone has a version of the story. Of course, the only three people who know for certain what happened are the three principal players, and the bodyguard in the elevator with them. Here, though, is the most agreed-upon, credible account of what happened in that elevator. Naturally, none of the participants has verified this account, but according to people who know them best, this is what happened.

  The chain of events is said to have begun when Jay said he wanted to attend an after-party hosted by Rihanna. It would overstate things to say that Beyoncé is jealous of Rihanna, but because of what happened almost seven years earlier relating to her, she may justifiably remain a little sensitive where she is concerned. Perhaps it was a business decision on Jay’s part to want to attend the Rihanna party, since she’d just signed a new deal to record with his Roc Nation Records. Whatever his reasoning, he and Beyoncé had words about it—a “whispered argument” according to one source close to the situation—and that was the end of it. Jay was not going to be attending that party. Had it not been witnessed by Solange, it probably would have been over and done with. However, because Solange knew that Rihanna was a sore spot for her sister, she pulled Jay aside and had angry words with him. In response, Jay apparently told her to mind her own business, and then walked away from her. “Everyone knows little sister can be volatile,” said Jaz-O. “You want to talk about a powerful woman not allowing herself to be shut down by a man? Well, that’s Solange.”

  As soon as the three of them were alone in an elevator, along with Jay’s bodyguard, we all saw what happened: Solange let Jay have it with a barrage of wild punches and kicks, all as the bodyguard tried to get between them. Beyoncé, for the most part, stood by passively, registering nothing on her face—she was just blank. At one point she bent down just to save the long train of her gown from the fray. It was as if she couldn’t connect to the gravity of what was going on, or maybe a better way to put it is that, at long last, she had finally come face-to-face with the real “Sasha Fierce”—her own sister—and didn’t quite know how to deal with it.

  What is arguably more fascinating than what happened to cause the fracas in the elevator was watching the two Knowles women play out their roles, their true and authentic identities revealed to the world. In one corner, there was Beyoncé, a person who seems to have long had trouble grappling with complex emotions and now seemed unable to connect to the reality of her husband being attacked by her sister. In the other, we had Solange, who from all accounts has lived her life out loud without pretense, now accessing her rage as only she could, and not caring how anyon
e in her midst felt about it. She likely wouldn’t have done so if she’d known cameras were filming, but she’s capable of it—and we now know that for certain. After a few minutes, just when it seemed that Solange had finally calmed down, she went after Jay again, throwing in a few more kicks and punches for good measure before the elevator reached their floor. Perhaps luckily for the principal players, there was no audio.

  “Solange’s whole thing was, Look, I’m gonna check your ass real quick in this here elevator,” observed Choke No Joke. “I’m not putting up with you and neither is my sister. Then, I’m gonna get off this elevator and play like nothin’ ever happened. So, if you think about it, Solange can be a little political too, because she wasn’t about to put him on blast in front of the masses, only behind closed doors.”

  Once the elevator doors opened, out stepped Beyoncé, Jay, and Solange, looking as if nothing the least bit unusual had occurred—Beyoncé with a faint and mysterious smile, Solange looking tense and maybe even a little out of breath, both sashaying their way toward their vehicle as if on a runway while flashbulbs popped all around them. The only telltale sign of anything untoward having occurred was poor Jay rubbing the side of his face, as if he’d caught a nasty right hook.

  Matriarch in Charge

  I don’t know how we do this, but we do it as a family.”