I Am… Sasha Fierce is the third studio album by Beyoncé, released on November 12, 2008, by Columbia Records. It was released as a double album, with side one I Am representing Beyoncé's personality and a more intimate writing style. Side two, Sasha Fierce represents Beyoncé's on-stage alter ego Sasha Fierce. A deluxe edition of the album was released simultaneously alongside the standard edition.
The album was recording between November 2007 and August 2008. Beyoncé recorded at multiple different recording studios and either co-wrote or co-produced all material on I Am... Sasha Fierce. She collaborated with several record producers and songwriters, including Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Stargate (a production duo composed of Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen), Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Terius "The-Dream" Nash, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Sean Garrett, Solange, Jim Jonsin, Rico Love, Ryan Tedder, Shondrae "Bangladesh" Crawford, Ian Dench, Dave McCracken, Wayne Wilkins and Elvis Williams. Beyoncé also collaborated with some musicians she had never worked with in the past, including Toby Gad and BC Jean on "If I Were a Boy", and Amanda Ghost on "Disappear".
“
I'm a human being. I cry. I'm very passionate and sensitive. My feelings get hurt. I get scared and nervous like everyone else. And I wanted to show that about myself. It [The album] is about love. I'm a woman, I'm married, and this portion of my life is all in the album. It's a lot more personal. I'm very private and I don't talk about a lot of things, but there are certain songs that are on the album that are very personal. It's my diary. It's my story... I still have my album of fun songs. - Beyoncé
”
For the I Am... disc, Beyoncé was influenced by folk and alternative rock genres, while incorporating other instruments she had not normally used previously, such as the acoustic guitar. Tedder specifically assisted Beyoncé with crafting the album's balladry. The ballads were crafted in a way to combine "the best elements" of pop and soul music, while simultaneously "expanding the possibilities of both genres". Beyoncé attempted something different as people had strong expectations from her; she experimented with stronger lyrics. Beyoncé worked with Ghost to re-write Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria" after having co-written "Disappear" in London. Ghost told The Daily Telegraph that they were both inspired by their then-recent marriages and had walked down the aisle to "Ave Maria".
During the eight-month period, Beyoncé recorded over 70 songs and decided during the editing process that she did not want to reconcile the two approaches into one disc. If a song was meaningless to her, she cut them off during the process of elimination for the final track-listing. Making comparisons to a magazine, Beyoncé further elaborated that the record was a double album and that it had two covers. The black-and-white artworks for the standard, deluxe and platinum editions of I Am... Sasha Fierce were all shot by German photographer Peter Lindbergh.
Release and promotion[]
Beyoncé promoted I Am... Sasha Fierce through various televised appearances and awards ceremonies by performing songs featured on the album from late 2008 until early 2010. Beyoncé's father and then-manager Mathew Knowles held a listening party for the album in New York City on October 22, 2008. Beyoncé first promoted "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" in a concert organized by the Power 105.1 radio station on October 29. Beyoncé first performed "If I Were a Boy" on October 31, on the Japanese music television program Music Station. She later performed “If I Were a Boy” on November 6, at the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards. Soon after, she sang "If I Were a Boy" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" on November 9, at the 2008 World Music Awards in Monaco. She then took to the stage of The Oprah Winfrey Show to perform "If I Were a Boy" on November 13. She appeared on Saturday Night Live on November 15, where she sang "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". On November 16, Beyoncé sang a medley of "If I Were a Boy", "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", and "Crazy in Love" during the final episode of Total Request Live.
I Am... Sasha Fierce was released in the United States on November 18, 2008, and previously in Japan on November 12, in Australia and Germany on November 14, and in France and the United Kingdom on November 17; deluxe edition of the album was released simultaneously with the standard edition. Beyoncé performed "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" on BET's 106 & Park on November 18, at the 2008 American Music Awards on November 23, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on November 25, on Today the following day, and on The Tyra Banks Show with two male dancers, on January 9, 2009. Beyoncé's first live performance of "Halo" was at the 40th NAACP Image Awards on February 12, 2009. She later performed the song on the Late Show with David Letterman after an interview on April 22, 2009. Beyoncé performed "Sweet Dreams" at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards on November 5. Beyoncé performed "If I Were a Boy" on January 31, 2010, at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony, along with a cover of Alanis Morissette's song "You Oughta Know" (1995). In February 2010, the bonus track "Why Don't You Love Me" from the album's multiple reissues, climbed up the US Dance Club Songs, eventually taking the top spot and becoming Beyoncé's thirteenth number-one hit on the chart. On May 4, 2010, a full-length music video appeared online after its release as a promotional single.
The platinum edition of I Am... Sasha Fierce was released in Australia on Beyoncé's twenty-eighth birthday on September 4, 2009, and in the United States on October 20, 2009; it included a cover version of Billy Joel's song "Honesty" (1979), as well as a DVD containing various music videos from the album. The deluxe edition of I Am... Sasha Fierce was reissued in the United States on November 23, 2009, including all of the previously released songs in addition to the new songs "Poison" and the remix of "Video Phone" with Lady Gaga. An extended play (EP) titled I Am... Sasha Fierce – The Bonus Tracks was released the same day for digital download in the United States, featuring the latter songs, along with "Why Don't You Love Me".
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