Beyonce Shrugs Off ‘Fear’ In ‘Year Of 4′
‘I’ve never been afraid to fall,’ she says in the special, which debuted Thursday on MTV.
By Jocelyn Vena
src="http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/bands/b/beyonce/yearof4/281x211.jpg"/>
Beyoncé in her “Year of <i>4</i>” special
Photo: MTV
It’s a good time to be Beyoncé. The singer just released her latest album, 4, and fans were taken behind the scenes of its completion in the special “Beyoncé: Year of 4,“ which debuted Thursday (June 30) on MTV.
The intimate special opens with black-and-white footage of the singer swimming. “I’m always happy when I’m surrounded by water,” she says. “I think I’m a mermaid or I was a mermaid. The ocean makes me feel really small, and it puts my whole life into perspective. … It humbles you and it grounds you and it makes me feel almost like I’ve been baptized. Am I the same Beyoncé? Absolutely not.”
The special is footage of B’s life, complete with montages of the frenzy surrounding her: Video shoots, rehearsals, studio time and photo shoots all pepper her life as she prepares to release her fourth solo studio effort. However, she is quick to point out that, before she got back to work, she needed to decompress in a major way.
“After I finished the last tour, I was a bit overwhelmed and overworked, and my mother was the person that preached to me … ‘You really need to live your life and open your eyes and you don’t want to wake up with no memories,’ ” she explained.
Beyoncé shows what she did on her off-time, which included playing aunt and wife. “I was able to spend time with my family and pick my nephew up from school, and it gave me time to reflect,” she said.
In that reflection time, Beyoncé made a major business decision: Her father, Mathew Knowles, would no longer serve as her manager. While explaining the decision, fans are taken back in time thanks to vintage video of the Knowles family. “A real change meant separating from him,” she said. “It was scary, but it empowered me, and I wasn’t going to let fear stop me.”
Fans are once again on Beyoncé’s whirlwind world tour as she continues work on her album. “I am a workaholic, and I don’t believe in ‘no,’ ” she said. “If I’m not sleeping, nobody’s sleeping.”
“My focus is not bigger; it’s quality, and I want to make sure it’s something I’m proud of years from now,” she says later on. “It’s very difficult managing myself. Every night when I go to sleep, I ask hundreds of questions. I’m making mistakes, and I’m learning from them. I’ve never been afraid to fall — and I say all these things, but now I’m being tested.”
As the special closes, Beyoncé shoots her “Run the World (Girls)” video and continues work on her album, including meetings with record executives. It all ends with B swimming once again, as she says, “I’m learning to drown out the noise. I only have to follow my heart. I run my world.”
What did you think of Beyoncé behind-the-scenes world? Let us know in the comments!
Related Videos
Related Artists
View full post on MTV News
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: Still I Rise
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: Still I Rise Buy the music: bit.ly Listen to the song “Still I Rise” by Shadows Fall while watching amazing visuals from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Visit their official YouTube channel: www.youtube.com FOR MORE MACHINIMA GOTO: www.youtube.com TAGS: Still I Rise by Shadows Fall Call of Duty “Duty 5″ Modern Warfare 2 MW2 UPC 47875333376 MPN 83747 Infinity Ward Activision music video montage machinima song band track album record disc cd hit production yt:quality=high
AVA: The Day The World Stopped Turning
AVA: The Day The World Stopped Turning ALLIANCE OF VALIANT ARMS Buy the Music: bit.ly Opus Dai provides the soundtrack as The European Union and the Neo-Russian Federation wage a war that engulfs all of Eurasia in NHN USA’s Alliance of Valiant Arms. Visit their YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com Publisher: NHN USA Visit the game’s official website: ava.ijji.com FOR MORE MACHINIMA GOTO: www.youtube.com TAGS: ava the day the world stopped turning opus dai music montage opusdai song band track album aliance of valiant arms Redduck NHN USA Neowiz yt:quality=high
Britney Spears? Beyonce? Fans Pick Their Best Albums Of 2011 (So Far)
You can vote for your favorite album of the year over on the Newsroom blog!
By James Montgomery
src="http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/bands/s/spears_britney/femme_fatale_album_cover/281x211.jpg"/>
Britney Spears’ Femme Fatale
Photo: Jive
On Wednesday, I published my picks for the Best Albums of 2011 (So Far), a list that included the likes of Lady Gaga, Eminem, the Foo Fighters and Adele, but not Beyoncé, Britney Spears or Chris Brown.
And while I definitely heard some complaints about the albums I did include (Born This Way was too low, 21 was too high, Hell: The Sequel should’ve been in the top 10, etc.), it seems that the overwhelming majority of folks out there had a bigger problem with the albums I didn’t — namely, Femme Fatale, 4 and F.A.M.E.
So, in the interest of fairness, we launched a poll over on our Newsroom blog and asked you to vote for your favorite album from the first-half of 2011; so far, more than 18,000 votes have been cast, and Born This Way leads Femme Fatale by a slim margin. But if you haven’t cast your ballot yet, don’t fret, because the poll will remain open until Thursday (June 30) at midnight ET.
Vote for your favorite 2011 album right now in our Newsroom poll!
But if you remain undecided, well, then we’ve got some compelling arguments for you: Comments and — very open — campaigning (plus some actual compliments) from MTV.com readers and Facebook users, each making a case for their favorite album of 2011. Of course, if you feel like sounding off with your picks, do it in the comments section below. And now, on with the acrimony!
“How could you forget Britney Spears? Femme Fatale was the most anticipated album of the year. The thing I hate is that Britney doesn’t get recognized enough. Femme Fatale is the best album!” — IfUSeekPeanut:)
“You guys would put Lady Gaga [on the list] and not include Britney’s Femme Fatale album! I’m sorry, but despite all of the Auto-Tune and lack of song writing, it’s still one of the best dance albums of the new millennium! Gaga … OMFG, don’t even get me started, her album is NOT all that! JUST ’cause she writes her own songs doesn’t make them the best songs lyrically! [And] Beyoncél’s 4 is not even included? Completely DELUSIONAL list!” — Tony Moreira
“Wow. Femme Fatale gets praises from pretty much everyone in the music industry and it doesn’t make the list. Lady Gaga makes sales … okay, [but] she has yet to top Britney’s records (even when she pretty much gave away Born This Way).” — Jdtgu
“Adele is good but all her songs are about breakups, which is depressing, She does deserve some Grammys. And where the f— is FEMME FATALE? Britney Spears is NOWHERE HERE? That’s insane!” — jonny A.
“I was listenin’ to Adele back in ’07 and never looked back and I always kinda thought maybe she will be the big star she deserves to be. Her album 21 is so honest and real and vulnerable. I’m sorry but I don’t think there is any album out or coming out that will be able to compare. [Also], so glad y’all shed a light on Lykke Li’s album. She is a very underrated artist. I didn’t think she could do better than Youth Novels, but, damn she did the damn thing on Wounded Rhymes. [It's] another classic from Lykke Li.” — Mark Anthony Sanchez
“I love that there aren’t just mainstream artists on this list, but I will say Femme Fatale doesn’t deserve to be on it. I’m not bashing the girl because some of her songs are good (they still weren’t written or conceived by her) but it’s not anywhere close to these albums. I do love Adele, but I think Gaga basically murdered everyone with her album.” — L3M0NAQUA
“I loved Adele’s new album! Also I loved Chris Brown’s new album too! Britney’s was awesome!” — Kayla Copes
“Okay, so let’s start voting for people with some real talent, not people that can put on a show. FOO FIGHTERS AND ADELE. There’s the talent.” — Carrie Heuberger
“Sorry, but you obviously placed Adele’s voice at #2 and NOT her mediocre album. Yes, it WILL get the Grammys it deserves BUT it would be a dead-boring album without her strong voice … In my opinion Adele is ranked too high, but can you blame [the writer] for ranking a HUGE voice at #2 ? Born This Way, well, it could be higher BUT it is a COMPLETE honor that it is the ONLY album from a mainstream pop artist that made it to NUMBER FREAKING FOUR!” — Spyros Venturis
What do you think? Let us know in the comments or vote in our Newsroom poll.
Related Artists
- href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/lady_gaga/artist.jhtml">Lady Gaga
- href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/brown__chris__18_/artist.jhtml">Chris Brown
- href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/spears_britney/artist.jhtml">Britney Spears
View full post on MTV News