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I AM…SASHA FIERCE

            In short, Beyoncé appeals to all her growing legion of worldwide fans with this project.  From her Destiny’s Child persona to the Foxy Cleopatra of “Austin Powers and Goldmember” to her solo songs and Jay-Z features, Beyoncé has been constantly widening her musical spectrum right before our very eyes.  The dual persona, double album approach of I Am…Sasha Fierce removes even more layers revealing a multi-faceted Beyoncé with a lot more for everyone. 

            “The double album allows me to take more risks and really step out of myself, or shall I say, step more into myself,” she confides, “and reveal a side of me that people who only know me see…  When I started the record, I knew that, artistically, I had to grow.  Even though I’ve been very successful and very fortunate, I want to still be challenged and still be nervous and still be anxious about all the things that make my career exciting.”

The double album discs are separated by personality. One side is ballads and the Sash Fierce disc is up-tempo.

”It’s about who I am underneath all the makeup, underneath the lights, and underneath all the exciting star drama.  Sasha is the fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken and more glamorous side that comes out when I’m working and when I’m on the stage.”

Whatever people might have known before, some of the content on the new album could surprise them. There are hints of “folk songs and alternative songs and acoustic guitar stuff that’s different from what I sing.”

For her I Am… collection, Beyoncé collaborated with some “writers and producers that I normally hadn’t worked with,” including producer Toby Gad on “If I Were A Boy” and UK songwriter Amanda Ghost on “Disappear,” which reminds Beyoncé “of the Beatles a tad bit.”  On “Satellites” and “Ave Maria,” she re-imagines a classic aria in a new and original musical setting.  “When I knew that certain things I wanted to say, I couldn’t say myself, I invited other writers to come in,” she explains.  “Lyrically, it’s the best album I’ve ever had.  If a song didn’t say anything or mean anything to me, I didn’t put it on the record.”

According to Beyoncé, “Sasha is kind of the opposite, she’s more the other side because sometimes you don’t want to think; sometimes you just want to feel good.  She’s the party girl, she’s Bootylicious.  She is, but I’m not.  She’s my alter ego.  I’m finally revealing who I am.”

It’s her first new studio collection since her Grammy-winning multi-platinum-selling B’Day debuted at #1 on charts around the world shortly after its international release on September 4, 2006.

            Music World CEO Mathew Knowles, who has carefully shepherded the career of his oldest daughter, predicts this album will do more than 750,000 in the first week.  Embracing the broader approach of the album artistically, Knowles plans a global launch that expands the B Brand into even further corners of the universe. 

            First, he made sure there was a price spread for everyone.  In addition to the normal digital methods of distribution, which include a massive presale iTune’s push, the hard copies of the album will come with two different price points.  There is a standard disc with 11 songs to be priced at $9.99 along with a deluxe edition for somewhere between $12.99 and $14.99 that will have 16 songs, as well as videos for the first two singles. 

            Both versions are split between the alter egos of Sasha Fierce and Beyoncé.  In addition to the deluxe editions, additional bonus songs that weren’t used on the album will be featured as exclusive bonus content on each major brick and mortar retailer’s version of the album.  From Best Buy to Wal-Mart, each will have its own exclusive version of the album. 

            Knowles also wanted to ramp up the release time of the album to encourage less people to download the single and more people to buy the whole album. “Most releases have a 90-day marketing period from the release of the first single to the release of the album,” he explains.  “We felt that was one of the reasons single downloads were up and album sales were down and that is why we wanted to shorten our schedule to 30 days.”

            Since the first two singles, “if I Were A Boy” and “Put A Ring On It,” were leaked to radio the second week of October, the whole mysterious marketing push of the Sasha Fierce alter ego has begun.  With a website at www.whoissashafierce.com enticing visitors to guess who Sasha Fierce is to win a phone call from the real Sasha Fierce, there has a been a mysterious, viral, internet buzz around Beyoncé’s soon to famous alter ego.  Music World/Columbia has also retooled the Beyoncé international website with the intent of linking the campaign for this album with multiple corporate tie-ins from L’Oreal to Armani.  

            In short, look for a tsunami effect.

            The recording schedule was on a similar pace and scale. Recording three songs a day, Beyoncé brought in the biggest names in the industry and recorded 75 songs before narrowing down to the final 16.  The selection process was so stringent that songs from established hitmakers like The Neptunes and Danjahandz did not make the cut.  In the end the I Am… side features more ballad like pop-friendly production and songwriting from Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, C. “Tricky” Stewart and Terius “The Dream” Nash, Toby Gad and Ryan Tedder (One Republic), just to name a few. 

            Sasha Fierce, on the other hand, features very modern, often sexy, hip hop leaning, urban R&B that utilizes production and songwriting from Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Sean “The Pen” Garrett, Solange, Rico Love and Jim Jonsin.  The fresh modern sound of the alter ego is typified by Shondrae “Bangladesh” Crawford’s production.  Known for doing hardcore rap songs like Lil’ Wayne’s “A Milli,” which is one of the biggest club songs of the year, Bangladesh brings that same edgy sound to tracks like “Diva” and “Video Phone.” 

            The only producer/songwriter duo to make both sides of the album is Tricky Stewart and Dream.  They did “Smash Into You” from the I Am… side and the lead-in track on the Sasha Fierce disc, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).”

“That song is all about: ‘I’ve been with you all this time, you’re taking too long and now I’m looking hot and you see it and you gotta suffer because you shoulda put a ring on it,’” explains Beyoncé.

“Sasha Fierce is fun,” she continues.  “There’s an up-tempo song called ‘Radio’ that basically talks about my childhood. It just seems like a feel-good record but when you really listen to the lyrics, it’s about me growing up.  In my household, I didn’t go to all of the parties and I didn’t do all the things that a lot of the other teenage girls did because I was so in love with my radio and my music.  I was so in love with this radio and my parents were happy that I was into something positive.  I try to make up-tempo records that feel good but underneath they’re still saying something.  Sasha Fierce is a collection of the kinds of songs that I’m usually known for and I love just as much as the more intimate side of me.”

The first release from the album, “If I Were A Boy,” presents a video that is both compelling and reflective of the independent woman stance that Beyoncé has exhibited throughout most of her career. The tantalizing theme of the song’s video is role reversal and at the end, you realize the husband is a cop and what her male character has been doing throughout the video is what her female character has had done to her all along. She wonders perhaps what women would do if they ‘were a boy.’ “It’s not a traditional R&B song,” she offers.  “It’s difficult to grow and to break out and do new things because people have strong expectations. I feel like at this point, I wanted people to hear songs with stronger lyrics and songs that made you feel.  I love singing ballads because I feel like the music and the emotion in the story is told so much better.  It’s a better connection because you can hear it and it’s not all these other distractions.  I really wanted people to hear my voice and hear what I had to say.”

            It’s the kind of bold, strong-minded feminine message that has become a Beyoncé signature and typifies the character of this album. From “Bills, Bills, Bills” to “Irreplacable,” she has always spoken from an empowered female perspective that did not take any B.S. from anyone.  Her third album only builds upon that lyrical reputation.

            Beyoncé, currently in Japan, also recorded a cover of Billy Joel’s “Honesty” which was included on a Matthew Knowles/Music World CD released only in Japan towards the end of June 2008 to celebrate the tenth-year anniversary of Destiny’s Child.

                        The performer/writer/actress is on a non-stop career whirlwind. She has completed two films, which will be released within the next six to eight months.  In “Cadillac Records,” she plays R&B legend Etta James, and she also has just wrapped a starring role opposite Ali Larter and Idris Elba in a thriller film called “Obsessed.” This film is due to be released in the U.S. during January 2009, with an international release slated for March 2009. 

According to Beyoncé, becoming Etta James on-screen, “was a challenge for me emotionally because Etta had a lot of challenges in her life, things that I’ve never experienced. I had to really dig deep so that I could have the right performance and represent her well. One thing she taught me is her fearlessness; she was Etta all the time.  She was bold and she did not try to change who she was for anyone.  She was one of the queens. It was the best performance I think I’ve done on screen.  It gave me the strength and the confidence to step out of my comfort zone even more.”

            Reportedly, Beyoncé is ready for an Amazon-sized challenge — the pop superstar wants to be the first actress to wear Wonder Woman’s famed red, white and blue bathing suit on the silver screen.  “I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman? It would be great. And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It’s time for that, right?” 

            Beyoncé says that she has met with representatives of DC Comics and Warner Bros. to express her interest in a major role in one of the many comic-book adaptations now in the pipeline following the massive success of “The Dark Knight,” “Iron Man” and the “Spider-Man” and “X-Men” franchises.

             Her acting career to date has included a comedic role in “Austin Powers in Goldmember,” the lead in “Fighting Temptations,” and two notable music world roles, the singer in a ‘60s girl group in “Dreamgirls” and as the defiant and heroin-addicted Etta. 

            “After doing these roles that were so emotional I was thinking to myself, ‘OK, I need to be a superhero,” adding she would enjoy the physical challenge of the “action role.”

            Beyoncé’s third solo album comes out November 18th and it will be followed two weeks later by her portrayal of Etta James in “Cadillac Records,” with the January release in 2009 of “Obsessed.” The tsunami is on its way.

For the little girl who rose to fame in the late ‘90s as the lead singer of Destiny’s Child, with the group ultimately selling 50 million records worldwide, the Houstonian’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric.

When she released her debut single in ’03, Dangerously in Love became one of the most successful albums of the year, producing number-one singles, “Crazy in Love,” and “Baby Boy.” She earned five Grammys in a single night in ‘04.

The group disbanded in ’05 and she continued her successful solo career with the second album B’Day in ’06 with the hits “Déjà vu,” “Beautiful Love,” and “Irreplaceable.”

Over time, Beyoncé has pushed glamour up a higher notch and given a generation of little girls something to look up to without them realizing perhaps that she is also giving them something to think about. Listen to the lyrics of “If I Were A Boy,” and have your brother listen too.

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