track Beyoncé - "Grown Woman"

[Cbreezy]

Happy Grown Woman is getting its flowers with the streaming release. 

 

The only thing is: let's not do revisionist history. 

 

Grown Woman and Standing on the Sun would not have worked on Self Titled. At all. They are very pre-ST Bey. She actioned a very clear brand pivot with ST (edgy, left-field, raw). GW and SOTS are candy-coated bops that would have worked on 4 and everything before that point. 

 

IMO, she probably was fully intending to press forward with another Pop girl album (hence GW and SOTS even existing) and then she went with her gut/creative instinct and ST was born. 

 

I LOVE both songs and prefer Bey in her Pop-i-er/mainstream bag, so I'd love to hear what "that" iteration of ST would have been, but knowing and appreciating the trajectory her career has taken has me not wanting to change anything.

[Comedor]

10 hours ago, J-esper said:

I find it interesting people now wanted her to continue this direction now but conpletely dismiss The Gift? Weird 

 

People really want to miss out on good music

 

 

 

 

Grown Woman is a different sound from what most people are used to. People will enjoy a cute stand-alone African inspired song from a mainstream pop album, but don’t expect them to love a full African album.

[BnPac]

1 hour ago, Cbreezy said:

Grown Woman and Standing on the Sun would not have worked on Self Titled. At all

Grown Woman is very not the same type of song as SOTS imo. Grown Woman is one of the first song with such strong afrobeats and African influences in her career and in mainstream since Nene Cherry probably. She had never done it before. 

 

And yes ST is very forward but I think GW also is and that's why it's on the film. The album also has PH and XO (or even Blue) , two very pre-ST tracks and very safe. In any case, people asked the songs in the deluxe instead of the weird remixes and for it to be simply released not that it needed to be a part of the original album. We all love ST as a body of work for how well it worked. 

 

Actually before Ren, Bey always had one or two safe pop tracks (Lemonade has AN and Sandcastles). Renaissance is the first album went she went all forward. 

[Gelato]

This would've been massive in spring/summer 2013

[Cbreezy]

11 hours ago, J-esper said:

I find it interesting people now wanted her to continue this direction now but conpletely dismiss The Gift? Weird 

 

People really want to miss out on good music

Which is the exact reason I have a love/hate relationship with Stan culture.

 

Grown Woman is Afrobeats/AfroPop and, for as much of a slay as it is, it doesn’t touch some of the best tracks on The Gift.

 

The reality is that popularity and bragging rights somehow define “critical reasoning” within stan culture. 

 

Grown Woman dropped when the girls were thirsty for new music from Bey. The confusion around whether it was “the” ST lead single during the Pepsi commercial window only heightened the buzz, mystery, and excitement. 

 

The Gift, by contrast, dropped during a quieter frame for her. Amidst the thick of her no-promo antics and came at a time most just wanted the Lemonade follow-up. There was just a whole bunch of nonsense it was engulfed in too when it comes to culture wars etc. So, IMO, many in the Hive disassociate with the album for the tricky time it represents, the fact it just wasn’t successful and thus wasn’t a “brag-worthy” venture to some. 

 

The reason I know the music was not the issue with The Gift (by comparison) is because if ever there was a climate to drop such a project it was when it came out. Afrobeats was (and still is) hot. Wizkid, Burna Boy, Davido, and co are enjoying mainstream success. Bey jumps on it with quality and cultural care and somehow gets…dragged?! By some of her fans and corners of the actual culture she was uplifting?! Madness. 

 

As y’all can probably tell, I’m still annoyed by how that all played out and the way the girls tried her. It’s annoying especially because she doesn’t really repeat herself. So I’d be surprised if she were to ever repeat that sound in the context of a full album. Which is a shame because she has such a range of Afro inspired bops that would make an iconic album:

 

End of Time 

Grown Woman 

Move 

Water

Find Your Way Back

Brown Skin Girl

Already 

Mine (ish)

 

Hell even the songs others led on The Gift will have slayed as tracks of hers like Jara E, Don’t Jealous Me. 

Edited December 14, 2023 by Cbreezy

[theweekend]

now she owns us the og standing on the sun edit. THAT was a hit

[nooniebao]

 

[nooniebao]

 

[Cbreezy]

1 minute ago, theweekend said:

now she owns us the og standing on the sun edit. THAT was a hit

This. 
 

Much as I realistically wouldn’t change anything, I do often wonder what would have been if she just dropped GW/SOTS as a double a-side. Maybe for the Super Bowl as a “gift to the fans”. 
 

Coming off 4, smash hit singles weren’t a guarantee and I imagine there was some trepidation on her part to commit to anything else knowing what she had incoming. But, like you said, I think she could have bagged “a cute little hit”

with either or both. 
 

At the same time, the gag of ST was the amount of build up and lack of music from her. so, I guess we can’t/couldn’t have had our cake and eat it too!

[family.guy123]

Grown Woman would not have fit on self titled, but let’s not pretend she’s above make candy-coated music anymore. Pretty Hurts, sandcastles, otherside, church girl etc etc don’t pretentious her up 

[nooniebao]

6 minutes ago, family.guy123 said:

Grown Woman would not have fit on self titled, but let’s not pretend she’s above make candy-coated music anymore. Pretty Hurts, sandcastles, otherside, church girl etc etc don’t pretentious her up 

You think Church Girl is a pop friendly song?

[DR0GO]

Wasn't Grown Woman supposed to be the lead single off ST at some point? I remember it being a world premiere on Hot 97 and it being announced as her new single, and then it it quickly disappeared.

 

Love to see it finally getting its flowers. She could've at least added it as a bonus track instead of that hideous Blow Remix.

[nooniebao]

 

[PoisonPill]

Yes!!! This song and era reminds me of the Beyoncé I loved and was mesmerized by. Full of soul and panache and passion and movement, a vocal powerhouse with no sing-talking or drawling.

[trainsskyscrapers]

5 hours ago, Cbreezy said:

Happy Grown Woman is getting its flowers with the streaming release. 

 

The only thing is: let's not do revisionist history. 

 

Grown Woman and Standing on the Sun would not have worked on Self Titled. At all. They are very pre-ST Bey. She actioned a very clear brand pivot with ST (edgy, left-field, raw). GW and SOTS are candy-coated bops that would have worked on 4 and everything before that point. 

 

IMO, she probably was fully intending to press forward with another Pop girl album (hence GW and SOTS even existing) and then she went with her gut/creative instinct and ST was born. 

 

I LOVE both songs and prefer Bey in her Pop-i-er/mainstream bag, so I'd love to hear what "that" iteration of ST would have been, but knowing and appreciating the trajectory her career has taken has me not wanting to change anything.

 

If you want to hear what could've been the original album before the April-ish 2013 press releases mentioning a darker album paying homage to doowop, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, D'Angelo, 90s music, and Prince, just listen to:

 

- "Footprints" (returned to Sia when the pop album wasn't going forward)

Spoiler

 

- "Wake Up"

- "Standing On The Sun"

- "Thru The Roof" (a very Black Eyed Peas - sounding song Demo'd by Boots and produced by Kanye West) 

Spoiler

 

- "Grown Woman"

- "God Made You Beautiful"

- "Fun" (ended up on Parkwood signee INGRID's debut EP)

Spoiler

 

- I have a hunch "All Night" was made for this album as Diplo was mentioned often as someone whose songs were scrapped, and another song in the running for this project ended up on Lemonade ("6 Inch").

- "Donk", "Rise Up" & "Ring Off" as well. 

 

 

TL;DR:

Footprints, Wake Up, SOTS, Grown Woman, God Made You Beautiful, Fun, Thru The Roof, All Night, Donk, Rise Up, and Ring Off sound like the core of an international-flavored, breezy, lower-case p "pop", reggae-influenced album. 

(I assume other unreleased additions came from Diane Warren, Benny Blanco, Ne-Yo/StarGate, and Ryan Tedder who were all tipped to be working on something)

Edited December 14, 2023 by trainsskyscrapers

[nooniebao]

36 minutes ago, trainsskyscrapers said:

 

If you want to hear what could've been the original album before the April-ish 2013 press releases mentioning a darker album paying homage to doowop, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, D'Angelo, 90s music, and Prince, just listen to:

 

- "Footprints" (returned to Sia when the pop album wasn't going forward)

  Hide contents

 

- "Wake Up"

- "Standing On The Sun"

- "Thru The Roof" (a very Black Eyed Peas - sounding song Demo'd by Boots and produced by Kanye West) 

  Hide contents

 

- "Grown Woman"

- "God Made You Beautiful"

- "Fun" (ended up on Parkwood signee INGRID's debut EP)

  Hide contents

 

- I have a hunch "All Night" was made for this album as Diplo was mentioned often as someone whose songs were scrapped, and another song in the running for this project ended up on Lemonade ("6 Inch").

- "Donk", "Rise Up" & "Ring Off" as well. 

 

 

TL;DR:

Footprints, Wake Up, SOTS, Grown Woman, God Made You Beautiful, Fun, Thru The Roof, All Night, Donk, Rise Up, and Ring Off sound like the core of an international-flavored, breezy, lower-case p "pop", reggae-influenced album. 

(I assume other unreleased additions came from Diane Warren, Benny Blanco, Ne-Yo/StarGate, and Ryan Tedder who were all tipped to be working on something)

Ryan Tedder mentioned that Florence Welch pitched a song for Self-Titled too if I’m not mistaken. Her unreleased catalog from the 2010’s must be insane. 

[trainsskyscrapers]

9 minutes ago, nooniebao said:

Ryan Tedder mentioned that Florence Welch pitched a song for Self-Titled too if I’m not mistaken. Her unreleased catalog from the 2010’s must be insane. 

Sorry for taking this thread in another direction, but I just found that video!

 

I'm assuming it was Florence band member Isabella "Machine" Summers, who was one of the first people Beyonce called up when Chloe x Halle were making their debut album, and she contributed this production for them to write over:

 

[NOW]

Wild that we finally have this up on music streaming platforms. I Been On was added to the Homecoming Live album back in 2018...so now we're just waiting for Standing on the Sun.

[Katamari]

cmon sots next  

[Burqa]

8 hours ago, Cbreezy said:

Grown Woman and Standing on the Sun would not have worked on Self Titled. At all. They are very pre-ST Bey. She actioned a very clear brand pivot with ST (edgy, left-field, raw). GW and SOTS are candy-coated bops that would have worked on 4 and everything before that point.

mind you XO served as the lead single

[nooniebao]

 

[nooniebao]

 

[trainsskyscrapers]

 

[nooniebao]

1 hour ago, trainsskyscrapers said:

 

Very surprised this is getting playlisted lol 

[Bloo]

Why did this take a decade??