track Beyoncé - "Grown Woman"

[XtinaStripped]

If this takes off and becomes a hit 10 years later… Kinda here for it tbh

[Apolonio ₃₄]

About ******* time! 

[Doogle]

12 hours ago, BnPac said:

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. 

And even then, Cuff It exists. But I agree with everything you said, she was easing her way into the sound 

[LVP]

Does it have a chance to become a tik-tok trend? (I don't use it, so I do not know how it works)

[swissman]

On 12/14/2023 at 8:10 AM, 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.

This!
 

The very nature that she was on the Pepsi Super Bowl Half-Time Show, and that the song appeared in the Pepsi commercial does suggest there was some sort of very commercial intention for her plans, still utilizing the Matthew Knowles approach with having a single was tied into a major marketing campaign, she might even had plans or even thoughts of debuting it at the SB. I'm so curious as to the behind-the-scenes: what exactly made her choose otherwise, what went on with Pepsi given (I believe) they had already announced her new single was within their campaign, etc. etc.

 

 

 

I strongly believe that had she released GW and STOTS as seemingly planned, they might have been cute hits, but likely not smash hits, and potentially even moderate hits or flops, but regardless of how they fared, given that either song has an inherent commercial vibe, she'd then be at a point in her career where her worth really was based on when her last hit was rather than her artistry and if she continued to flop she'd become the beloved 2000s throwback pop icon that would one day be seen as a legend but for the time felt more like an entity of a past pop era. But instead, by releasing Bow Down / I Been On in such a way that would never chart, then going for the surprise release with a different tone than she'd had before, she paved a new road for herself direct to legend-hood where the art mattered far more than the commerce, and though she may not have got the hits of her early career, she always felt incredibly current and relevant to the pop moment because she put a focus on the work above all else.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by swissman

[ReachOut]

This song is still even 10 years later.

A bop! That Pepsi commercial

[nooniebao]

 

[MusicIsMyMaster]

How is this even getting playlisted....

 

I swear the payola is so real.

 

I love this song but its ages old, if any other artist released something old it wouldnt get playlisting like this. 

[MusicIsMyMaster]

15 hours ago, nooniebao said:

Very surprised this is getting playlisted lol 

its also on NMF UK Spotify at Number 3 

Edited December 15, 2023 by MusicIsMyMaster

[SeeingStars1515]

8 minutes ago, MusicIsMyMaster said:

How is this even getting playlisted....

 

I swear the payola is so real.

 

I love this song but its ages old, if any other artist released something old it wouldnt get playlisting like this. 

It's the same as Taylor...old, viral releases are a thing now lol it's not (just) payola  

[Nashe]

7 minutes ago, MusicIsMyMaster said:

How is this even getting playlisted....

 

I swear the payola is so real.

 

I love this song but its ages old, if any other artist released something old it wouldnt get playlisting like this. 

lol what? it's Beyoncé, she's a legend. of course her name alone will give waves to a song even if it's "old". 

also the song's been doing cute numbers on tiktok lately so the playlisting shouldn't surprise anyone

[Monday Night Messiah]

On 12/14/2023 at 11:10 PM, BnPac said:

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. 

And even in Renaissance, there's still enough concessions to make it palatable to the masses ("Cuff It," "Break My Soul" and "Plastic off the Sofa").

[Monday Night Messiah]

4 hours ago, swissman said:

This!
 

The very nature that she was on the Pepsi Super Bowl Half-Time Show, and that the song appeared in the Pepsi commercial does suggest there was some sort of very commercial intention for her plans, still utilizing the Matthew Knowles approach with having a single was tied into a major marketing campaign, she might even had plans or even thoughts of debuting it at the SB. I'm so curious as to the behind-the-scenes: what exactly made her choose otherwise, what went on with Pepsi given (I believe) they had already announced her new single was within their campaign, etc. etc.

 

 

 

I strongly believe that had she released GW and STOTS as seemingly planned, they might have been cute hits, but likely not smash hits, and potentially even moderate hits or flops, but regardless of how they fared, given that either song has an inherent commercial vibe, she'd then be at a point in her career where her worth really was based on when her last hit was rather than her artistry and if she continued to flop she'd become the beloved 2000s throwback pop icon that would one day be seen as a legend but for the time felt more like an entity of a past pop era. But instead, by releasing Bow Down / I Been On in such a way that would never chart, then going for the surprise release with a different tone than she'd had before, she paved a new road for herself direct to legend-hood where the art mattered far more than the commerce, and though she may not have got the hits of her early career, she always felt incredibly current and relevant to the pop moment because she put a focus on the work above all else.

 

 

She met Boots. That's what happened.

 

In fact, there's evidence to support that we would have gotten a standard Beyoncé release that year if it wasn't for the 180 pivot she decided to do when she met Boots.

 

Here, she describes what her fifth album (tied to the Pepsi campaign) was going to sound like: https://www.gq.com/story/beyonce-cover-story-interview-gq-february-2013

 

Quote

On her collaborators: "I’ve been working with Pharrell and Timbaland and Justin Timberlake and Dream. We all started in the ’90s, when R&B was the most important genre, and we all kind of want that back: the feeling that music gave us."

On the album’s influences: "Mostly R&B. I always have my Prince and rock/soul influences. There’s a bit of D’Angelo, some ’60s doo-***. And Aretha and Diana Ross."

This confirms that "Grown Woman," "Bow Down / I Been On," "Blow" and "Rocket" would have likely made the cut of the original album. We don't know what the others sounded like.

 

In July 2013, Diplo said that Beyoncé scrapped her album entirely: 'Beyoncé scrapped her record' claims producer Diplo (nme.com). We still have remnants of the original sessions, obviously (considering some of them became part of the released version of the album), but a huge chunk of it remains unreleased.

 

It probably is the reason why self-titled's mixing is so off. Compared to all other Beyoncé album, its mixing/mastering is uneven and the volume is so low. The pivot happened around June/July that year, so the turnaround for a December release is exponentially rushed.

[Ewan Chaos]

It's the end of the year and barely anything is being released  Of course this song is gonna get playlisted even if it's old, and of course it's gonna be high on NMF because she's one of the few "big name" artists releasing something "new," or at least new for streaming, this late in the year.

[zeta]

2 hours ago, MusicIsMyMaster said:

How is this even getting playlisted....

 

I swear the payola is so real.

 

I love this song but its ages old, if any other artist released something old it wouldnt get playlisting like this. 

Let's think together! These playlists are called "New Music Friday [Country]" now, who released this friday/week? Very few artists because nobody releases in December! Now, out of all of these artists, who are the most known? Some random indie artist or Beyoncé? Right! Beyoncé!

[mons†er]

I was praying she would do the original version and not the version she did in the video.

the original version made A LOT more sense lyrically and melodically to me. 

[swissman]

4 hours ago, Monday Night Messiah said:

She met Boots. That's what happened.

 

In fact, there's evidence to support that we would have gotten a standard Beyoncé release that year if it wasn't for the 180 pivot she decided to do when she met Boots.

 

Here, she describes what her fifth album (tied to the Pepsi campaign) was going to sound like: https://www.gq.com/story/beyonce-cover-story-interview-gq-february-2013

 

This confirms that "Grown Woman," "Bow Down / I Been On," "Blow" and "Rocket" would have likely made the cut of the original album. We don't know what the others sounded like.

 

In July 2013, Diplo said that Beyoncé scrapped her album entirely: 'Beyoncé scrapped her record' claims producer Diplo (nme.com). We still have remnants of the original sessions, obviously (considering some of them became part of the released version of the album), but a huge chunk of it remains unreleased.

 

It probably is the reason why self-titled's mixing is so off. Compared to all other Beyoncé album, its mixing/mastering is uneven and the volume is so low. The pivot happened around June/July that year, so the turnaround for a December release is exponentially rushed.

I think Boots definitely helped change the musical direction, but from a marketing/promotional standpoint, I'm not sure that the songs she made with him alone would have been the deciding factor as to why she should surprise release and film a video for each song.

 

In my opinion, in general she was being the Virgo she is and questioning things, trying to make the best decisions for herself at what was really a pivotal part of her career coming off the underperformance of 4. I'm sure in general she wanted to make a cohesive body of work, but as for the actual business side of it, to consistently thwart easy marketing opportunities like premiering a song at the SB, or releasing either of the singles in WW ad campaigns.

 

I also remember hearing at the time that she began working with a company that previously did branding for luxury vehicles, and that also makes sense if we see how she changed her relationship with the buying public and positioned herself as more of a "luxury" artist than a commercial artist in terms of the key factors of her output in that time: singular, high quality, mysterious/not over promoted, and in doing so she could actually charge a bit more than the normal album was sold because it offered you so much more, and even the fact that at the start you couldn't purchase the tracks individually, it was a full package thing.

 

 

 

I've always noticed the volume was so low on the album though, so that's an interesting insight into why that might be.

[swissman]

4 hours ago, MusicIsMyMaster said:

How is this even getting playlisted....

 

I swear the payola is so real.

 

I love this song but its ages old, if any other artist released something old it wouldnt get playlisting like this. 

Ya why is a song that has never been on streaming before, associated to one of the most important albums of the last decade added to playlists during the week of its anniversary and with very little else that's new and of consequence? I wonder why that could be...

[Soda Pop Queen]

Glad it's finally being recognized but I'm not really here for this Angelica Pickles ass "well, of course" tag lol DAE hear it?

 

I'm also missing the iconic intro with the baby Bey doing the cheerleader chant. I'll stick to the video version I've already been listening to for years.

[305]

This is such a BOP

She needs to do more music like this!

[nooniebao]

 

[nooniebao]

56 minutes ago, 305 said:

This is such a BOP

She needs to do more music like this!

 

[Attaboy]

Nothing on The Gift is touching this excellence 

[Rotunda]

As a Ring Off and SOTS Remix defender, this thread is so scary. I’m shaking. 

[Chris]

This is not getting Cruel Summer'd.