Best Thing I Never Had
| Best Thing I Never Had | |
|---|---|
| Beyoncé | |
| publication | June 1, 2011 (US) June 9, 2011 (Europe) |
| length | 4:13 |
| Genre (s) | R&B , pop |
| Author (s) | Beyoncé Knowles, Patrick Smith, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Symbolyc One, Caleb McCambpell, Antonio Dixon, Shea Taylor |
| Label | Columbia Records |
| album | 4th |
Best Thing I Never Had (Engl. For the best that I had never ) is a song by American R & B - singer Beyoncé Knowles . The track was released as the second single from album 4 in the USA on June 1 and in Europe on June 9, 2011 . Due to the modest chart successes of Run the World (Girls) in the United States and Europe, it was not published in Germany and Austria. So Best Thing I Never Had was the first single release of Knowles album 4 in these two countries . The song reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 on the UK singles chart .
background
Knowles and Patrick J. Que Smith wrote Best Thing I Never Had in collaboration with producers Babyface, Smbolyc One, Antonio Dixon, Shea Taylor and Caleb McCampbell. According to Smith, Best Thing I Never Had is a ballad that wasn't originally written in that form. Earlier demo recordings sounded like hip-hop from the late 1980s. The main inspiration for the song was drumming on Doug E. Freshs The Show . After listening to demo recordings, Babyface changed the song by adding some melodies and changing the lyrics a little. Knowle's vocals were recorded at KMA Studios in New York City . When Knowles heard the song, she was enthusiastic after minor modifications and recorded the song with two more songs.
Musical and content
Best Thing I Never Had is a mid-tempo pop and R&B ballad with gospel elements . The song is written in 4/4 time and in G ♭ major and has 100 beats per minute . The intro has the chord progression G ♭ –C ♭ –E ♭ m – D ♭ , while the stanzas follow the chord progression E ♭ m – G ♭ 4 –G ♭ –E ♭ m – D ♭ 6 –G ♭ 4 –G ♭ . The instrumentation includes a piano , large drums and string instruments .
The lyrics of the song are about the breakdown of the relationship between the protagonist and her lover, who cheated on her. The song is also about revenge, in the first line Knowles sings “What goes around comes back around” (for example, “Whoever sows the wind will reap the storm”). She also sings about her ex-boyfriend who didn't realize the possibility of a happy relationship until the relationship broke up and that she was happy not to have a heartache. The song ends with the line “I bet it sucks to be you right now” (something like “I bet it's pretty stupid to be you right now”).
criticism
Best Thing I Never Had received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised Knowles' vocals, the honesty of the lyrics and the radio suitability. Gerrick D. Kennedy of the Los Angeles Times noted similarities between Best thing I Never Had and Knowles' previous singles Irreplaceable and If I Were a Boy, and concluded that Knowles knows how to break up with a man in style ] certainly knows how to dump a man in style ”). Rolling Stone magazine's Matthew Perpetua wrote that Best Thing I Never Had could be Irreplaceable Part. 2 , and that Knowle's voice adds depth to the song. The Village Voice's Rich Juzwiak noted that the song wasn't a milestone like Irreplaceable , but it wasn't as dark either. He also praised the optimism in the lyrics. The editors of Entertainment Weekly praised the title, which "will help Beyoncé forget the failure of the first single and make the album her next platinum album". Long Island Press 'Jessica Sinclair noted that Best Thing I Never Had was different from Knowles' previous single Run the World (Girls) and that the song showed a side of Knowles that listeners rarely get to see.
Best Thing I Never Had also received negative reviews. PopMastert's David Amidon wrote that lines like "showed your ass" and "it must suck to be you" are examples of the song's weak lyrics. He concluded that the audience wondered how such a weak text could be sung with such seriousness. Alex Petridis of The Guardian wrote that the most interesting thing about Best Thing I Never Had was the weird image evoked by the chorus text, and that everything seemed fine until the former lover showed "his ass" (original: "the protagonist's former amorata 'showed your ass' "). Also negative criticism came from Al Shipley of The Village Voice, who wrote that Best Thing I Never Had and Party are among the worst and unrepresentative songs on the album.
Commercial win
Best Thing I Never Had debuted at number 84 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 18, 2011 . On August 13, 2011, the song reached number 16, the highest position in these charts. Knowles was awarded platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for over 1,000,000 CDs sold . Before the official release of Best Thing I Never Had in the UK, the song was already at number 3 in the UK singles chart. Music Week's Alan Jones attributed the high sales to Knowles' performance at Glastonbury Festival 2011. It was Knowle's 16th Top-10 hit as a solo artist and her highest chart position since If I Were a Boy in the British single charts. The song entered the German single charts on August 12, 2011 and made it to number 29. Even in Austria and Switzerland, the song was denied a top 20 placement.
Best Thing I Never Had was nominated for Record of the Year at the 2011 Soul Train Music Awards and Outstanding Song at the 2011 NAACP Image Awards , but failed to win in either category. At the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards 2012, Best Thing I Never Had won a prize in the 'R & B / Hip-Hop Song' category.
Chart placements
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
|
29 (14 weeks) | 14th |
 Austria (Ö3)
|
39 (12 weeks) | 12 |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
35 (18 weeks) | 18th |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
|
3 (27 weeks) | 27 |
 United States (Billboard)
|
16 (20 weeks) | 20th |
Awards for music sales
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
||
 Australia (ARIA)
|
 platinum
|
70,000 |
 Canada (MC)
|
 gold
|
40,000 |
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
|
gold
|
7,500 |
 Sweden (IFPI)
|
platinum
|
40,000 |
|
United States (RIAA)
|
platinum
|
1,000,000 |
|
United Kingdom (BPI)
|
platinum
|
600,000 |
| All in all |
6 × gold 4 × platinum |
1,757,500 |
Main article: Beyoncé / Awards for Music Sales
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Beyoncé: Best Thing I Never Had . chartsurfer.de
- ↑ Brad Wete: Beyonce performs 'Best Thing I Never Had' on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, song writer releases original version. In: Entertainment Weekly . July 29, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ a b "Best Thing I Never Had" Songwriter Inspired by Beyonce. BET News , June 3, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ^ Beyoncé "Halo" Sheet Music. Musicnotes.com Hal Leonard Corporation, accessed June 14, 2013 .
- ↑ Beyoncé's 'Best Thing I Never Had' Single Premieres: Listen. Billboard, June 1, 2011, accessed April 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Nadine Cheung: Beyonce, 'Best Thing I Never Had' - New Song. AOL Inc , June 1, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Gerrick Kennedy: Beyoncé debuts new single, 'Best Thing I Never Had'. In: Los Angeles Times . Tribune Company, June 1, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Matthew Perpetua: Beyoncé's '4': A Track-by-Track Breakdown. In: Rolling Stone . Wenner Media, June 8, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Rich Juzwiak: Beyonce's Odes to Joy. In: The Village Voice . Village Voice Media, June 28, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Kyle Anderson: Beyonce's New Single 'Best I Never Had': Hear It Here. In: Entertainment Weekly . Time Inc., June 1, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Jessica Sinclair: Beyoncé: Best Thing I Never Had Video. (No longer available online.) In: Long Island Press. Morey Publishing, June 2, 2011, archived from the original on September 30, 2012 ; accessed on June 25, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ David Amidon: Beyoncé: 4th PopMatters, June 29, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 (English).
- ↑ Alexis Petridis: Beyoncé: 4 - review. In: The Guardian . Guardian Media Group, June 23, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Radio Hits One: Playing Armchair A&R With The Singles From 2011's Biggest And Best Albums. (No longer available online.) In: The Village Voice. Village Voice Media, November 29, 2011, archived from the original on May 17, 2014 ; accessed on June 25, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Adele's Still 'Deep' Atop Hot 100, Coldplay Makes a Splash. In: Billboard. Prometheus Global Media, June 8, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Beyonce Album & Song Chart History. In: Hot 100 . Retrieved June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Gold and Platinum. Recording Industry Association of America , accessed June 12, 2013 .
- ↑ a b UK Singles Charts 2011-07-09. The Official Charts Company, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Alan Jones: Beyonce's 4 wins the album chart numbers game. In: Music Week. United Business Media, July 3, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Beyoncé, Best Thing I Never Had, chart position Germany. Media Control, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Justin Josephs: Centric Announces 2011 Soul Train Awards Nominees, Chris Brown Leads With 5 Nominations. BET Networks, October 20, 2011, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ NAACP Image Awards nominees announced. In: Entertainment Weekly Time Inc. January 19, 2012, accessed June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Quincy Jones, Pharrell Williams Honored; EMI Wins Big at ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards. In: The Hollywood Reporter . Prometheus Global Media, July 1, 2012, accessed June 25, 2013 .
