If I were a boy
| If I were a boy | |
|---|---|
| Beyoncé | |
| publication | October 12, 2008 |
| length | 4:09 |
| Genre (s) | Pop , folk rock |
| Author (s) | BC Jean, Toby Gad |
| Label | Columbia |
| album | I am ... Sasha Fierce |
If I Were a Boy (English for, If I were a boy ') is a song of the US R & B - singer Beyoncé . The song was produced by Knowles and Toby Gad for their third studio album, I Am… Sasha Fierce . It was written by the American songwriter BC Jean .
If I Were a Boy differs from Knowle's earlier songs in that it is not a typical R&B song but a pop and folk rock ballad that includes acoustic guitars, drums and strings. The lyrics of the song accuse the misunderstandings between both sexes.
The song was released in Europe on November 7, 2008 as the first single on the album. The song already reached the Billboard Hot 100 through downloads and airplay . After the CD was released, the song rose to third place there, making it Knowles' ninth top 10 hit in the United States . In the German single charts , the song made it to number three straight away and stayed there for a week. Overall, the song stayed in the top 10 for 9 weeks. The song also rose to number one on the charts in Denmark, Great Britain, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
background
If I Were a Boy was written by BC Jean and Toby Gad and is the first song on the I Am ... CD of the double album I Am ... Sasha Fierce . It's the only song on both CDs that Knowles didn't write himself. Most of the text and melody were written by Jean in about 15 minutes. After Jean's record company declined the song, Gad offered the song to other artists. Knowles liked the song, so she recorded her own version with Gad. If I Were a Boy appeared on the I Am ... CD because it is a ballad that shows Knowles as a person "under the make-up and away from the limelight". In an interview with Essence magazine, Knowles stated that If I Were a Boy is different from their previous releases because it is not a typical R&B song. She went on to say, "I had to try because I remembered Aretha Franklin who said a great singer can sing anything."
Musical and content
If I Were a Boy is a mid-tempo pop and folk rock ballad with rock music influences. The song was written in G major and has a moderate tempo of 90 beats per minute . It was written in the usual stanza - chorus form. The stanzas contain four chords and follow a vi-IV-IV chord progression in the form of Em 7 -CGD / F #. Knowle's voice in this song comprises the notes G # 3 to E 5 .
The text for If I Were a Boy is about a gender swap thought experiment. Knowles sings about the things she would do if she were a boy.
publication
If I Were a Boy and Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) were both released simultaneously as lead singles on the double album I Am… Sasha Fierce . The two songs come from the two different CDs of the double album and are intended to show Knowles different personalities, which is, among other things, the central theme of the album, in which the ballads and the up tempo songs are on 2 different CDs.
If I Were a Boy was first released on October 12, 2008 in the US and most of European countries. On November 7, 2008 it was released in Germany as a 2-track single together with single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) .
To promote the single, Beyoncé presented the song in several shows including The Oprah Winfrey Show , the 2008 World Music Awards , Saturday Night Live and the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards .
criticism
The song, and Knowle's vocals in particular, received good reviews from critics. Chuck Taylor of Billboard magazine praised her singing as "stunning, exquisitely emotional, sad, and mature" and added that the song "exudes the scent of a Grammy Award". According to Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times , Knowles proves with If I Were a Boy that she is "a great singer." Jon Caramanica of the New York Times described it as one of the greatest pop songs of the past few years and one of Knowles' most complicated vocals. In contrast, Spin magazine's Stacey Anderson once said that she called If I Were a Boy a glitzy and boring ballad.
Commercial win
The song became a commercial success for Knowles. In Germany, If I Were a Boy rose to number three in the German single charts on November 24, 2008, and stayed in the top 10 for a total of 9 weeks. Knowles received a gold record for over 150,000 CDs sold . In Austria and Switzerland, too, the song made it to number 3 in the single charts.
In the United States , the song has already made it to number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100 through downloads and airplay . After the CD was released, the song rose to number 3, making it Knowle's tenth top 10 song there. It was awarded double platinum for sales for over 2,000,000 units.
In the UK , If I Were a Boy became Knowles' best-selling single by then. The song debuted at number 2 on November 15, 2008. After two weeks, he landed at number 1, becoming Knowles' fifth number 1 single as a solo artist in the UK. The ballad was awarded gold by the British Phonographic Industry for over 400,000 copies sold.
Music video
The music video for If I Were a Boy , shot by Jake Nava , is completely black and white. In the video, the roles of Knowles and her husband are swapped. Knowles gets up in the morning and sits down at the breakfast table. From the behavior of her husband you can tell that he must have prepared breakfast. Then she goes to work as a policewoman, her colleague is a handsome man. Meanwhile, Knowle's husband is sitting at home and in the office. He calls his wife on her cell phone, but she does not answer because she is having a beer with male colleagues in a bar. That same night, the husband gives Knowles a pair of earrings that she wears while dancing with the handsome cop. Her husband is very disappointed and jealous. When he confronts his wife at home, roles reverse again at the point when Knowles says, “Why're you so jealous? It's not like I'm sleeping with the guy! ". Her husband's reaction (and hers at the same time): “What?” Now her husband says: “I said: why are you so jealous? It's not like I'm sleeping with the girl! "; you now learn that the gender roles were swapped throughout the video and that the pretty colleague is actually a pretty colleague. From this "swap back" on, Knowles is herself again.
Charts
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
|
3 (... Where.) | ... |
 Austria (Ö3)
|
3 (... Where.) | ... |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
3 (... Where.) | ... |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
|
1 (... Where.) | ... |
 United States (Billboard)
|
3 (... Where.) | ... |
Individual evidence
- ↑ release date
- ↑ a b c d e f Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ A Girl's Pizza-inspired Musing Produces A Smash Hit. In: Hartford Courant . January 11, 2003, accessed June 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Beijing date announced for Beyonce's 'I Am…' world tour. In: China Daily . October 13, 2009, p. 3 , accessed June 12, 2013 (English).
- ↑ Jennifer Vineyard: Beyonce Releases Two Tracks From 'I Am…', Inspired By Jay-Z And Etta James. MTV News, October 8, 2008, accessed June 12, 2013 .
- ↑ If I Were a Boy - Digital Sheet Music (Download). Musicnotes.com, accessed June 11, 2013 .
- ^ Beyonce's Very Different New Videos: One Has Dancing, One Has Relationship Problems. In: MTV News. October 13, 2008, accessed June 12, 2013 .
- ^ Billboard singles reviews: Beyonce, Britney. Reuters , October 17, 2008, accessed December 16, 2011 .
- ↑ First Listen: Beyoncé's 'If I Were a Boy' and 'Single Ladies'. In: Los Angeles Times . October 8, 2008, accessed June 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Review Beyonce, "I Am ... Sasha Fierce". In: Spin (magazine) . December 12, 2008, accessed June 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Chart tracking | If I Were A Boy (Single) . ( Memento of the original from November 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) 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. musicline.de
- ↑ Beyoncé: If I Were a Boy . musikindustrie.de
- ^ Gold and Platinum. Recording Industry Association of America , accessed June 11, 2013 .
- ↑ Certified Awards Search. British Phonographic Industry, accessed June 11, 2013 .
