Irreplaceable

Irreplaceable
Beyoncé
publication	October 23, 2006
length	3:47
Genre (s)	Pop , R&B
Author (s)	Shaffer "Ne-Yo" Smith , Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen , Espen Lind , Beyoncé Knowles
Producer (s)	Stargate, Beyoncé Knowles, Ne-Yo
Label	Columbia Records
album	B'Day (2006)
Cover version
2007	Kidz Bop

Irreplaceable is a song by American R & B - singer Beyoncé Knowles . It was released on October 23, 2006 as the second single from their album B'Day . The piece is a pop R&B song with influences from country music .

Irreplaceable was generally positively received by critics; the piece received several awards. In the music video , which also received various awards, the first time Beyoncé Knowles Tour-band Suga Mama to see.

Background and inspiration

Irreplaceable was not initially intended for Beyoncé Knowles, but for Chrisette Michele .

The Norwegian production team Stargate and the American R&B singer Ne-Yo wrote the song in the style of a country song. The text, which told of a broken relationship, was initially written by Ne-Yo from a male perspective, but was then rewritten so that it could be sung by both sexes. The song was initially intended for country artists such as Shania Twain , Carrie Underwood, and Faith Hill . When Ne-Yo played the song on a guitar, he initially thought it would suit these performers. But as the drums were added to the music, there was more R&B influence and Ne-Yo decided to produce an R&B pop country western song.

In the studio they first tried to have a male performer sing the song, the song, but it quickly became clear that a male voice would not go with such a song. Meanwhile, Knowles was already working on her album B'Day after she starred in the movie Dreamgirls . After a while, she was introduced to a demo of Irreplaceable , which she loved, so Knowles asked if she could add the vocals to the song.

Ne-Yo was later annoyed that Beyoncé passed the song as hers, even though he wrote all of the lyrics. Beyoncé only changed the harmonies and the arrangement of the vocals. However, the two were able to resolve their differences, especially since they were based on misunderstandings.

At first the producers weren't convinced as the song didn't seem to fit on the B'Day album, which was a tough club album up until that point. But Swizz Beats was convinced that the song was the right choice. Beyoncé had a few changes on the song. So she had more drums added, rearranged the vocals and sang a little higher than on the demo. Espen Lind and Amund Bjørklund, the Espionage production team, wrote the chords and the guitar part.

The sound engineer for the recordings at Sony Music Studios in New York City was Jim Crauana, the mix was done by Jason Goldstein. Goldstein used an equalizer for the drums. The acoustic guitar was recorded with an analog flanger using a TC 1210. In his opinion, the recording turned out to be very easy, as it was practically an old-school title that could also come into its own on any rock or pop album. He varied the singing a little, using an eighth echo to add a little delay and make the voice sound wider. In the end, everyone was satisfied with the result, but it was feared that the song was too poppy for Beyoncé's audience and would therefore not be played on Urban stations . They couldn't have been more wrong.

Musical and content

Irreplaceable is a pop song with R&B and country influences, written in B flat major , with a tempo of 88 bpm. Knowle's vocal range is two and a half octaves , from B ♭ ₂ to E ♭ ₅ .

Irreplaceable uses an acoustic guitar that plays the B ♭ ₅ -F ₅ -Cm ₇ -E ♭ _6/9 chord progression. Hermansen and Eriksen combined the classic progression on an acoustic guitar, on a modern 808 drum beat and on cellos . Al Shipley of Stylus Magazine stated that the guitar melody was also featured on Rihanna's single Hate That I Love You , a song also produced by Stargate and Ne-Yo. The single With You by Chris Brown also contained the same guitar melody, whereupon Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine said that Stargate was trying to double-win with their formula for success.

Irreplaceable is about a woman who breaks up with her boyfriend because she caught him with another woman. Hermansen explained: "It is a song that everyone can hear and that everyone can relate to".

About.com's Bill Lamb stated that the subject of Irreplaceable bears some similarities to the concept of Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale from 1995.

The song is in a verse-before-chorus-chorus form. It starts with the guitar, Knowles sings the hook intro “To the left, to the left”, repeated three times. The first verse begins in bar seven , in which she discusses her relationship with her boyfriend and then breaks up with him. The pre- chorus and refrain are followed by the second stanza in which she discovers her boyfriend cheating. The second stanza is repeated and merges into the bridge. The intro follows again and the refrain is repeated and faded out.

Publication and live performances

Beyoncé sings Irreplaceable on her The Beyoncé Experience tour

Followed by B'Day 's first single Déjà Vu and Ring the Alarm , Irreplaceable was released as the third single on the album on December 5, 2006 on Knowles' record label Columbia Records . Knowles also recorded a Spanish version called Irreemplazable , which is included on the Deluxe Edition of B'Day and was released on June 12, 2007. A Irreemplazable - EP was released in the US on August 28 and in Europe on 10 September, 2007.

Irreplaceable premiered at the 2006 American Music Awards , where Knowles sang the song live at the opening show. American country band Sugarland , known for covering Knowles' songs while performing live, performed a country version of Irreplaceable live at the 2007 American Music Awards . Knowles always performed Irreplaceable in 2007 as the last song on The Beyoncé Experience World Tour. The live performance at the Staples Center , Los Angeles is on the DVD The Beyoncé Experience Live! contain.

criticism

Irreplaceable was largely received positively by the critics, especially because of the guitar melody . Most of the praise Stargate got for its simple, pop-oriented production. Jody Rosen from Entertainment Weekly! described the song as Beyoncé Knowles' best to date. Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe praised the hook . Bill Lamb listed Irreplaceable on his page as the strongest song on the album. Tim Finney from Pitchfork Media also described the song as one of the best on the album and praised the production.

Commercial win

During the production of Irreplaceable , Hermansen thought that the song wouldn't be played on the radio because of the acoustic guitar and because it's too pop-oriented. Irreplaceable was successful worldwide and became the second most successful single of her career after Crazy in Love . The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for ten weeks, went multi-platinum in the US, and was the best-selling single in 2007.

After the single hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 2006 , it became Knowles' fourth number one hit in the US and her second in 2006 after Check on It , a duet with rapper Slim Thug , five weeks on Could hold 1st place. Irreplaceable was at the top for ten weeks in a row and was only replaced by Nelly Furtado's single Say It Right . Irreplaceable beat Baby Boy s nine-week record, but not the eleven-week record of Destiny's Childs single Independent Women Part I from 2000. The song stayed on the US charts for 30 weeks and was multiplatinated three times by the Recording Industry Association of America excellent. Irreemplazable didn't make the official charts. The single has sold over 2,697,000 digital units in the United States as of September 2009.

Irreplaceable reached number 4 in the UK and the top ten in many European countries. The song spent 12 weeks in the top 20 and a total of 25 weeks in the UK singles charts . The song is Beyoncé's third highest-grossing single in the UK.

Chart placements

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	11 (21 weeks)	21st
Austria (Ö3)	11 (22 weeks)	22nd
Switzerland (IFPI)	9 (29 weeks)	29
United Kingdom (OCC)	4th (36 weeks)	36
United States (Billboard)	1 (30 weeks)	30th

Music video

The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler , who co-directed Get Me Bodied . The video first featured Knowle's tour band Suga Mama, who later also appeared in the music video for Green Light . Knowle's ex-boyfriend in the video is played by model Bobby Roache , who also appeared in the music video for Ring the Alarm .

The video shows a separation between Knowles and Roache, who is put in front of the door at the beginning of Knowles. He packs his things while Knowles takes back everything she once bought for him. Roache has to leave the Jaguar XK behind and takes a taxi away. At the end of the video, Knowles greets her new friend.

The video was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards , but was defeated by Rihanna s Umbrella .

The music video is included on the 2007 B'Day Anthology Video Album , with the video for the song Irreemplazable continuing.

A scene in which Knowles is dancing in front of a pane of glass was inspired by the James Bond films. Late in January 2008, "Irreemplazable" premiered on the MiTRL, a video countdown show on the bilingual channel MTV Tr3s.

Individual evidence

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4. ↑ Chrisette Michele - Epiphany . Allmusic. Retrieved: June 27, 2009.
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32. ↑ pitchfork.com
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34. ↑ Hot 100 Decade Songs
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36. ↑ ^{a b c} Jonathan Cohen: Nelly Furtado scores 2nd No. 1 on singles chart . In: Billboard , February 15, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2008. 
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43. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
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