In 1998, the group issued its debut, Destiny's Child, which featured the hit "No, No, No" (Number Three, 1998). But it was 1999's The Writing's on the Wall that broke the bank, with "Bug a Boo" (Number 33, 1999), "Jumpin' Jumpin'" (Number Three, 1999), "Bills, Bills, Bills" (Number One, 1999), and perhaps most definitively with "Say My Name" (Number One, 2000). The definitive kiss-off song won two Grammys and featured a standout performance by Beyoncé, whose skittering, rhythmic, and hip-hop-derived approach to melody would help shift the entire landscape of R&B singing.
She was absolutely the first and most notable to do it in her style.
vocal wise, yes she is very influential. lots of people refer to beyonce as a main influence in their singing.
as for the actual songs..i'm not so sure. maybe with the self titled album people will see that as something like a jumping point but i don't see it. a lot of the self titled album was just using contemporary urban sounds. i don't think there is a specific beyonce sound that artists are trying to emulate, in a way i see for someone like rihanna or katy
No one's gonna bother to answer this thread honestly. They're all gonna pretend like Mary J Blige was rap-singing in 1994, when she wasn't...
Yes, Beyoncé popularized rap-singing. After Destiny's Child became relevant in 98-99 there were a lot of R&B/pop artists who followed in their footsteps and started to sing really fast, almost like rapping, just like DC.
Also Crazy in Love is pretty much the blueprint for modern brass-hook (sample) songs. In the 90s brass hooks were only used in hip hop, she re-introduced them to pop music in 00s. Anyway, CIL is super influential, just listen to Problem by Ariana Grande. It's still the blueprint.
No one's gonna bother to answer this thread honestly. They're all gonna pretend like Mary J Blige was rap-singing in 1994, when she wasn't...
Yes, Beyoncé popularized rap-singing. After Destiny's Child became relevant in 98-99 there were a lot of R&B/pop artists who followed in their footsteps and started to sing really fast, almost like rapping, just like DC.
Yeah or Aaliyah spelling out L-I-Y-A-H in Back and Forth.
No one's gonna bother to answer this thread honestly. They're all gonna pretend like Mary J Blige was rap-singing in 1994, when she wasn't...
Yes, Beyoncé popularized rap-singing. After Destiny's Child became relevant in 98-99 there were a lot of R&B/pop artists who followed in their footsteps and started to sing really fast, almost like rapping, just like DC.
Hilarious considering Mary is one of the biggest examples of how influential Bey's rap-singing has been
would you say the way aaliyah sung on records like one in a million or aaliyah would be somewhat of a precursor to beyonce's style? i think a fine line could possibly be traced from something like we need a resolution or hot like fire to beyonce?
I collected a bunch of receipts in a post once, lemme find it -- brb.
Quote:
Originally posted by Ascension
This. Her singing style has absolutely shifted the way many approach delivery in R&B uptempos. Some had kind of played around and toyed with variations of rap singing, but no one had quite done it the way Bey did in her DC vocals:
There are no examples of anyone singing in such a way prior to DC. The closest would be MJ on "Jam" and Mariah on "Breakdown" and even those aren't quite like what Bey introduced. She was absolutely the first to do it in the way that she did which is why she is primarily credited with its popularization. If you listen to the rap singing that is all over the place in R&B today, it doesn't sound like MJ's aggressive scatty staccato on Jam nor does it sound like the super fast melodic Bone Thugs flow Mariah mimicked on Breakdown, it falls directly in line with the signature style created by Bey that was DC's trademark sound.
Quote:
The genius of Beyonce, as with any great artist, begins with the aspects of her music that have stylistically set her apart, and thus influenced her peers. Like Mary J. Blige and Lauryn Hill before her, Beyonce mixes Soul and R&B with elements of Hip Hop in a way that is neither forced nor haphazard. She can move seamlessly and assuredly between both aesthetically, attaining a certain level of believability that someone like Amerie never seems to reach in that arena. The core of what makes Beyonce’s take on Hip Hop/Soul so unique is her hiccupping, rapid-fire vocal style. Rather than going the Mary J. route, and basically utilizing a classically Soulful vocal style over Hip Hop-inflected beats, or the L-Boogie route, and both singing and rapping masterfully (but separately), Beyonce combines the two, delivering her soulful, R&B vocals in a stuttering, rhythmic fashion that almost sounds like rapping. Though Mariah Carey flirted with this style on her 1997 album Butterfly (particularly with “Breakdown,” her collaboration with Bone Thugs n’ Harmony), Beyonce clearly perfected it; she rides beats the way a rapper does, but never gets lost, staying focused and firmly on pitch. This was the key to the success of Destiny’s Child; heavily influenced by TLC (in which it was Left Eye’s job to convey the trio’s connection to Hip Hop vocally), the group improved upon their model by blurring the line between R&B and Rap vocals. The group’s debut single, the Wyclef Jean-remixed “No, No, No,” is a prime example of this, where Beyonce sings almost impossibly fast, while retaining a soulful delivery, melisma and all.
Here's examples of common hip hop influenced R&B/Urban uptempo delivery -- in most cases the hip hop connection was introduced via a featuring rapper and the vocals are traditionally melodic as opposed to rhythmic.
1998/1997:
Now let's look at some other uptempos by the same artist after DC achieved a string of hits with their unique singing style --
The vocals are much faster and sharper with choppy staccato phrasing, the vocals are rhythmic, follow the beat more closely instead of flowing slowly and melodically with more elongated notes over the beat:
2001/2004:
Quote:
Originally posted by Rolling Stone
In 1998, the group issued its debut, Destiny's Child, which featured the hit "No, No, No" (Number Three, 1998). But it was 1999's The Writing's on the Wall that broke the bank, with "Bug a Boo" (Number 33, 1999), "Jumpin' Jumpin'" (Number Three, 1999), "Bills, Bills, Bills" (Number One, 1999), and perhaps most definitively with "Say My Name" (Number One, 2000). The definitive kiss-off song won two Grammys and featured a standout performance by Beyoncé, whose skittering, rhythmic, and hip-hop-derived approach to melody would help shift the entire landscape of R&B singing.
What Mariah did with melisma, Bey did with the rhythmic rap-singing and it's a staple delivery now in contemporary R&B up and mid-tempos.
Also, she further explored around with more unique things like doing uptempos with completely chord free, percussion only beats and hard hip hop tracks. That's another one that's become more and more common whereas it was virtually non-existent (with singers) prior to Bey.
This video explains quite a bit on that and how/why it's unique to her:
As someone who can crossover, she is the face of contemporary R&B, for sure. But ironically she's not even the most influential in that genre. Even Aaliyah has more influence than her in that respect. Beyonce seems to just do her own thing, and people don't tend to copy her. At most, some may copy aspects of her performing style but that's about it.
Also Crazy in Love is pretty much the blueprint for modern brass-hook (sample) songs. In the 90s brass hooks were only used in hip hop, she re-introduced them to pop music in 00s. Anyway, CIL is super influential, just listen to Problem by Ariana Grande. It's still the blueprint.
Problem by Ariana has little do with Beyonce and everything to do with Macklemore and Jason Derulo. Maybe if you claimed Beyonce opening the door to Amerie, you might have a point. But Problem. Nope.
As someone who can crossover, she is the face of contemporary R&B, for sure. But ironically she's not even the most influential in that genre. Even Aaliyah has more influence than her in that respect. Beyonce seems to just do her own thing, and people don't tend to copy her. At most, some may copy aspects of her performing style but that's about it.
basically what i'm thinking! her influence comes from her performance style and vocals but not the actual music
would you say the way aaliyah sung on records like one in a million or aaliyah would be somewhat of a precursor to beyonce's style? i think a fine line could possibly be traced from something like we need a resolution or hot like fire to beyonce?
No what Aaliyah did was just sing purely melodically over hip hop beats like Mary J just sang really soulfully over heavily hip hop influenced beats; TLC and Lauryn both had heavy hip hop, but Lauryn and Left Eye actually just rapped -- they didn't combine it all into the singing in the manner that Bey did. See my edit that includes a previous post with examples of what I'm talking about. What Aaliyah did here:
