Producers Reveal Info on 5 Unreleased Beyoncé Tracks
1. Back Up
Status: Bonus track on Circuit City edition of B'Day
Quote:
How did the song come about for you guys?
Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins: I haven't listened to the song since we did it. I do remember when we were working on B'Day. I remember when I first got the call from Beyoncé to work on the project, and the mood that she was in and she was feeling, she wanted New Orleans-inspired music to be incorporated to the stuff she was doing. Creole-type stuff. Zydeco... She wanted that type of inspiration. We were doing a lot of ideas around that, and the horns, but at the same time, we wanted to give that urban street edge. So we tried to get that combination. That's really where that tune started from, from that inspiration that she gave us.
2. Settle 4 U
Status: Leaked
Intended for: Dangerously in Love's failed sequel
Quote:
You'd already worked with Beyoncé for Dangerously in Love. How did "Settle 4 U" come about?
Bryce Wilson: A good friend of mine, Chill Patterson from Chicago, who was Lupe Fiasco's manager, he called me. I had an album that was going on Columbia and I wasn't getting along with the label. I was like, y'all ain't handling your black music division that great. So I wanted out. I left, and Chris Lighty gave me a great exit and I had this album that was done that was a great album. It was actually a Groove Theory album with this other singer [than Amel Larrieux], and it was the complete opposite of what me and Amel did. I did something that was sonically way more aggressive and progressive. I had these songs and I kind of just walked away from music for a while, like I'll go to film school, I'm good on the music politics. I went to L.A., bought a house and chilled. [Then] I got a call from Chill and he was like, "I played these records for Jay Z," and I was like, cool, whatever. He hit me about a week later and said, "When can you come to New York?" and I said next week. I came in and me, Chill and Jay and Beyoncé and a couple other people, we were in the studio and we played the whole album for them. Jay was just shaking his head like, this **** is amazing. B loved the records. They had heard the album and were like, aight, we'll see y'all later, we'll see you later and get back to y'all. So we just hung out in the studio talking and Jay Z took the CD and got in their car and they drove around for an hour, hour and a half, and they called back and were like, we want these records, are you cool with that? I was like, of course. Jay said it was a done deal. They took the records.
It was kind of weird. I'd stopped doing music all of a sudden, and because of Chill and Jay and B, I got half of my album on a solo project. Then I get a call a week later and Jay is like, "Yo, Janet [Jackson] likes one of the records. We'll take five but are you cool with giving Janet one?" I was like, dude, we can do whatever you want to do. Jay really had his A&R hat on and was really involved in her project at the time. Then, we started getting a lot of the business in order. This was right before Jay took the job at Def Jam, and then we got a call back and her father had sold a bunch a records already, so they had paid for so many records already from Scott Storch, that it moved my records out. Jay was like, "It's not a wrap. We'll definitely take 'Hip-Hop Star,' and 'Settle 4 U' is Beyoncé's favorite record. We don't know what we're going to do with that record, because we have a certain amount that we can put on the album." So they took the records and she did the vocals and I mixed them, me and Tony Maserati, who did her whole album and is a great engineer. I saw Jay maybe seven or eight months later, and he was like "Dude, you don't understand, B loves the 'Settle 4 U' record." I was like, what are you gonna do? And he was like, "I don't know, but don't worry about it. The record is what it is."
3. Forever To Bleed
Status: Leaked
Intended for: I Am… Sasha Fierce
Quote:
How did the song come together?
Clinton Sparks: It leaked and there was a lot of positive feedback on it, and then it obviously didn't make the album, which sucked, because I got the whole, "Congrats, you made the album! It's off to mixing and mastering." And I was like, oh ****, I just made Beyoncé's record! My life's gonna change! How the song came about was, I couldn't find people to demo the records that I was writing, and I never considered myself to be a singer, per se, so I was with my engineer and had this song and just wrote it, and the song was called "Inevitably" before she changed it to "Forever to Bleed." I made the record, and I sent it over to Jay Brown, who was working on Rihanna's album. He was like, "Send me that record for Rihanna."
I don't know, maybe a week later, he said, "Send me over the stems right now." I was like, alright, cool. He told me B was in the studio right now and was about to cut it. I was like, oh ****! I was actually on the demo, and it was me, for the first time in my entire life, ever singing on a record. I wrote and produced the whole song and then recorded the demo, and then even Beyoncé was like, "This sounds like a hit with you singing on it." We cut the record and then it was the waiting game. I finally get that congratulations, uploaded to mastering. I was like, I own 80 percent of a Beyoncé record! Then, they sent it to me to listen to, and they changed it to "Forever to Bleed" from "Inevitably." I was like, oh my god, I hate that! It sounds like a menstruating song now. "Inevitably," that title was interesting. It's a compelling word to use for a title. Then it also tied into the song, saying I knew inevitably I was going to break your heart, or what not, which I should have known better. Have you heard the song?
Yeah, it's all over the internet.
4. Beat My Drum
Status: Unreleased
Intended for: I Am… Sasha Fierce, most likely
Quote:
How did "Beat My Drum" come together?
Sean Garrett: With B, when you're in the habit of working with her, we come up with ideas that work specifically for her and swing the pendulum in a different direction. A lot of times, it comes from her and what she likes and what she's on. Sometimes, it's hit or miss, because you may be thinking she's wanting to go in one direction until something strikes her nerve, and that's the nerve for her. That'll be the final idea of what she's gonna do. Generally, you're always shooting in the dark with her. She's just creative and eclectic and up on always trying to be ahead of the game. That was the moment of me trying to figure out how I wanted to give her another moment.
Do you remember which project this was intended for?
I don't remember exactly which project this was for, I just know that it was something that I was... I'm always constantly doing stuff with her in mind. Anytime I hear a beat I think she'll love, I'll put something to it and go from there and hopefully it's something that she's in the mood for doing.
What exactly were you trying to accomplish with this song? What made it so special?
She's just an energetic performer and she loves drums. She loves edge. I was thinking dance for her. This is probably quite a few years back, but I was thinking more her dancing. Her giving another moment of Beyoncé. Another side of Beyoncé. She has so many sides to her. You always just trying to touch base with a video moment. She's such a visual artist. This was just trying to figure out another side to her that could be fun and young and exciteful and a great video.
5. My Body
Status: Unreleased
Intended For: I Am… Sasha Fierce
Quote:
She took the record, first off, and paid me right away. The way she handles a record is, if she wants a record, she's about it. I've had problems with labels, even today, that I still haven't gotten paid from for records I did two years ago. Beyoncé ain't that type of person. She pays right away.
A lot of times, people do that and they know they're going to take the record. I'm certain she was going to take the record because she mixed and mastered it, but at the time, I think for her, it was like, no one else needs to hear this record. It was hers. She added a few elements to it, a little bit of writing and production, and I thought that was cool. It shows how much she evolved in her work. The record was done, and I wanted to hear the record. They were like, "We can't send any Beyoncé records out." I was like, well, where was it mastered and mixed at? I'll go hear it myself. I'll fly out there. I was hoping to just meet her. I flew to L.A., heard it and it sounded ****in' amazing. I was like, damn, I wish I could get a copy of that! Sidebar here, after she did "My Body," Cristyle had gotten flown down to work with Beyoncé for a couple of other records. At the time, I was doing Alicia Keys' project or something like that, I'm not sure. I remember Cristyle going down to work with Beyoncé and her taking a bunch of tracks that I did to write to. Supposedly, I don't know how true this is, Beyoncé has like three of my records demoed that I'll probably never hear. Ever. Beyoncé would have producers and writers in rooms and then she would go and check out a song, and if she liked it, she'd work on it. If she don't, she'll pass and keep going. But she'll knock out those songs one by one, that day.
Anyways, "My Body" got down to mixing and mastering and it was incredible. I'd already gotten paid so this was way dope, and then at the very last minute, the album came out and it wasn't on it. I was like, nooo! I think honestly, I don't know what happened. I want to say it was probably competitive with the other ballads, and there weren't many ballads on the album. "Halo" was just a really great record, Ryan Tedder did that one. It may have been they didn't need another ballad, but it just happens sometimes. You get to that point and then you just don't make it. I would pray that she puts it on an unreleased project or another project. I got the record back after a year. I got the rights to it and what not, but if she wanted to do whatever with it, it's Beyoncé. That's pretty much the story.
