And imma need those who are saying "follower" to explain WHY
It certainly wasn't 2006. In the midst of all that Timbaland crap that was out, Beyonce went ahead and released this album with all these soul samples and an overall soul/hip-hop feel.
IASF didn't follow ANY trend. ****, a whole compositional analysis was done to highlight how Single Ladies broke the mould for a pop song because it was so unusual.
And y'all would really be on some weird **** to suggest that '4' is following the trend out at the moment.