I've told this story thousands of times.
Twas "Best Thing I Never Had" and "1+1" that changed my mind and made me interested in the new project. I also heard the leaked version of "End of Time" on youtube. "For internal use only!"
I loved the "Best Thing I Never Had" video SO much and I
still get nostalgia when I watch it now.
Remember how she was uploading a new song from
4 onto her website daily? Yeah I found out she was doing that on "I Care"'s day and came back every day for the next song. I remember being so mesmerized by each song; especially "Start Over".
I was iffy about "Countdown" and "End of Time" at first, but the former was my favorite by Autumn of that year and the latter became my favorite afterward - It still is!
So June 27th, 2011 was the day I graduated from Middle School (I know. I'm young.
), the album was released stateside on June 28th, and I purchased the deluxe edition from Target with my mother on June 29th. I remember the car ride home from Target and being so READY to listen to it in full at home (I didn't want to play it in the car.
)
I listened to that album daily and nightly. I would lay on my parents' bed and just blast the **** while staring at the photos in the booklet. Those warm summer nights with
4. I even remember when she performed at the Statue of Liberty on Independence Day (I had gone to a cookout and downtown to watch fireworks the same day.) I went on a trip down to Port-au-Prince, Haiti with my aunt and my brother that August and I ALMOST took the CD along with me, but I chose not to; I wanted to keep it safe, here, in America.
"Party" was smashing Urban radio.
I remember being so ****ing pissed off when she performed "Love On Top" and announced her pregnancy at the VMAs on August 28th - INSTEAD of performing "Countdown" and "Party".
September/October rolled around and the fake baby bump rumors had me LIVID.
I was on TGJ every day, just SCALPING.
I was so thirsty for "Countdown" to be released as a single. (Searching for updates/info/news on its single release is how I found ATRL. Drais's single thread is what brought me here tbh.) Oh and the video was just flawless. It was so CRUSHING to watch it flop as hard as it did.
Roseland came in November, and watching that DVD was how I spent late nights during the winter. Then the baby was born in January. I remember how ATRL was that night.
2011 was so awful for me, but becoming a Beyonce stan was definitely cool.
Everything about its release was an absolute mess. 
