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Beyoncé · S5 E5
Blue Ivy
Motherhood, the pregnancy announcement, and a new layer of meaning in everything she made
January 7, 2012. Blue Ivy Carter is born at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, and within hours, the first photograph of the baby is valued at over a million dollars by tabloid photo agencies.
"Party" official music video, Beyonce ft. J. Cole (2011). Directed by Alan Ferguson, the backyard-barbecue-themed clip radiates joy and groundedness, a celebration of Black domestic bliss with no agenda beyond happiness.
PARTY
"Party" opens with a synth melody that could have been pulled from a 1990s house record, setting a mood of carefree celebration before Beyonce's voice even enters. The production by Kanye West and Jeff Bhasker blends minimalist electronic elements with warm, analog-sounding keyboards. J. Cole's verse grounds the track in hip-hop tradition, but the song belongs to Beyonce's relaxed, conversational chorus delivery, lighter and less controlled than anything on her previous albums.
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The Private Life Goes Public
Blue Ivy's birth generates a level of media frenzy that Beyonce has not experienced since Destiny's Child. Tabloids camp outside Lenox Hill Hospital, and reports surface that an entire floor of the maternity ward is secured for the birth. Beyonce shares the first photograph on her Tumblr, where it generates over two million views in its first hour.
What personal connection do BOTH Beyonce and Jay-Z share with the number four, beyond their wedding date?
I Miss You
A tender "4" album track about longing and distance, built around a delicate guitar melody that sounds like it was recorded at 2 a.m. The closest Beyonce gets to a lullaby on the album.
The Arrival
Blue Ivy changes everything about Beyonce's priorities, but before motherhood reshapes her art, there is an album to reassess. Next: the album that critics dismissed and fans will eventually call her most important pivot.
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