Beyoncé has revealed the 20th anniversary edition of her sophomore album B’Day, marking her actual birthday on Sept. 4. The expanded digital version includes 31 tracks and features collaborations with Maluma and Selena Quintanilla.
The remastered reissue includes previously unreleased songs including “Creole,” “Back Up,” “Lost Yo Mind,” and “Can I Watch You” featuring Pharrell Williams alongside the original tracks from 2006. The project also marks Beyoncé’s first collaboration with Maluma on “Cuerpo Tumbao (Get Me Bodied),” which contains a sample from Celia Cruz’s “La Negra Tiene Tumbao.” A press release notes that Beyoncé has “long admired Cruz’s pride in her African culture; her refusal to bend in the wake of racism, colorism and the narrow definition of beauty.”
Beyoncé was granted approval from Selena’s estate for the duet “Irreemplazable (Como La Flor).” She has previously credited Selena as an influence on her Spanish-language recordings and for inspiring her Spanish EP, Irreemplazable, released in 2007.
The star first teased the anniversary project with the release of “Morning Dew (Donk)” on July 4, kicking off the 60-day countdown to the album’s highly anticipated unveiling.
For the reissue, Beyoncé also remastered the accompanying videos, originally captured on 35mm, which were recoloured and finished in 4k. The redone video for “Déjà Vu,” featuring Jay-Z and and directed by Sophie Muller, was also released alongside the anniversary album.
“I wanted the album to be big, percussive, hard, up-tempo, and energised, and it was important to me that we used live instrumentation,” Beyoncé said when reflecting on the LP’s 20-year milestone, per a release. “Hip-hop was taking over at the time, but I was fighting to preserve the bridges, melodies, and harmonies that have always been at the heart of R&B. The goal was to blend those two worlds through the art of sampling. I loved the minimalism of a beautiful vocal arrangement over a simple drum loop or a classic guitar like ‘Irreplaceable’…but only if that 808 was banging underneath.”
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B’Day arrived in the summer of 2006 and was a Number One success. The album has since been certified quintuple platinum by the RIAA and its initial release included the hits “Irreplaceable,” “Déjà Vu,” and “Ring the Alarm.”
From Rolling Stone US
