Dangerously in Love |
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Released: June 17, 2003 Peak: 11 US, 11 RB, 15 UK, 111 CN, 2 AU Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 1.26 UK, 11.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: R&B |
Tracks:Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts.
Total Running Time: 60:52 |
Rating: 3.887 out of 5.00 (average of 31 ratings)
Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album:Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born in 1981 in Houston, Texas. As a teenager, she was signed to Columbia Records as part of the R&B group Destiny’s Child, which was managed by her father Mathew Knowles. They released five studio albums from 1998 to 2004, producing Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers with “Bills, Bills, Bills,” “Say My Name,” “Independent Women,” and “Bootylicious.” She “was always presented as the star of Destiny’s Child…so it was a natural step for her to step into the diva spotlight with a solo album in 2003…Still, a singer takes a risk when going solo, as there’s no guarantee that her/his star will still shine as bright.” AMG The resulting album, Dangerously in Love, found a way to “appeal to a broad audience while making it sound relatively easy.” AMG The album was “a mixture of uptempo tracks and ballads, all of which are primarily R&B songs, while also incorporating elements of soul, hip hop, and Arabic music.” WK The title cut, actually called Dangerously in Love 2, was a reworking of a song first recorded by Destiny’s Child on their 2001 Survivor album. When Beyoncé realized it “fit the overriding theme of her album” WK she re-recorded it for her solo album. The album’s thematic focus on love helped fuel the rumors at the time of a relationship between her and rapper Jay-Z. Of course, Beyoncé and Jay-Z would marry in 2008 and become the music industry’s greatest power couple, but at this point their relationship hadn’t been made public. The two had collaborated in 2002 on his song “03 Bonnie & Clyde” and then re-team on “the deliriously catchy” AMG Crazy in Love, the lead single from Dangerously in Love. The song would go on to rank in the Dave’s Music Database’s list of top 100 songs of all time. That #1 hit was followed by Baby Boy, which paired her with dancehall superstar Sean Paul. Like its predecessor it soared to the top of the pop and R&B charts. Throughout the album, Beyoncé “sounds assured and sexy on the dance numbers, particularly when she has a male counterpart.” AMG “These are the moments when Dangerously in Love not only works, but sounds like Knowles has fulfilled her potential and risen to the top of the pack of contemporary R&B divas.” AMG The first half of the album is highlighted by the appearance of those two singles as well as Naughty Girl and Me, Myself, and I. Both were top five hits on the pop chart and reached the top 10 on the R&B chart. That “ first half is good enough to make Dangerously in Love one of the best mainstream urban R&B records released in 2003.” AMG The Grammys apparently agreed, naming it the R&B Contemporary Album of the Year. “The astrological ode Signs,” AMG which pairs Beyoncé with rapper Missy Elliott, shows up at about the halfway point, serving as a divider between the stronger, more upbeat material and “a prolonged sequence of ballads that get stuck in their own treacle.” AMG These are “capped off by the unbearably mawkish closer, Gift from Virgo, where she wishes her unborn child and her husband to be like her daddy.” AMG This was five years before Queen Bey was married and nine years before she gave birth to Blue Ivy, her first child. These songs “are a little formless” AMG but “impeccably produced” AMG. They “would have been more digestible if spread throughout the record.” AMG |
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First posted 1/20/2009; last updated 3/3/2024. |
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