B'Day is the sophomore solo album of American singer Beyoncé, released on September 4, 2006, which is not so coincidentally the singer's 25th birthday.
The album follows up on the themes of Beyoncé's first album Dangerously in Love, focusing on love and relationships. Beyoncé's role as Effie in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls (released later the same year) also inspired the direction of the album, as Beyoncé wrote songs from Effie's perspective.
B'Day was a critical and commercial success, and won Beyoncé the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. It would also start the trend of her creating visuals for her albums, as almost every song was accompanied by a music video in the Anthology edition re-release.
Track listing (Standard Edition)
- "Déjà Vu" (featuring Jay-Z) (4:00)
- "Get Me Bodied" (3:25)
- "Suga Mama" (3:26)
- "Upgrade U" (featuring Jay-Z) (4:33)
- "Ring the Alarm" (3:23)
- "Kitty Kat" (3:56)
- "Freakum Dress" (3:20)
- "Green Light" (3:29)
- "Irreplaceable" (3:49)
- "Resentment" (4:40)
- "Encore for the Fans" (hidden track) (0:39)
- "Listen" (hidden track) (3:38)
- "Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix)" (hidden track) (5:59)
Singles
- "Déjà Vu
", "Ring the Alarm", "Irreplaceable", "Beautiful Liar", "Get Me Bodied", "Green Light"
Tropes in this album include:
- Award-Bait Song: "Listen", which was created for Dreamgirls, and actually nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song at the Oscars.
- Break Up Song: "Kitty Kat", "Green Light", "Resentment", and "Irreplaceable" which spawned the lyric "To the left, to the left", which became a meme.
-
Covered Up: "Resentment" was originally recorded by Victoria Beckham of the Spice Girls, but Beyoncé's version is the most famous. - In Da Club: "Get Me Bodied", a song about going out and having fun.
- Intercourse with You: "Suga Mama" is about this especially, but sort of downplayed on "Freakum Dress".
- Let's Duet: "Beautiful Liar", a duet with Shakira.
- Meal Ticket: "Suga Mama", a song about the subject being so satisfied with how her lover makes love, she's willing to give him anything he wants.
- Hidden Track: Two on the standard edition, "Listen", and the extended mix of "Get Me Bodied".
- Updated Re-release: The deluxe edition adds the tracks "Beautiful Liar", "Welcome to Hollywood", "Flaws and All", "World Wide Woman", and "If". And there is the video anthology that has music videos for most of the songs.
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: Just like her previous album, this album contains two rap verses from Jay-Z on "Déjà Vu" and "Upgrade U."
- Woman Scorned: "Ring the Alarm", though downplayed in that the subject of the song is also fighting to keep him from his mistress.
