Beyonce Dangerously In Love Song
Ashlie Mealey
"Dangerously in Love 2" is a song written and produced by Beyonc and Errol McCalla, Jr. The ballad was first recorded by Destiny's Child for their third studio album Survivor (2001), under the title "Dangerously in Love". The song later became the title track to Beyonc's debut album with some minor adjustments instrumentally. "Dangerously in Love 2" is an R&B ballad, the lyrics of which detail romantic obsession.
"Dangerously in Love 2" received generally positive response from music critics, who wrote that the song effectively shows the vocal capabilities of Beyonc. It won a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. Though not released as a single, "Dangerously in Love 2" charted at number 57 the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and at number 17 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Beyonc performed the ballad at the 46th Grammy Awards, the Verizon Ladies First Tour, the Dangerously in Love Tour, The Beyonc Experience and as the opening song of her Renaissance World Tour.
"Dangerously in Love" was written and produced by Beyonc and Errol McCalla, Jr. It was recorded for the Destiny's Child album, Survivor (2001).[1] The song was rearranged at the SugarHill Studios in Houston, Texas in 2002[2] for her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love.[3] Her version, which was titled "Dangerously in Love 2",[4] features a modified arrangement.[5] It was set as a remix track, but later became the title track to her debut studio album.[5]
Beyonc's version charted on a few Billboard component charts, despite not officially being released as a single. "Dangerously in Love" made its first chart appearance on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number 73 on July 3, 2004.[16] For the following seven weeks, the song kept on charting in the lower positions of the chart, until it was titled as the greatest gainer on the chart issue dated August 21, 2004, ascending 28 places from number 71 to number 43.[17] Its entry on the US Radio Songs chart at number 75,[18] prompted its debut on the US Billboard Hot 100 issue dated September 18, 2004 at number 76.[19] "Dangerously in Love 2" was propelled to number 60 on the Hot 100 chart the following week as it made the largest chart move on the Radio Songs chart by ascending to number 59.[20] The song peaked at number 17 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart on September 25, 2004, and at number 57 US Billboard Hot 100 on October 2, 2004.[21] On June 14, 2006, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (2006) for sales of over 500,000 ringtones.[22] As at October 6, 2010, "Dangerously in Love 2" had sold around 130,000 digital downloads in the United States.[23]
Beyonc performed "Dangerously in Love" live for the first time at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York in 2001.[24] The performance was also part of the setlist for their World Tour. Beyonc also famously performed the song at the 46th Grammy Awards on February 8, 2004,[25] where it won in the category of Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.[26] Beyonc was wearing a long, glittery turquoise and silver dress. She positioned herself between the edges of a giant picture frame and sung "Dangerously in Love 2" as if she were in a living oil painting.[25] She was joined by seventeen backup singers, musicians and dancers.[25] At the end, she held out her hand and a dove landed in her outstretched palm.[25] Jon Wiederhorn of MTV News commented that the performance was "nothing short of extravagant."[25]
Beyonc also added the song to the track-listing of her first solo-tour Dangerously in Love Tour, notably at Wembley Arena in London, United Kingdom. There she performed a special rendition of the song that came in at well over 8-minutes.[27] During the Verizon Ladies First Tour which also featured Alicia Keys, Missy Elliott and Tamia, Beyonc performed "Dangerously in Love 2" in New York City in front of more than 20,000 fans.[28] Before starting her performance, she asked the audience whether they have ever fell in love. As she started to sing, more dancers joined in on smaller and circular platforms. Simultaneously, fire shot from the floor and a long, rectangular screen merged video of flames with images of the performers, seemingly setting them on fire.[28] Shaheem Reid of MTV News complimented the performance writing: "[Beyonc] had New Yorkers cheering like the Yankees had just won the World Series when she perfectly hit the high note toward the end of 'Dangerously in Love 2'."[28]
Beyonc additionally performed the song on a number of other occasions, including the song as part of her set list on The Beyonc Experience[31] in Los Angeles and I Am... World Tour during the first stops in the beginning of the tour.[32] In Los Angeles, Beyonc gave a full-length performance of the song, dressed in a long sequent number that flowed straight down to her feet. It was executed with several female and male backup dancers, and live instrumentation.[33] Jon Pareles of The New York Times praised the performance, stating: "Beyonc needs no distractions from her singing, which can be airy or brassy, tearful or vicious, rapid-fire with staccato syllables or sustained in curlicued melismas. But she was in constant motion, strutting in costumes [...]".[34] Although the song was performed on selected dates of the I Am... World Tour, it was not included on the physical release of the tour on DVD/CD.[35] The song was also performed during the I Am... Yours 2009 Las Vegas revue show, in a medley that included an acoustic version of "Sweet Dreams" and a cover of Anita Baker's song "Sweet Love".[36]
During the recording of Destiny's Child's third studio album Survivor (2001), the group announced that each member would produce solo albums. Recording sessions for Dangerously in Love took place from March 2002 to March 2003 at various recording studios, during the group's hiatus. As the executive producer of the album, Beyonc took a wider role in its production, co-writing a majority of the songs, choosing which ones to produce and sharing ideas on mixing and mastering. Although she remained discreet about her interpretation of the album's songs, their underlying meanings were attributed by media outlets as an allusion to her intimate relationship with rapper, Jay-Z. Musically, the album is 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.
Upon its release, Dangerously in Love received generally positive reviews from music critics, many of whom praised Beyonc's "artistic leap". An international commercial success, the album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, selling 317,000 copies in its first week and earning Beyonc the highest debut-week sales among Destiny's Child members' solo albums. At the 46th Annual Grammy Awards (2004), the album and its songs won five awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album; Beyonc consequently tied with Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones for the record of most Grammy Awards won by a woman at a single ceremony.[l] Dangerously in Love has been certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and, as of 2011, has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century.
Beyonc launched her career as the lead singer in the R&B girl group Destiny's Child in the late 1990s. According to Corey Moss of MTV News, "fans [were] eager to see" how Beyonc, after years with the group, performs solo.[2] While recording their third album Survivor in late 2000, Beyonc announced the group would be put on hiatus in order for the members to produce solo albums in the coming years, which they hoped would boost interest in Destiny's Child.[3] The idea of individual releases emanated from the group's manager and Beyonc's father Mathew Knowles.[4] With different musical styles for each member to produce, the albums were not intended to compete on the charts. Destiny's Child's management strategically planned to stagger the release of each group member's album to maximize sales.[5]
Michelle Williams was the first to release a debut solo album, titled Heart to Yours, in April 2002.[5] Meanwhile, Beyonc had her film debut in the comedy film Austin Powers in Goldmember, and recorded her debut single "Work It Out", which was featured on the film's soundtrack.[5] Kelly Rowland collaborated with American rapper Nelly on the song "Dilemma" (2002) as a featured artist; it became a US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, leading the label to advance the release date of her debut solo album Simply Deep to October. Beyonc additionally starred in The Fighting Temptations (2003) and recorded another solo single. In August 2002, she collaborated with her now-husband Jay-Z as a featured vocalist on his song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde". Peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, the song earned Beyonc credibility as a solo artist and paved the way for the release of Dangerously in Love.[5][6]
Before Beyonc began recording for Dangerously in Love, she selected the producers with whom she would collaborate. For two days, she held meetings with prospective producers from the West Coast across the East Coast, and had interviews with them.[7] Beyonc went to Miami to begin sessions with record producer Scott Storch, her first collaborator,[8] and lived in a hotel in the following months.[9] As she wanted to concentrate on the album, Beyonc took her time to avoid pressure build-up, significantly different from the hasty productions of Destiny's Child's albums.[9] Beyonc felt that recording an album without her groupmates was "liberating and therapeutic", coming into the studio and freely expressing her ideas with her collaborators.[10] The dependency she developed with Destiny's Child, however, meant it was harder "to be on [her] own creatively".[10] As she wanted to grow as an artist, Beyonc contacted other artists with a view to forming a collaborative partnership. When the collective finished writing several songs, she printed copies of each and sent them to prospective guest artists. She talked to them by phone for possible collaboration, eventually gaining their approval. Besides Jay-Z, Beyonc was able to work with Jamaican artist Sean Paul and American rapper Missy Elliott, among others. In contrast, some artists sent copies of songs to Beyonc, which were eventually produced. Beyonc also worked with Elliott and Timbaland on a track titled "Wrapped Around Me", but it ultimately failed to appear on the album.[11]
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