I Am Sasha Fierce Album Download Zip
Avery Blaschko
I Am... Sasha Fierce is the third studio album by American singer Beyoncé. It was released on November 12, 2008, by Columbia Records and Music World Entertainment. In its original release, the album was formatted as a double album, intending to market Beyoncé's dichotomous artistic persona. The first disc I Am... contains slow and midtempo pop and R&B ballads, while the second, Sasha Fierce (named after Beyoncé's on-stage alter ego), focuses on more uptempo beats that blend electropop and Europop elements. In composing the songs' lyrics, Beyoncé worked with writers, with each session accompanied by live orchestration.
The recording of the album took place over a nine-month period.[6] Beyoncé recorded the album in sessions at Bangladesh Studios, PatchWerk Recording Studios, Silent Sound Studios and Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta, Georgia; Chung King Studios, Electric Lady Studios, Roc the Mic Studios and Strawberrybee Productions in New York City, New York; GAD Studios in Ibiza, Spain; Mansfield Studios and The Campground in Los Angeles, California; South Beat Studios in Miami Beach, Florida; and The Boom Boom Room in Burbank, California.[7] Beyoncé either co-wrote or co-produced all material on I Am... Sasha Fierce.[8] She collaborated with several record producers and songwriters, including Babyface, Stargate (production duo composed of Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen), Tricky Stewart, The-Dream, Darkchild, Sean Garrett, Solange Knowles, Jim Jonsin, Rico Love, Ryan Tedder, Bangladesh, Ian Dench, Dave McCracken, Wayne Wilkins and Blac Elvis.[9] Beyoncé also collaborated with some musicians she had never worked with in the past, such as Toby Gad and BC Jean on "If I Were a Boy"; she also worked again with Amanda Ghost on "Disappear".[10]
I'm a human being. I cry. I'm very passionate and sensitive. My feelings get hurt. I get scared and nervous like everyone else. And I wanted to show that about myself. It [The album] is about love. I'm a woman, I'm married, and this portion of my life is all in the album. It's a lot more personal. I'm very private and I don't talk about a lot of things, but there are certain songs that are on the album that are very personal. It's [The album] my diary. It's my story... I still have my album of fun songs.
For the I Am... disc, Beyoncé was influenced by folk and alternative rock genres, while incorporating other instruments she had not normally used previously, such as the acoustic guitar.[9] Tedder specifically assisted Beyoncé with crafting the album's balladry.[9] The ballads were crafted in a way to combine "the best elements" of pop and soul music, while simultaneously "expanding the possibilities of both genres".[9] Beyoncé attempted something different as people had strong expectations from her; she experimented with stronger lyrics.[9] Beyoncé worked with Ghost to re-write Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria" after having co-written "Disappear" in London, England. Ghost told The Daily Telegraph that they were both inspired by their then-recent marriages and had walked down the aisle to "Ave Maria".[11] The song "Smash Into You", featured on the deluxe edition of the album, was originally slated to appear on Jon McLaughlin's sophomore album OK Now under the name "Smack Into You", but was cut from the finalized tracklist after it was leaked online and was subsequently given to Knowles.[12]
During the nine-month period between November 2007 and August 2008, Beyoncé recorded over seventy songs and decided during the editing process that she did not want to reconcile the two approaches into one disc.[13] If a song was meaningless to her, she would cut it off during the process of elimination for the final track listing.[10] After a process of elimination, twelve tracks were selected to be placed on the standard edition of the album, while five additional tracks were chosen to make the final cut for the deluxe edition of the album.[13] Beyoncé later revealed that songs from established producers like The Neptunes and Danja were not able to make the final cut.[citation needed]
In an interview for Billboard magazine, Beyoncé described I Am... Sasha Fierce as a double album. She said, "One side has songs that are more mainstream and another has my more traditional R&B songs for my fans who've been there the whole time. Some of it sounds like Barbra Streisand, Karen Carpenter and The Beatles around the 1970s."[14] Music writer Andy Kellman of AllMusic viewed its first disc as "essentially a small set of adult contemporary ballads. Acoustic guitars, pianos, strings, contemplative soul searching, and grand sweeping gestures fill it out, with more roots in '[19]70s soft rock than soul."[15] The second disc, Sasha Fierce, contains consistent electronic influences, which are displayed in songs like "Radio" and "Sweet Dreams".[16] Kellman said in his review that "Diva" resembles B'Day's "Freakum Dress" or "Ring the Alarm" in terms of audacity.[15] Despite being on the Sasha Fierce disc, "Ego", "Why Don't You Love Me" and "Scared of Lonely" were noted to be a meeting ground between the album's halves. According to Jennifer Vineyard of MTV News, they resemble Sasha Fierce musically, but thematically and lyrically, they are vulnerable like Beyoncé on the I Am... disc.[17] The album formally introduces Beyoncé's alter ego Sasha Fierce. She revealed that Sasha was born during the making of her hit single "Crazy in Love" (2003). In an interview with Emmet Sullivan of People magazine, Beyoncé affirmed that her alter ego is strictly for the stage, with the editor describing Sasha Fierce as the singer's sensual, aggressive alter ego.[18]
The album was titled I Am... Sasha Fierce to showcase the difference between Beyoncé and her alter ego Sasha Fierce; the first disc is titled I Am... while the second is titled Sasha Fierce.
Making comparisons to a magazine, Beyoncé elaborated that the record was a double album and that it had two covers.[17] The cover artworks for the standard, deluxe and platinum editions of I Am... Sasha Fierce were all shot by German photographer Peter Lindbergh.[38]
In a 2021 interview for Harper's Bazaar, Beyoncé revealed that she based the entire project on black and white photography after being told in a meeting discussing analytics that a research discovered that her fans did not like when her photography was black and white. She stated that "it pissed her off that an agency could dictate what her fans wanted based on a survey", pointing out that she was "so exhausted and annoyed with these formulaic corporate companies" and highlighting the album's subsequent great commercial success.[39]
I Am... Sasha Fierce was released in the United States on November 18, 2008, and previously in Japan on November 12, in Australia and Germany on November 14, and in France and the United Kingdom on November 17; deluxe edition of the album was released simultaneously with the standard edition.[46][47] Beyoncé performed "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" on BET's 106 & Park on November 18,[48] at the 2008 American Music Awards on November 23, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on November 25,[49] on Today the following day,[50] and on The Tyra Banks Show with two male dancers, on January 9, 2009.[51] Beyoncé's first live performance of "Halo" was at the 40th NAACP Image Awards on February 12, 2009.[52] She later performed the song on the Late Show with David Letterman after an interview on April 22, 2009.[53] Beyoncé performed "Sweet Dreams" at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards on November 5.[54] Beyoncé performed "If I Were a Boy" on January 31, 2010, at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony, along with a cover of Alanis Morissette's song "You Oughta Know" (1995).[55] In February 2010, the bonus track "Why Don't You Love Me" from the album's multiple reissues, climbed up the US Dance Club Songs, eventually taking the top spot and becoming Beyoncé's thirteenth number-one hit on the chart.[56] On May 4, 2010, a full-length music video appeared online after its release as a promotional single.[57][58]
To further promote the album, Beyoncé embarked on the I Am... Tour, which started in Edmonton, Canada on March 26, 2009. The European leg of the tour started on April 26 in Zagreb, Croatia, and ended on June 9 in London, England. On June 21, she began the third leg of the tour in the United States and finished in August with the I Am... Yours four-day revue at Encore Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Starting on September 15, 2009, the fourth leg began in Melbourne, Australia and finished on September 24 in Perth, Australia. Beyoncé then went on to perform in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and the United Kingdom, before finishing the 2009 portion of the tour on November 24 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The tour had its final leg in February 2010, visiting Latin America. Starting on February 4 in Florianópolis, Brazil, she visited five other places before ending in Trinidad on February 18. According to Pollstar, the 2010 shows earned $17.2 million, which added to the total of $86 million for the first 86 concerts in 2009,[67] bringing the tour total to $103.2 million for 97 shows.[68] The I Am... Yours residency at the Encore Theater in Las Vegas was recorded on August 2, 2009, and later released as a DVD, audio CD and television special in late November 2009 titled I Am... Yours: An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas.[69] Various performances on the tour were filmed worldwide for a live DVD, I Am... World Tour, which was released on November 30, 2010.[70]
On October 8, 2008, Beyoncé premiered two lead singles from the album.[71] "If I Were a Boy" peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100,[72] topped eight charts worldwide and reached the top ten on many other charts.[73] "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" was the second lead single and peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Beyoncé's fifth number-one single,[72] and was also successful in other international markets, peaking within the top ten around the world.[74] The singles were certified double platinum[75] and quadruple platinum,[75] respectively, by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Diva" was released exclusively in the United States and peaked at number nineteen on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Beyoncé's twelfth top-twenty single, and at number three on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.[76] It was certified gold by the RIAA.[75] The next single, "Halo", was released internationally and peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100,[72] proving to be commercially successful and reaching top ten around the world.[77] It was certified double platinum by the RIAA on January 5, 2010.[75]
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