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. The album was recorded from November 2007 to August 2008, with production handled by Darkchild, Toby Gad, Jim Jonsin, Rico Love, Stargate, Tricky Stewart, Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, and The-Dream, among others. Although there are no featured artists on the album's main track listing, fellow American singers Lady Gaga and Kanye West appear on deluxe editions of the album.
Upon its original release, I Am... Sasha Fierce was structured as a double album and intended to present Beyoncé's dichotomous artistic persona. The first disc I Am... contains slow and midtempo pop and R&B ballads, while the second, Sasha Fierce—titled after Beyoncé's onstage alter ego—focuses on more up-tempo beats that blend electropop and Europop elements. When writing the songs' lyrics, Beyoncé worked with writers in sessions accompanied by live orchestration. She credited both her husband, rapper Jay-Z, and jazz singer Etta James for inspiring her to push the limits of her songwriting and artistry. Musically, I Am... drew inspiration from folk and alternative rock, blended acoustic guitar elements into contemporary ballads, and was written and produced by Beyoncé in collaboration with Babyface, Tricky Stewart, The-Dream and Ryan Tedder. Meanwhile, Sasha Fierce featured production from Darkchild and Sean Garrett.
I Am... Sasha Fierce received mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics and was a commercial success, debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart after selling 482,000 units and earning Beyoncé her third consecutive U.S. number-one solo album. The album has earned one diamond certification and more than 30 platinum certifications in separate worldwide markets, and has been certified seven-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for more than seven million units in the United States. I Am... Sasha Fierce has sold 10 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. The album garnered seven Grammy Award nominations at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony (2010), including a nomination for Album of the Year, and won five. With a sixth win during the ceremony, Beyoncé broke the record for most awards won in one night by a female artist.
The album was marketed with the release of several singles, including "If I Were a Boy" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", both of which charted highly worldwide. The former topped charts in nine countries and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, with the latter becoming her fifth number-one single on the Hot 100 chart. "Diva" and "Ego" were released exclusively in the United States, while "Halo" and "Sweet Dreams" were promoted internationally as the third and fourth singles, respectively. "Broken-Hearted Girl" was released internationally as the fifth single, while "Video Phone" was released in September 2009 as the overall eighth, and "Why Don't You Love Me" was released in July 2010 as the ninth and final single. To further promote the album, Beyoncé made several award-show and television appearances across Europe and North America, and embarked on the worldwide I Am... Tour (2009–10).
Recording and production
The album was recorded over a nine-month period. Beyoncé recorded the album 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. Beyoncé co-wrote or co-produced all of the material on I Am... Sasha Fierce. 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. Beyoncé also collaborated with musicians she had not worked with previously, such as Toby Gad and BC Jean on "If I Were a Boy"; she also worked again with Amanda Ghost on "Disappear".
For the I Am... disc, Beyoncé was influenced by folk and alternative rock genres and incorporated instruments she had not typically used before, such as the acoustic guitar. Tedder specifically helped Beyoncé craft the album's balladry. The ballads were crafted to combine "the best elements" of pop and soul music, while also "expanding the possibilities of both genres". Beyoncé took a different approach because of the strong expectations surrounding her work; she experimented with more direct lyrics. Beyoncé worked with Ghost to rewrite Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria" after co-writing "Disappear" in London, England. Ghost told The Daily Telegraph that they were both inspired by their recent marriages and had walked down the aisle to "Ave Maria". The song "Smash Into You", featured on the deluxe edition of the album, was originally slated to appear on Jon McLaughlin's second album OK Now under the name "Smack Into You", but was cut from the final track listing after it leaked online and was then given to Beyoncé.
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 merge the two approaches onto one disc. If a song lacked personal meaning for her, she cut it during the selection process for the final track listing. After the selection process, twelve tracks were selected to be placed on the standard edition of the album, while five additional tracks were chosen for the deluxe edition. Beyoncé later revealed that songs from established producers like The Neptunes and Danja were unable to make the final cut.
Music and lyrics 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." Music writer Andy Kellman of AllMusic described 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 '70s soft rock than soul." The second disc, Sasha Fierce, contains recurring electronic influences, which appear in songs such as "Radio" and "Sweet Dreams". Kellman said in his review that "Diva" resembles B'Day'''s "Freakum Dress" or "Ring the Alarm" in terms of audacity. Although they appear on the Sasha Fierce disc, "Ego", "Why Don't You Love Me" and "Scared of Lonely" were described as 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. 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.
"If I Were a Boy", the first single of I Am..., is the only song on either disc that Beyoncé did not co-write. BC Jean, who wrote most of the song's lyrics, drew inspiration from a troubled relationship. Beyoncé explained in Essence that "If I Were a Boy" is different from her previous songs because it is not a traditional R&B song. Music critics remarked that the song seemed to be a mix of her hit single "Irreplaceable" (2006), Fergie's single "Big Girls Don't Cry" (2007), and Ciara's single "Like a Boy" (2007). Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times viewed the song's theme of female empowerment as an expansion on that of "Irreplaceable". Musically, "Single Ladies" is an upbeat-dance-pop and R&B song, and features dancehall and bounce influences. According to Jonah Weiner of Blender, the song clearly references marriage while Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune felt that the lyrics were connected to "post-breakup". "Halo", composed by Ryan Tedder and Evan Bogart, was initially intended for Beyoncé but was nearly recorded by Leona Lewis because of Beyoncé's schedule. According to Christian Williams of Billboard, "Halo" has a mainstream pop sound with subtle R&B undertones.
"Ave Maria" samples Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria". Critics noted "Diva" as a variation on Lil Wayne's "A Milli" and coined it as its female counterpart. "Diva" carries a stuttering beat. "Sweet Dreams" was praised by critics for its use of electronic bassline, which some critics compared to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" because of its electropop sound.Montgomery, James (July 9, 2009) MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved February 26, 2011. "Sweet Dreams" is rooted in contemporary R&B and incorporates influences from the classic 1980s funk. "Broken-Hearted Girl" is a midtempo piano ballad. Its production and melody are backed by strings and a drum machine beat. According to Spence D. of IGN Music, "Hello" comes across as another ballad that "populate[s] the first part of the album." It contains the Jerry Maguire line – "You had me at hello" – as part of its chorus. It consists mainly of "sweet guitar-picking and delicate harmonies." According to critics, "Video Phone" contains lyrics referring to "a celebration of Skype sex and putting on a solo show, on camera, for a guy you just met at the club". The remixed version features both Beyoncé and Lady Gaga trading verses with one another. Musically, the song consists of simple lyrics, with subtle innuendos, and is backed by sparse beats, with Beyoncé and Gaga uttering gasps and groans while singing. "Disappear" consists of "sweet guitar-picking and delicate harmonies". "That's Why You're Beautiful" is a slow-tempo soft rock and rock power ballad, which features a "grungy" guitar riff and stuttering drums. Critics compared the song with material by Alice in Chains and Jill Scott. The platinum edition of the album also included a cover version of Billy Joel's song "Honesty" (1979).
Title and artwork
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.
Comparing the project to a magazine, Beyoncé said that I Am... Sasha Fierce was a double album with two covers. The I Am... cover artwork, described as "underneath all the makeup", is a portrait of Beyoncé with no visible clothing or makeup on, while the Sasha Fierce cover artwork shows Beyoncé wearing heavy makeup, a leotard, tall pointed heels, and a "cyborg"-esque metallic glove. The cover artwork for the standard, deluxe, and platinum editions of I Am... Sasha Fierce were all shot by German photographer Peter Lindbergh.
In a 2021 interview for Harper's Bazaar, Beyoncé revealed that she based the entire project on black-and-white photography after being told during an analytics meeting that research showed her fans did not like her black-and-white photography, stating, "It pissed me off that an agency could dictate what my fans wanted based on a survey." She pointed out that she was "so exhausted and annoyed with these formulaic corporate companies" and highlighted the album's subsequent commercial success.
Release and promotion