Beyoncé is celebrating her birthday and her followers are celebrating. The singer has plenty of reasons to celebrate. In 2021, she broke all records at the Grammy Awards, becoming the (female) artist with the most Grammy awards in history. She is also the most nominated female singer for the same awards.
A month ago, his hit “Halo” hit the coveted 1 billion-stream club on Spotify.
And her career continues from strength to strength.
We celebrate 40 years of “Queen Bey” with five of her most iconic songs, including some in Spanish.
5 songs to celebrate Beyoncé on her birthday
“Halo”
This is the first video of the singer to reach one billion views on the platform. It was released as a single in 2009, but is part of their third album, “I Am.. Sasha Fierce,” which was released in late 2008.
With the single Beyoncé, she won the Grammy for best female vocal performance in 2009.
The song was written by Ryan Tedder (vocalist of One Republic), Evan Bogart and Beyoncé. Tedder recently told Jimmy Fallon on his “The Tonight Show” how he wrote the song.
“I was injured so I wasn’t on tour, so I had three hours to write a song. My wife wasn’t there, I called a friend and said, ‘Come on, Beyoncé wants you to write her a song. Let’s do it together’, he had already written a hit for Rihanna. I turn on the keyboard and wish every session would flow like this, but it doesn’t. The first melodies that come out when I play the keyboard, is the beginning of the song. It sounded like angels and I said: ‘Why don’t we make a song about angels? Her guardian angel. Jay-Z is her guardian angel. Minutes later it evolved into Halo, it’s a very good name, so let’s go with that one. Three hours later the song was ready and about a year later it was released,” Tedder said.
“Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
The song is a Beyoncé classic and became part of world popular culture with the phrase “put a ring on it”, which in Spanish would be translated as give her the ring, in this case of engagement.
This song is also part of his third album. The song is certified “4x Multi-Platinium” by the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA.
Many will also remember the video and its iconic dance thanks to the segment of the Saturday Night Live (SNL) program in which Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake (in heels) and Paul Rudd, at the end of the video, dance to success together.
“If I Were a Boy”
Another powerful song by the American singer, which also emerges from “I Am.. Sasha Fierce” is “If I Were a Boy”.
The song critiques the gender disparity. That is why the song has become a kind of feminist anthem. Interestingly, this song has a Spanish version, “If I were a boy”.
“Irreplaceable”
And speaking of Spanish versions, if you are a Beyoncé fan you will know that in 2007 the singer released, in the deluxe edition of her second album “B’Day”, Spanish versions of several of her hits.
Among them is this theme, which in English is “Irreplaceable” and that you will recognize from the beginning: “to the left, to the left, everything you own in the box to the left”.
“Beautiful Liar”
Long before collaborating with J Balvin on “Mi gente”, Beyoncé had already sung with Colombian superstar Shakira. He did it for both the English and Spanish versions of “Beautiful Liar.”
The single was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007 in the category of best vocal collaboration and its Spanish version, “Bello mentiroso”, was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the coveted category of recording of the year.