Beyoncé has indeed been in the business for most of her life—and her new album is all about the freedom she has earned after giving herself to her fans for the last 15 years.
“Now I’m in my 30s, and those children that grew up listening to me have grown up, and I always felt like it was my responsibility to be aware of kids and their parents and all these generations,” the platinum-selling superstar muses in “Self-Titled Part 5. Honesty,” the latest installment, exclusively obtained by E! News, of her documentary chronicling the making of her pioneering Beyoncé.
“And I felt like, in a sense, I could not express everything,” she continues, radiant in a plain white T-shirt and jean shorts. “I’ve done so many things in my life, in my career, that I feel like at this point I’ve earned the right to be me and to express any and every side of myself.”
Case in point: The black and white video for “Rocket,” in which a lingerie-clad Bey most certainly comes into her own.
“What I love about this song is, it takes you through this journey,” she says over clips of the sexy video. “You’re flirting and you’re talking all of your arrogant s–t. Then you climax, and then you have your cigarette.”
But while “Rocket” seems to be about one thing, “this song actually is about singing from the heart, and harmonies and adlibs and arrangement,” Beyoncé says.“One of the things I love about this project,” she continues, as the featurette cuts to her working at the piano, “how willing all these incredible artists were to write together. Justin Timberlake, Miguel and myself all worked together to write ‘Rocket.'”
Cut to the recording studio, where an awed Timberlake can’t believe what he just heard coming out of the booth.
“It was a moment in the studio whereI didn’t want to stop singing it, and I just kind of zoned out,” Beyoncé recalls.
“Um, wow, there’s something wrong with you,” J.T. says with utmost respect. “That is…there’s something wrong with you.”
Beyoncé laughs and says “thank you.”
“I don’t think I would’ve done it, you know, back then,” she says of putting out such a personal project. “I don’t think I would’ve been confident enough. I wouldn’ve been too afraid of what other people thought, but I kinda dropped that fourth wall and I did it.”
Apparently she created alias Sasha Fierce for a reason back in the day.
“I feel like I’m having to tap into a lot of my life experiences to pull inspiration,” Jay Z’s other half continues, “and I feel like I’m opening up a lot in these videos and showing a lot of sides to me that only a few people have ever seen.”
Watch all of “Part 5. Honesty” right here to see everything Queen Bey has to reveal—and find out what those who’ve worked most closely with her on this project have to say about her work ethic, her ferocity and more!
Source: E! Online