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| Cover = 01bgnnnnn.jpg
| Cover = 01bgnnnnn.jpg
| Artist = [[Beyoncé Knowles|Beyoncé]]
| Artist = [[Beyoncé Knowles|Beyoncé]]
| Album = [[I Am… Sasha Fierce]]<br>''(deluxe edition)
| Album = [[I Am… Sasha Fierce]]<br>''(deluxe edition) & [[Above and Beyoncé - Video Collection & Dance Mixes]] (remix version)
| Released = May 19, 2009
| Released = May 19, 2009
| Format = [[music download|Digital download]]
| Format = [[music download|Digital download]]
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"'''Ego'''" is a song by American [[contemporary R&B|R&B]] singer [[Beyoncé Knowles]], written and produced by Elvis "BlacElvis" Williams, Harold Lilly, and Knowles for the deluxe edition of her third studio album, ''[[I Am… Sasha Fierce]]''. The song and the remix featuring Kanye West were released on May 19, 2009, as the album's fifth [[single (music)|single]] in the United States.
"'''Ego'''" is a song by American [[contemporary R&B|R&B]] singer [[Beyoncé Knowles]], written and produced by Elvis "BlacElvis" Williams, Harold Lilly, and Knowles for the deluxe edition of her third studio album, ''[[I Am… Sasha Fierce]]''. The song was released on May 19, 2009, as the album's fifth [[single (music)|single]] in the United States. The remix, featuring [[hip hop]] artist [[Kanye West]], is included on the ''[[Above and Beyoncé - Video Collection & Dance Mixes]]'' CD/DVD.


The single is the fifth consecutive single from ''[[I Am… Sasha Fierce]]'' to reach the top 40 on [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]], peaking at 39 making it her lowest charting single of the album.
The single is the fifth consecutive single from ''[[I Am… Sasha Fierce]]'' to reach the top 40 on [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]], peaking at 39 making it her lowest charting single of the album.
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==Critical reception==
==Critical reception==
''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine gave the song a positive review: "The fifth single from her ''I Am... Sasha Fierce'' album combines elements of both sides of her musical personality. 'Ego' sounds like an homage to old-school R&B midtempo jams yet is firmly rooted in today's production trends. Beyoncé's pop side is explored throughout, with a restrained vocal and a clever piano breakdown. Credit the singer for not polishing up her vocal during that interlude, choosing instead to show her real voice, limitations and all, just like the old days."<ref>http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews-singles/ego-1003977786.story</ref>
''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine gave the song a positive review: "The fifth single from her ''I Am... Sasha Fierce'' album combines elements of both sides of her musical personality. 'Ego' sounds like an homage to old-school R&B midtempo jams yet is firmly rooted in today's production trends. Beyoncé's pop side is explored throughout, with a restrained vocal and a clever piano breakdown. Credit the singer for not polishing up her vocal during that interlude, choosing instead to show her real voice, limitations and all, just like the old days."<ref>http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews-singles/ego-1003977786.story</ref>

==Remix==
The song's official remix, featuures [[hip hop]] artist [[Kanye West]]. It is included on the ''[[Above and Beyoncé - Video Collection & Dance Mixes]]'' CD/DVD.


==Music video==
==Music video==

Revision as of 02:33, 16 October 2009

"Ego"
Song


"Ego" is a song by American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles, written and produced by Elvis "BlacElvis" Williams, Harold Lilly, and Knowles for the deluxe edition of her third studio album, I Am… Sasha Fierce. The song was released on May 19, 2009, as the album's fifth single in the United States. The remix, featuring hip hop artist Kanye West, is included on the Above and Beyoncé - Video Collection & Dance Mixes CD/DVD.

The single is the fifth consecutive single from I Am… Sasha Fierce to reach the top 40 on Billboard Hot 100, peaking at 39 making it her lowest charting single of the album. However, "Ego" managed to peak at number 1 in South Africa.

Background

"Ego" was planned as the third single from the album, but later was changed in favor of "Diva". 'Ego' was eventually released as the fifth US single, it was supposed to be released alongside the sixth US/fourth worldwide single 'Broken-Hearted Girl', However, at the last minute, the release of 'Broken-Hearted Girl' was scrapped, and "Sweet Dreams" was released instead. Both tracks were taken from the 'Sasha Fierce' disc. This goes in contrast to the other joint-releases from this album where one track is taken from each disc.

Knowles told MTV that the song "kind of talks about someone being very confident and having this swagger when they walk and when they talk, and that being one of the reasons why I'm attracted to them."[2]

Critical reception

Billboard magazine gave the song a positive review: "The fifth single from her I Am... Sasha Fierce album combines elements of both sides of her musical personality. 'Ego' sounds like an homage to old-school R&B midtempo jams yet is firmly rooted in today's production trends. Beyoncé's pop side is explored throughout, with a restrained vocal and a clever piano breakdown. Credit the singer for not polishing up her vocal during that interlude, choosing instead to show her real voice, limitations and all, just like the old days."[3]

Music video

Knowles in the video seated with her hair styled in a curly afro beside her two back-up dancers in the music video for "Ego".

Knowles co-directed the video for "Ego" with her choreographer of twelve years, Frank Gatson Jr. Gatson has been Knowles' creative director for several of her videos, such as "Suga Mama", "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", and "Get Me Bodied", as well as her last three world tours, including the I Am… Tour. Knowles let Gatson direct the video for "Ego" after he introduced her to a new choreographer, Sheryl Murakami.[4]

"My goal for [the] video is simplicity", Knowles tells Entertainment Weekly. "In 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)', I saw this old tape of Bob Fosse's wife, and I used that as inspiration. I thought in this world, with all the technology and everything that's going on, to strip everything down—great idea. So I kind of did the same thing, but glossy and black, for 'Ego'".[5] A "bootlegged" version of the music video, featuring Sheryl Murakami performing the choreography, was leaked onto YouTube in early March 2009.[6][7] Overall, Beyonce made three videos for Ego.

The video premiered on Beyonce's official website on May 21, 2009.[8] The video, like the ones for "If I Were A Boy", "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)", and "Diva" was shot in black and white. The video consists of Beyoncé in a silver leotard and two other women dressed similarly doing the same choreography as her, which has reminiscence of the video of "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)". Later in the video she is sitting in a white glittery chair in front of the same tiled background, in a black coat with the two dancers still dancing in unison around her, there are a few shots of her in the chair to the back of the camera with the dancers also with their backs to the camera. Later Beyoncé gets up from the chair and dances with the dancers around the chair this scene ends as she and the dancers walk to the left of the camera and walk into the next scene. In this scene she is still with the tiled background and she and her dancers are holding poles with which they dance with. Also, there are, during the pole scene some shots of her on her own singing in the chair from the second scene. In the next scene, with the same tiled background, Beyoncé is leaning against the wall during the Bridge of the song and her dancers spin in heels around her and afterward they all continue to dance against the wall. The very last scene shows Beyoncé in the chair, without the black jacket and dancing to herself while the song ends. This is the first video from I Am... Sasha Fierce for her to have curly afro hair, similar to the one in "Work It Out". It is also the first video from the Sasha Fierce side of her album where she does not don her robo-glove as in "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "Diva". In the premiered version of the music video, the word "bitch" is muted out when Beyoncé states "I got every reason to feel like I'm that bitch!"

A fan exclusive version of "Ego" was included on Above and Beyoncé, in which only Knowles appears. The whole video is a continuous double-angled scene where Knowles is seated on the throne chair, previously seen in the original video. In the B-roll footage on Above and Beyoncé, it was shown that a clay sculpture of Knowles was made for the "Ego" video. However, the sculpture was not shown in the final version of the video.

The remix and its music video are on the Above and Beyoncé DVD. It premiered on the June 15, 2009 episode of BET's Access Granted.[9] In the remix video, Kanye West begins his rap in an empty room next to a follow spot. At the end of his rap, he points the light towards the camera and the shot fades in white to Knowles' scenes. The rest of the video is nearly identical to the original video.

Tracklisting

Ego/Sweet Dreams Singles & Dance Mixes[10]
  1. Ego - 3:57
  2. Ego (DJ Escape & Johnny Vicious Club Remix) - 8:22
  3. Ego (Slang "Big Ego" Club Remix) - 6:18
  4. Sweet Dreams - 3:29
  5. Sweet Dreams (OK DAC Club Remix) - 5:14
  6. Sweet Dreams (Karmatronic Club Remix) - 6:36

Charts

Chart (2009) Peak
position
New Zealand Singles Chart[11] 11
Swedish Singles Chart[11] 29
Türkiye Top 20[12] 14
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 39
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs[13] 3

Official Versions/Remixes

  • Album Version (Dirty)
  • Album Version (Clean) / Video Edit
  • Album Instrumental
  • Remix feat. Kanye West
  • DJ Escape & Johnny Vicious Club
  • DJ Escape & Johnny Vicious Dub
  • Redtop's Digital Ska Remix
  • Redtop's Digital Ska Radio
  • OK DAC Remix
  • OK DAC Dub
  • Karmatronic Club
  • Karmatronic Radio
  • Redsoul Club Mix
  • Ego Slang Club Mix
  • Ego Slang Dance Dub
  • Zoned Out Light Extended
  • Zoned Out Light Radio
  • Lost Daze Remix

References

  1. ^ mms://wm.allaccess.com/allaccess/beyonego.wma
  2. ^ Rodriguez, Jayson (May 20, 2009). "Beyonce Knew The Perfect Person To Remix 'Ego': Kanye West!". MTV News. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
  3. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews-singles/ego-1003977786.story
  4. ^ http://www.bwydance.com/faculty/bios/murakami_sheryl.shtml
  5. ^ http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/03/beyonce-tour.html
  6. ^ http://blogs.nypost.com/popwrap/archives/2009/03/beyonce_ego.html
  7. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8G9R2W25fg
  8. ^ http://www.beyonceonline.com/us/news/exclusive-video-premiere-ego-right-here-beyonceonlinecom
  9. ^ http://www.beyonceonline.com/us/news/ego-remix-video-premieres-special-bet-acces-granted
  10. ^ "iTunes Store - Beyoncé - Ego / Sweet Dreams Singles & Dance Mixes". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
  11. ^ a b "Beyoncé – Ego – Music Charts". αCharts.us. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
  12. ^ "Billboard Türkiye Top 20". Billboard Türkiye (in Turkish). June 29, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
  13. ^ Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart Listing For The Week Of Jun 06 2009, Billboard.com
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