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Beyoncé's "B'day" Is Reborn

Among high-profile releases by contemporary pop artists, Beyoncé's B'day was a rarity: a concise set of songs with a clear set of lyrical and musical themes. In other words, it was an old-fashioned album—not too far removed from the sort of records released by the likes of David Bowie, Carole King, and Joni Mitchell in the '70s.

B'day was not presented as a concept album, but its lyrics followed a clear dramatic arc: Beyoncé falls for a man whose ambition and taste for luxury match her own, but she eventually discovers his infidelity, and then spends the final third of the record reconstructing her shattered self-esteem. It's unclear whether or not the storyline was meant to be understood as a form of autobiography, but it certainly conformed to the tabloids' portraits of her romantic relationship with Jay-Z, a parallel reinforced by his B'day cameos.

In addition to its narrative strength and lean sequencing, B'day emphasized the most exciting and interesting aspects of Beyoncé's musical persona: her ferocity; her exemplary taste in energetic, modern beats; her penchant for singing lyrics that treat love and sex as deals to be brokered. Simply put, it was a fantastic album, and the perfect summary of everything that made her one of the most compelling stars of her generation.

The previous paragraphs are in the past tense because B'day has been reissued in an expanded, deluxe form. The new version adds nearly an entire album's worth of new material to the mix. It also drastically scrambles the running order, such that the narrative suggested by the original sequencing is rendered disjointed and incomprehensible. No songs have been omitted and the original version is still commercially available, but the message is clear: B'day has been "upgraded," and history has been revised.

The first two singles from the album—the Jay-Z team-up "Deja Vu" and the hysterical "Ring the Alarm"—were considered flops, so they are shuffled to the back, while the smash hit "Irreplaceable" gets moved up to the beginning. An alternate version of "Irreplaceable" sung in Spanglish was a major hit on Latin radio, and that, too, is included—along with a duet with Shakira, and a bonus disc of material catering to the emerging Latin pop demographic.

The rest of the new material dilutes the fierce funk of the original B'day with competent but uninspired ballads that seem jarring in the context of the older songs. The additional tracks serve three main functions: attracting audiences that had no interest in the intense mood (or language) of the original album; distancing the music from Beyoncé's personal life; and boosting the overall sales for the record by marketing a brand new set of songs under the name B'day.

Though B'day has sold more than two million copies in the United States alone, its performance at retail has been disappointing to many people in the record industry, especially the top brass at Beyoncé's record label, Sony BMG. It's important to realize that B'day is not just a sequel to its blockbuster predecessor Dangerously in Love, it's a tentpole product for the label in general. Most record labels rely on a handful of highly marketable hits to bring in enough revenue to keep the company in the black and finance the cost of other less profitable albums. If a major release does not perform up to expectations, it can spell disaster for the artist and the record company.

The new version of B'day is a novel and proactive approach to dealing with this dilemma...

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