15 Things You Didn't Realize About Beyonce's Lyrics

It is no secret that Beyonce is pretty much the most famous celebrity out there (at least when it comes to the music industry). Beyonce has been in the music industry for more than two decades, and still, somehow she is still on top. Well, you know why. She is the best. As you know, she started off in the R&B group, Destiny's child, then transitioned into a solo career that's still blazing to this day. When you look at where she started and see what she's achieved, it's no wonder they call her "Queen." That said, there's been a ton of speculation on where the source of her success stems from. Is it her flawless range, her killer moves or her catchy lyrics? Did she even write her trademark and popular lyrics herself? Here are 15 little details you probably didn't notice about Beyonce's lyrics. You might be surprised!

15 Ne-Yo Wrote "Irreplaceable"

"To the left, to the left, everything you own in the box to the left," is arguably Beyonce's most recognizable lyric of all time. You probably know that this line is from her song "Irreplaceable" and that this song was released at the beginning of her solo career. It perfectly describes the situation when your boyfriend gets too comfortable and forgets that he's not the only fish in the sea. R&B singer, Ne-Yo, is who we have to thank for one of our favorite breakup anthems of all time. He's the same singer-songwriter who's penned hits like Kerry Hilson's "Pretty Girl Rock," Rihanna's "Take A Bow," and his own, "So Sick." In the years since the song came out, there's been a little mild back and forth between Beyonce, concerning who actually penned the track, however. On more than one occasion Beyonce has maintained that she wrote "Irreplaceable," from a place of personal experience. However, Ne-yo wrote the lyrics in their entirety, while Beyonce only wrote the background harmonies, according to Ne-yo. Unlike some celeb feuds, this one never really gained any traction, mainly because it seems that Ne-Yo just doesn't want any issues with Beyonce.

14 Beyonce Wrote "Bootylicious" After She Gained Weight

Beyonce is known for her curvy figure, that's for sure. In recent years, she's sported a slimmer figure, but there was a time in the early to mid '00s when she was just a little heavier. Because of this, she was inspired to write, "Bootylicious" as an anthem for curvy women everywhere. During the behind the scenes of her DVD, Beyonce had this to say about the female empowerment anthem. "It was 2000 and we were on our way to Japan. And I came across this Stevie Nicks song. Something about this guitar riff reminded me of a voluptuous woman… and I said, 'I am gonna write a song to celebrate a woman's curves.' And no matter what they said about me, I was Bootylicious. You don't believe me? Look it up in the dictionary." "Bootylicious", by Destiny's child, became such a big hit at the time that the world eventually got added the dictionary. That's totally the power of Beyonce, right?!

13 She Recorded B'Day Using Four Studios At The Same Time

Beyonce's second solo album, B'Day, was a huge milestone in her early career. It was the ultimate upgrade from her debut album, Dangerously In Love and featured hits like "Deja Vu," "Ring The Alarm," and "Check On It," (which was featured on The Pink Panther soundtrack)! It was packed full of hits and just feel-good R&B music. That album could have made or destroyed her career, so it's understandable that she might have gone all out to make it a success. She did just that. According to Wikipedia, "Beyoncé rented the Sony Music Studios in New York City, and was influenced by her husband Jay Z's method of collaborating with multiple record producers; she used four recording studios simultaneously." She also toyed with the producers to incite competitiveness among them, and to also challenge them to push them themselves. Her unique approach definitely paid off because B'Day was a commercial and critical success.

12 Beyonce Wrote "Survivor" After Two of Her Group Members Left

Everyone thought that Destiny's Child was over once two of its founding members were gone. However, fate had a different plan for the group and that would be international stardom. Still, people couldn't get over the fact that they'd brought in two random girls to be in the group. That would never work, they said. And people made a ton of jokes at the band's expense. Beyonce told MTV: Not long after, “I thought about this joke that this radio station had, and they were saying, 'Oh, Destiny's Child is like 'Survivor,' trying to see which member is going to last the longest on the island,' and everyone laughed. I was like, 'Ah, that's cute, but you know what? I'm going to use that negative thing and turn it into a positive thing and try to write a great song out of it.” And we're so glad that she did! Survivor is still an amazing song to this day.

11 "Sorry" Is Allegedly About Jay Z's Infidelity

Beyonce used her 2016 album, Lemonade, to talk about her husband Jay Z who allegedly cheated on her. At least, that's what it seems like she wants us to believe, and what all of her songs allude to, especially, "Sorry." During "Sorry," Beyonce talks about the fact that he'd "killed her," and the video features symbolic shots of herself drowning. It was really powerful and dramatic to watch, but it was also so much fun to listen to. Though the song was prefaced by Beyonce's meaningful monologue, the actual song is one that you could listen to while hanging out with your friends on a Friday night. The best part is that, after Bey sings about partying with her girls and having fun without him (since he seems to have no problem having fun without her), she basically tells him she's going to leave him if he doesn't get his act together.

10 She Was Called Out For Claiming To Write "Crazy In Love"

"Crazy In Love" was Beyonce's first official solo song. It was released in 2003 to positive reviews. The catchy beat, mixed with Beyonce's killer vocals (and a feature by then-boyfriend, Jay Z) were a match made in heaven. On top of that, it was that song that made Beyonce's "Uh-Oh," dance famous. People still jam to it to this day. Who gets the credit for writing this is a little hard to pinpoint, however. According to The Daily Beast, Beyonce claimed to have written the hit record when she didn't, in fact, write it at all. Or, at least much of it. Beyonce said, "Crazy in Love" was really hard to write because there was so much going on… "I mean, I had written-what?-seven, eight number one songs with Destiny's Child, in a row?” The site pointed out that "Crazy In Love" is actually a sample of an older song by Eugene Lite and that Beyonce was listed as a co-writer, not the sole writer. This was the first but certainly not the last time that Beyonce has been accused of taking credit for something.

9 She Wrote "Bow Down" To Defend Herself

When Beyonce dropped her song, "Bow Down," some people liked it, but others thought that it was a little crass and that the whole Queen Bey thing had finally gone to her head. The song is unlike anything else that Beyonce had ever recorded and she was definitely tooting her own horn, and basically telling her industry peers to bow down to her. After the song made its rounds online in 2011, Beyonce faced a ton of backlash and took to iTunes radio to defend herself. She said, “The reason I put out 'Bow Down' is I woke up, I went to the studio, I had a chant in my head, it was aggressive, it was angry, it wasn't the Beyoncé that wakes up every morning. It was the Beyoncé that was angry. It was the Beyoncé that felt the need to defend herself. And if the song never comes out, OK! I said it! And listened to it after I finished, and I said, 'This is hot! I'ma put it out. I'm not going to sell it. I'm just going to put it out. If people like it, great. If they don't, they don't. “

8 Blue Ivy's Voice Appears on "Glory"

In addition to winning the parent jackpot by being Beyoncé's daughter, which must be amazing, Blue Ivy Carter has already been very fortunate… career-wise. In 2012, Blue Ivy Carter became the youngest person ever to be featured on a Billboard-charting song! Her "vocals" are featured on Jay Z's 2012 song "Glory." If you do the math, then you will know that Blue Ivy was only a few months old at this point, so she obviously was not singing. She was crying. Jay Z recorded some of her very first cries, hours after her birth, and incorporated them into the end of the song. What is even cooler than the fact that she featured on a charting song, she will also always have the recording of herself crying. That is pretty awesome since she must be the youngest person ever to sing (or cry?) on a song! We have to admit it's pretty cool!

7 She Wrote "Heartbeat" After A Miscarriage

In her Life Is But A Dream documentary, Beyoncé gave fans an intimate peek into her life at the time. This was when she had her first kid, Blue Ivy Carter. Of course, the world was enamored by Beyoncé and Jay Z's little bundle of joy. For super obvious reasons. One shocking revelation that came out of the documentary was that Beyoncé admitted to having a miscarriage in 2012. And to help aid her healing process, she wrote a really sweet, heart-wrenching song called "Heartbeat." She said, "I flew back to New York to get my check up - and no heartbeat. Literally, the week before I went to the doctor, everything was fine, but there was no heartbeat… I went into the studio and wrote the saddest song I've ever written in my life, and it was actually the first song I wrote for my album. And it was the best form of therapy for me because it was the saddest thing I've ever been through.” The song she's referring to is "Heartbeat," which you shouldn't listen to unless you have a steady supply of tissues.

6 She Wrote Her "Beyonce" Album In A House In The Hamptons

There's a reason that, three years later, we still can't put down Beyonce's 2013 self-titled album. We bet it's because the songwriting/production is amazing. In fact, we know that it was thanks to the amount of work that was put into it. Buzzfeed has reported that "The self-titled album was mostly written in the summer of 2012. Beyoncé and her team of writers and producers holed up in a house in the Hamptons where they “would have dinner together every night and break off into different rooms and work on music” during the day." Eric Bellinger talked about this time in an interview with Vlad TV. He recounted how he and 20 other writers flew out to Beyonce's home in the Hamptons to record the album in secret. That's dedication! Now, if you're a little hazy about where we are in the timeline, know that this is the 2013 album that Beyonce dropped out of nowhere. The album includes the hits "Drunk In Love," "Flawless," and "Feeling Myself."

5 She Has Production Credits On Almost All Her Songs

Whether she wrote all of the lyrics, came up with the melody, or just contributed a hook or two, the awesome fact is that Queen Bey has contributed to the production of all of her songs! That's pretty cool when you think about it. Society seems to think that artists have to write and compose every aspect of their songs in order to be considered legit artists (or even artists at all). But artistry goes beyond the actual creation of the song. It also includes the vocal aspects, the visual components, the marketing, and many other things. Beyonce is an active member of the team creating her many, many hits and it's obviously working for her. We mean, just try to name a bigger star than Beyonce right now (or even in the past). That's a pretty difficult and impossible task! It's safe to say that she's the greatest and is going to stay that way.

4 Justin Timberlake Wrote Beyonce's Song "Rocket"

Justin Timberlake, in addition to being an amazing performer, is also a really talented songwriter and producer. The beloved pop singer lent his talents on Beyonce's 2013 self-titled surprise album. The song has, um, super suggestive lyrics (and that is all that can be said here), but if you have heard it then you know that Justin Timberlake is the LAST person you would think to associate with the song. (If you look it up, know that it is NSFW.) It is actually pretty shocking to read the song lyrics and listen to the song itself. This definitely is not the first time this duo has worked together, however, which is another surprising fact since that has not been talked about. They have collaborated in the past on the remix Beyonce's song, "End of Time." They also performed "Aint Nothing Like The Real Thing Baby" at the 2010 Grammy Awards.

3 "Daddy Lessons" Might Be About Her Dad

Remember Beyonce's unofficial team-up with The Dixie Chicks, "Daddy Lessons?" And all of the hoopla it caused because Beyonce performed at the Country Music Awards? The song, at the center of the so-called controversy, was a cautionary tale about a man who warned his daughter to stay away from no-good men. According to Bustle.com's analysis, the song hinted at the fact that the father in question knew what signs to look for because he himself had not been the best version of a man at one point in time. This would definitely fit Beyonce's father who had an affair while married to her mother. Ouch! The only clue that this tune might not be about her own father is that the dad in the song dies at the end. We all know that Matthew Knowles is definitely alive, so we're scratching our heads on this one. It could be that the lyrics are meant to be symbolic rather than literal. Either way, it's an amazing song!

2 She Sometimes Forgets Her Song Lyrics

Beyonce, as talented as she is, has a bit of a foggy memory when it comes to memorizing the lyrics to her songs. At least, that is what it seems like from several interviews. Apparently, Beyonce used to forget entire verses to her songs when she was in Destiny's Child. While it must have been kind of embarrassing, it wasn't so bad because she had the other girls to lean on. Since she's gone solo, she seems to have (mostly) gotten over that problem, since she's the only one singing. It still comes up every now and again, though. Beyonce allegedly shared her trick for recovering from forgotten lyrics with singer Rita Ora. Ora told Metro UK, "[Beyonce] said if you forget the words, put the mic out so the crowd sings along with you." This is pretty genius, but the important part here is that Beyonce actually forgets the words sometimes. It's super refreshing to know that celebs are just like us in some ways.

1 She Used A Feminist's Speech In "Flawless"

In 2013, Beyonce finally admitted she was a feminist after years of skirting around the shower. In her hit song "Flawless," she included an excerpt from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's “Why We Should All Be Feminists” speech. Right before the catchy song starts you hear, “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don't teach boys the same?" In the time since Beyonce has become on of the most influential feminist advocates out there today. Good on her for using her platform for good!