This Week In Yesterday In Beyonce [2 March 2007 Edition]

I'm a day behind on this due to time constraints.

On Thursday, the music/entertainment bloggosphere was rocked by the appearance of NOT ONE, BUT TWO new videos from Beyonce.

"Upgrade U" is the next single from Beyonce's album B'Day. Shockingly, both the single and the video feature a cameo from Jay-Z.

The song has Beyonce noting that the object of her affections has the bling, the fancy cars, the clothes, etc., but she wants to "Upgrade U" by adding...her. The video follows a well-worn path for both artists, with Beyonce frolicking in gold coins and the back of a Rolls and dancing around Jay while he raps. Nothing special -- for me, the video's highlight is when Beyonce dresses "in drag" and lip-synchs part of Jay's rap -- but it's sure to be a big hit...



More interesting than "Upgrade U" is "Beautiful Liar", a collaboration with Shakira. I love this video. Both the song and the video incorporate elements of both of their styles -- it feels like a true collaboration -- and the choreography is so great, it's difficult at any given time to determine whose non-lying hips you're seeing...



"Beautiful Liar" first appeared in conjunction with a behind-the-scenes video for Beyonce's cover shoot for the SI Swimsuit Issue. It will be among three new tracks on a reissued "Deluxe Edition" of B'Day scheduled for release in April [I looked for a more specific date but couldn't find one]. Right now, the track is not available at the iTMS, which I fear means it will have an "Album Only" designation after the re-release of B'Day, which would totally piss me off.