A 1999 girl-group single itemising the bills a boyfriend has failed to pay (1999)
"Bills, Bills, Bills" by Destiny's Child.
Popular music · Pop
Beyoncé
born 1981 · American
R&B and pop — Columbia and Parkwood Entertainment
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter rose from the Houston girl group Destiny's Child to become the most-awarded artist in Grammy history and one of the defining performers of the twenty-first century. Since 2013 she has specialised in the surprise release and the visual album, tying music to film and to arguments about Black American history — the ballroom-culture dance record Renaissance and the country album Cowboy Carter, which finally won her Album of the Year, form two parts of a trilogy.
How to spot them
- ▸The visual album and the surprise drop; elaborate live staging with all-female bands and marching-band arrangements
- ▸Destiny's Child; her own company, Parkwood Entertainment; married to Jay-Z
- ▸Alter ego Sasha Fierce; the Houston roots and the Creole Louisiana family history
- ▸A trilogy of 'acts': dance, country and a third
Songs & albums
A 2008 video in black and white, three dancers and a leotard, endlessly parodied (2008)
"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)".
A 2016 visual album about infidelity and Black Southern womanhood, with a track carrying hot sauce in a bag (2016)
Lemonade, whose opening single was "Formation".
A 2013 album released without warning at midnight, with a video for every track (2013)
Beyoncé — the surprise release that changed how albums are launched.
A 2022 dance album dedicated to her late uncle and to Black and queer ballroom culture (2022)
Renaissance, the first act of her trilogy.
A 2024 country record that won Album of the Year and made her the first Black woman to win Best Country Album (2024)
Cowboy Carter, the second act.
A 2018 festival headline set staged around a historically Black college marching band (2018)
Her Coachella performance, filmed as Homecoming.
A 2019 Disney voice role as a lioness, with a companion album of African artists (2019)
The Lion King, and the album The Lion King: The Gift.
Quick-fire facts
- •Born Beyoncé Giselle Knowles on 4 September 1981 in Houston, Texas
- •Destiny's Child, originally Girl's Tyme, were managed by her father Mathew Knowles
- •Her 2003 solo debut Dangerously in Love won five Grammy Awards in one night
- •She married Jay-Z in 2008; their children are Blue Ivy and the twins Rumi and Sir
- •She has won more Grammy Awards than any other artist in history — 35 after the 2025 ceremony
- •Cowboy Carter won Album of the Year at the 67th Grammy Awards in February 2025, her first win in that category after several nominations
- •"Texas Hold 'Em" made her the first Black woman to top the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart
- •She was the first Black woman to headline Coachella, in 2018
- •The Renaissance World Tour (2023) and the Cowboy Carter Tour (2025) were among the highest-grossing tours ever staged by a woman
Drill it — 7 cards
1 / 7new card