Celebrating the Year of 4: Beyonce’s emancipating album that propelled an icon

Any true Beyonce fan will understand the significance of the Year of 4. 

Mere mortals may simply refer to it as the year 2011, but the BeyHive regards it as one of the most game-changing moments of Beyonce’s career. 

Ten years ago, Beyonce released her fourth solo studio album – aptly titled 4 – on June 24. The number four was already dear to Beyonce’s heart – she was born on September 4, her husband Jay Z’s birthday is December 4 and they married on April 4. 

The fact that she was emancipated professionally from her father Mathew Knowles by the release of her fourth album, was surely no coincidence. 

The album was a turning point for Beyonce, steering her artistry into a direction where taking bold risks became the blueprint. If her previous monster album, I Am… Sasha Fierce, cemented her status as a global pop star outside of Destiny’s Child, then 4 brought her back to her roots. 

Party, featuring Andre 3000, was a real treat for 80s and 90s kids with its slow-bounce synthesisers bringing us straight to the cookouts and BBQs, while End Of Time and Run The World (Girls), with their full-throttle live choreography, signalled the beginning of Beyonce embracing African dance and injecting culture into her art. 

However, the Year of 4 was even bigger than the album itself. 

It was momentous for Beyonce personally and professionally as she decided to separate from her father Mathew, who had managed her career from the start. 

‘I’ve only parted ways with my father on a business level. He is my father for life and I love my dad dearly,’ she said at the time. 

Mathew had turned her into a star but Beyonce was ready to take the baton and shape herself into an icon. 

The Year of 4 was her opportunity to do just that. 

Perhaps unfortunately for Mathew, the success of 4 proved Beyonce didn’t need him. The album shot to number one around the world, including the Billboard 200 chart, and landed Beyonce her first chart-topping album in the UK since her solo debut, Dangerously In Love, in 2003. 

There’s no doubt that 4’s number one success in the UK was largely due to Beyonce headlining Glastonbury two days after its release. 

Yes, Queen Bey had her promotional campaign down pat and who would’ve expected anything less? 

Her headline set at Worthy Farm was history-making as she became the first woman to headline the festival for 20 years. Images of her shimmying across the stage in a gold blazer and delivering hit after hit for two hours will forever hold a special place in my heart. 

On a personal level, the Year of 4 was one of the first major events that I worked on as a fresh-faced reporter only a year out of university. So you can imagine my excitement when Beyonce’s PR sent a goodie bag and invited me to a top secret show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire performed by the queen herself. 

Not many know or will remember, but hours after headlining Glastonbury, Beyonce delivered a show-stopping free concert at the intimate London venue purely because she wanted to ‘give back’. 

However, the most incredible surprise of all was just weeks away. 

Through all of this – exhausting performances, interviews, and constant travelling – nobody had a clue that Beyonce was secretly pregnant with her first child, Blue Ivy. Honestly, the Year of 4 was something you truly couldn’t make up. 

She had battled morning sickness throughout the whole Glastonbury experience and still performed like a trooper. We already knew that Beyonce’s work ethic was second to none but this just proved that she was a machine. 

As she explained in the insightful Year of 4 documentary, released in July 2011: ‘I don’t believe in no. I don’t believe in “I need to sleep”. If I’m not sleeping, nobody’s sleeping.’ 

Of course, Beyonce was never going to announce her first pregnancy with a run-of-the-mill PR statement. She instead chose the MTV VMAs stage to drop the mic, pop open her blazer and rub her baby bump confirming she and Jay Z were expecting. 

The unique pregnancy announcement broke the internet and Twitter’s record at the time for the most tweets sent per second as the news spread like wildfire. It was 8,868 tweets per second, FYI. 

The Year of 4 was such a wild journey that not many artists, or their fans, get to experience. It was the first time Beyonce was able to make major decisions on her own, stepping into new territory on the business and creative front. 

In the final moments of the 4 documentary, Beyonce says with a huge smile after getting positive feedback on the album: ‘Well, that was exhilarating. I feel proud.’  

Well, that’s pretty much how us fans feel about the Year of 4; exhilarated and proud to have witnessed history up close. 

What a time to be alive.

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