Beautiful Liar - Conception and Recording

Conception and Recording

"Beautiful Liar" was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Amanda Ghost, Ian Dench, and Knowles. It was produced by Eriksen and Hermansen using their stage name, Stargate, and Knowles. Eriksen told Sound on Sound, "This song is very simple. Most of the time we have more chords in a song, because we find it hard writing a great song on just one chord. But if you do it right, you can make it work, and this song is an example." The track had already been written in 2006. Eriksen and Hermansen played it to their manager, Tyran Smith, who said that it would be perfect for a duet between Shakira and Knowles. Eriksen and Hermansen considered this to be impossible, however Smith was devoted to that idea. As they had no lyric or top melody, various writers attempted to finish the song. The first three attempts were not satisfactory, and Smith put Eriksen and Hermansen to work together with Ghost and Dench, who wrote a significant part of the lyrics and the melody.

"Beautiful Liar" initially had a Spanish title and different lyrics. Hermansen re-titled it when he heard the line "beautiful liar" in one of the verses. When the production of the song was almost completed, it was presented to Knowles, who approved it. She added a few lines to the lyrics and recorded a solo version a few months before the release of the deluxe edition of B'Day (2006). Knowles confirmed that she would perform a duet with Shakira in an interview for Univision in December 2006. In another interview for MTV News, Knowles said that she met Shakira several times at various awards shows, and they talked about plans to collaborate on a song as they are both fans of each other and respect each other's work. Knowles said that she was very happy that they were able to work together after waiting for years.

When Knowles invited her to record a song for the re-release of Knowles' studio second album, B'Day, Shakira was touring and consequently had difficulties to match her schedule with Knowles'. A few months later, Shakira agreed to sing on the track. As she recorded her vocals, the songwriters and producers added the ethnic strings and percussion break. Knowles and Shakira recorded their vocals in different studios; the vocals were engineered by Gustavo Celis. "Beautiful Liar" was recorded at Sony Music Studios and Battery Studios in New York City, Elastic Mix Studios and The Hit Factory in Florida, and Futura Productions in Boston, Massachusetts.