Development
In a letter addressed to her fans, Knowles revealed that she worked on I Am... Sasha Fierce for nearly one year, taking time to "create her sound ... Something that says who I am at this stage in my life. I have poured my heart and soul into it." It was project on which she spent the longest period of time since her first records at 14 years old as a member of Destiny's Child. She began working on I Am... Sasha Fierce in December 2007; Knowles felt that she had to show artistic growth on the record, "Even though I've been very successful and very fortunate, I want to still be challenged." Knowles was inspired by her husband Jay-Z and Etta James, whom she played in the 2008 musical biopic Cadillac Records; James' boldness inspired Knowles to express herself directly and honestly, and explore musical genres and styles that she had not experimented with previously. Knowles had already started producing material for I Am... Sasha Fierce, but in the middle of recording signed on for Cadillac Records. After studying of the life of James and her work on Cadillac Record, the production of I Am... Sasha Fierce resulted in new dramatic range once Knowles had finished the film; the direction of the album was altered. Knowles was willing to take risks and redefine who she was. She hoped to reach out for a wider audience, including people who buy records by American singers John Mayer and Carrie Underwood. She explained in an interview:
The music I made before and after the movie were very different. I was a lot more bold and fearless after I played Etta James, because of course some of the character stays with you. Some of the music I would have been afraid to make, I wasn’t. I got more guts, more confidence as a human being. I think that’s why I love doing movies so much, because it’s not just an art form. It changes my life and my music and the way I look at things. When you’re a pop star, it’s a little conservative, you always have to stay in a box. You have fans that are 5 and fans that are 65, there are so many people that want so many things. But Etta James was the queen of rock ’n’ roll, soul, R&B, jazz — she did it all, and she always made it her own. After playing her and singing her songs, I thought, it’s time for me to challenge myself and do whatever I’m inspired to do. I know you have to make a transition into being legendary, and I knew that it was time.
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Famous quotes containing the word development:
“This was the Eastham famous of late years for its camp- meetings, held in a grove near by, to which thousands flock from all parts of the Bay. We conjectured that the reason for the perhaps unusual, if not unhealthful development of the religious sentiment here, was the fact that a large portion of the population are women whose husbands and sons are either abroad on the sea, or else drowned, and there is nobody but they and the ministers left behind.”
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“The man, or the boy, in his development is psychologically deterred from incorporating serving characteristics by an easily observable fact: there are already people around who are clearly meant to serve and they are girls and women. To perform the activities these people are doing is to risk being, and being thought of, and thinking of oneself, as a woman. This has been made a terrifying prospect and has been made to constitute a major threat to masculine identity.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)