Music Video
The music video for "Beautiful Liar" was directed by Jake Nava, who directed several of Knowles' other videos. It was filmed over two days, during the two-week production of B'Day Anthology Video Album. Because of a busy schedule, the production team did not have enough time for the choreography. The dance sequences were choreographed spontaneously and the routines were rehearsed in forty minutes. Knowles learned some of the choreography from Shakira, who created most of them and taught Knowles some belly dancing moves. Knowles originated the idea of playing a lookalike. Knowles once saw a boy dancing, and thought he was performing before a mirror, but she realized he was dancing with another person. The music video premiered on Total Request Live on February 28, 2007.
The first half of the video features Knowles and Shakira in separate scenes. It begins with the women's faces masked by smoke. As the video progresses they are featured against several different backgrounds, including dawn (Knowles) and dusk (Shakira); sheets blown in the wind; bamboo covered in yellow orchids; a room with blue neon lighting and Avestan writing on the walls; and a background of stormy weather. Slow dance moves and belly dancing, during a breakdown after the bridge, are featured throughout the video. The women wear matching hairstyles and black outfits for the entirety of the video.
Alex Denney of Yahoo! Music wrote that the dance moves of Knowles and Shakira in the video were convincing and erotic "without reaching the point of tackiness." He added that the music video "is a real treat for men and women alike. The catchy beat and their lithe, sexy dance just provides an amazing entertaining video." "Beautiful Liar" was nominated for the Video Of The Year award at the 2007 BET Awards, but another Knowles video, "Irreplaceable" won it. At the 2007 MTV Video Music Award, it won the Most Earthshattering Collaboration, a new category in the awards show that year. Knowles received the award alone because Shakira was in Canada during the ceremonies.
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