Irreplaceable facts for kids

Quick facts for kids "Irreplaceable"
Single by Beyoncé
from the album B'Day
Released	October 23, 2006 (2006-10-23)
Recorded	April 2006
Studio	Sony Music, New York City
Genre	Pop R&B
Length	3:47
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Shaffer "Ne-Yo" Smith Mikkel S. Eriksen Tor Erik Hermansen Espen Lind Amund Bjorklund Beyoncé Knowles
Producer(s)	Stargate Beyoncé Knowles Ne-Yo
Beyoncé singles chronology
"Ring the Alarm" (2006) "Irreplaceable" (2006) "Listen" (2006)

"Irreplaceable" is a song by American singer Beyoncé for her second studio album, B'Day (2006). The song was written by Shaffer "Ne-Yo" Smith, Tor Erik Hermansen, Mikkel S. Eriksen, Espen Lind, Amund Bjørklund, Beyoncé and produced by Stargate and Beyoncé. "Irreplaceable" was originally a country record; it was re-arranged as a mid-tempo ballad with pop and R&B influences by modifying the vocal arrangements and instrumentation. During the production and recording sessions, Beyoncé and Ne-Yo wanted to create a record which people of either gender could relate to. The song's lyrics are about the breakdown of a relationship with an unfaithful man and the song contains a message about female empowerment.

Following the moderate chart performances of "Déjà Vu" and "Ring the Alarm", "Irreplaceable" was released internationally on October 23, 2006, as the album's second single, and the third in the United States on December 5, 2006. The single was released through Columbia Records. Pitchfork Media and Rolling Stone placed it on their lists of Best Songs of the 2000s. "Irreplaceable" won several awards, including Best R&B/Soul Single at the 2007 Soul Train Music Awards. It was nominated for the Record of the Year award at the 50th Grammy Awards.

The single became Beyoncé's fourth number-one in the U.S., was B'Day's most successful release, and remained at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for 10 consecutive weeks. "Irreplaceable" was the twenty-fifth most successful song of the 2000s (decade) in the U.S., and was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It became Beyoncé's second single to achieve 200 million audience impressions in 2006. She is the second singer to achieve this feat in the U.S., the first having been Mariah Carey in 2005. "Irreplaceable" also peaked at number one in Australia, Hungary, Ireland, and New Zealand, at number four in the United Kingdom, and reached the top ten in several other European countries. "Irreplaceable" was the most successful song of 2007 in the US and 2007's tenth best-selling digital single with over 4.6 million copies sold worldwide. It also was the most downloaded female ringtone of the 2000s decade in the US.

The single's accompanying music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and served as the debut performance of Beyoncé's all-female band, Suga Mama. The video was included on the 2007 B'Day Anthology Video Album, and a video edit was produced for "Irreemplazable", the Spanish version of the song. It won the Video of the Year award at the 2007 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, and was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year at the 2007 Awards. "Irreplaceable" has regularly featured in Beyoncé's tours and live performances since 2006. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) recognized the song as one of the most performed of 2007 at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards.

Production

"Irreplaceable" was written for Chrisette Michele. Production team Stargate and singer-songwriter Ne-Yo had written for Beyoncé's second album B'Day, but Tor Erik Hermansen of Stargate said that they might not have gone in the direction they did on the song. The tune did not suit Beyoncé's voice, and Ne-Yo wrote the lyrics from a male perspective, although it was not based upon his personal experiences. Ne-Yo wrote the song in the country style, thinking of country singers Shania Twain and Faith Hill during the sessions. When Ne-Yo heard them playing the song with a guitar, he thought it sounded like country music. But when the drums were incorporated into the music, it was brought to an R&B vibe, and Ne-Yo considered making an R&B-country western music song instead.

When the team worked with Ne-Yo, they recorded the song with a male vocalist. However, they thought a female vocalist would be more suitable, and Ne-Yo also thought that it was empowering for a woman to sing it. Eriksen of Stargate said it was an A&R person who suggested that the song would work better when sung by a woman. Two labels wanted the song. While Beyoncé worked on material for B'Day, she was pleased with the demo of the "Irreplaceable" that was presented to her. However, "Irreplaceable" did not seem to fit on B'Day, which was supposed to be "a hard-hitting club album". Swizz Beatz, who was working on the album, declared that Beyoncé would be crazy not to include the song on the record. Beyoncé asked for changes to the song, including the addition of drums, vocal arrangements, and singing in a higher register than the demo. Espen Lind and Amund Bjørklund, from the Norwegian production team Espionage, wrote the chord structure and the guitar part. In an interview with MTV, Ne-Yo said, "Beyoncé had some stuff that she wanted to get off her chest", while aiming to make a record that women could relate to, in keeping with the theme of the album.

R&B singer Ne-Yo wrote all the lyrics to the song

The recording was engineered by Jim Caruana and mixed by Jason Goldstein at Sony Music Studios in New York City. Goldstein was hired to mix B'Day. He said: "This song was really simple to mix. It was produced by Stargate and the sounds are really good and they all made sense, and there was lots of room for all the instruments." Goldstein used a board equalizer for the drums' treatment. For the acoustic guitars, he used the analogue flanger of a TC 1210 spatial expander "to sweeten the sound" and to give them "a little bit more spread". Goldstein thought "Irreplaceable" sounded "a bit old-school"; an eighth note delay echo was placed on the song's lead vocal at 341ms, using the Echo Farm plug-in software. For the backing vocals, Goldstein used Echo Farm with a quarter note delay at 682ms and Sony's Oxford Dynamics compressor/limiter in dual-mono mode.

The compressor was placed in Classic setting, to emulate the LA-2A leveling amplifier, and the Warmth button used to add harmonics. Oxford Dynamics was used for the bass in a different setting. Goldstein passed the final mix through the Oxford EQ and Inflator plug-ins. Pro Tools software was used to print the aux track into a 44.1kHz/24-bit CD and then into a 24-bit CD master. After the sessions for "Irreplaceable" ended, Hermansen said that "everyone felt they had captured something special and that Beyoncé had done the track justice", but there were still concerns that urban radio might not play the song as it featured acoustic guitars and had more of a pop appeal. "But then it became the biggest urban record ... ever," [Hermansen] said.

Composition

"Irreplaceable" is a mid-tempo ballad with pop and R&B influences. Written in the key of B♭ major, the beat is set in common time and moves at a moderate 88 beats per minute. Beyoncé's vocal range in the song spans nearly two and a half octaves, from B♭₂ to E♭₅. While most of the songs on the album are aggressive and uptempo, her voice on "Irreplaceable" is toned down. "Irreplaceable" uses a gently strummed acoustic guitar, following the B♭₅–F₅–Cm₇–E♭_6/9 chord series. Hermansen and Eriksen combined the classic chord progression on an acoustic guitar, a modern-sounding 808 drum beat and cellos. Al Shipley of Stylus Magazine noted that the guitar strum can be found in Rihanna's 2007 single "Hate That I Love You", a song co-produced by Stargate and Ne-Yo. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote that Chris Brown's 2007 single "With You", another Stargate-produced song, also features the same element. He wrote, "'With You' is the convincer, even if you can instantly tell that producer Stargate was just trying to roll out 'Irreplaceable' one more time." while Billboard magazine wrote that it "leans a bit too heavily" to the song.

Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that "Irreplaceable" resembles ballads sung by Whitney Houston. Spence D. of IGN wrote that the song was inspired by Aretha Franklin's work since "Irreplaceable" consists of several variations in gutturals and octave range. ..... Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe wrote, "With a heretofore unknown grasp of nuance, Beyonce combines heartache, bravado, and anger as she tells a cad he's far from irreplaceable—and that, in fact, her new man will be arriving momentarily." Hermansen said that "Irreplaceable" is a song that "people from all walks of life can enjoy". Beyoncé said that the song is "a little honest", and, "... basically we can't forget our power and our worth. And sometimes you're so in love, you forget that. And sometimes you feel like you're not being appreciated. And sometimes they forget that they can be replaced."

The song's lyrics are constructed in the verse-pre-chorus-chorus form. It begins with guitar strumming, and Beyoncé sings the hook-intro, "To the left, to the left: everything you own in a box to the left". In bar seven, she sings the first verse, arguing with her boyfriend about the indifference of their relationship, and tells him to walk away. The pre-chorus and chorus follow, "You must not know 'bout me ... I can have another you by tomorrow / I could have another you in a minute ... Don't you ever for a second get to thinking / You're irreplaceable". ..... The same pattern leads to the second chorus. Towards the end, Beyoncé sings the bridge, where she tells her lover, "Replacing you is so easy". The song closes with an ad-libbed chorus. The Boston Globe noted that Beyoncé sings some parts of it in a higher register "that complements the lyrics' wounded sensibility".

Release

During the production of "Irreplaceable", Hermansen thought that the track would not receive radio play because of the acoustic guitars, and deemed the song too pop-oriented. Hermansen did not expect "Irreplaceable" to conform to any genre. Despite his prediction, the song became successful on urban charts. It was played in New York and on country radio stations. Shortly after the release of "Irreplaceable", Beyoncé told MTV: "I love 'Irreplaceable'. I think it's important to have those songs. I've had so many people come up to me in tears, saying, 'I experienced my first breakup. If it wasn't for the song, I wouldn't be strong enough to not call. I wouldn't know how much I'm worth.' I'm happy to be a part of that."

"Irreplaceable" was released in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2006, as the second single there. In the US, "Irreplaceable" was the third single from B'Day', and followed "Ring the Alarm". The single was released on December 5, 2006, and featured the album and instrumental versions of the track. "Irreplaceable" was the second single released from B'Day in international markets on Columbia Records. Two versions of the single were released in the UK on October 26, 2006. A CD single, which featured the album version of "Irreplaceable", and the Freemasons club mix radio edit of "Ring the Alarm", was released. An enhanced CD, which included the album version, three remixes of "Ring the Alarm", and the "Ring the Alarm" music video, was also released. A 12-inch single was released in the UK the following week. In Australia, a maxi single, which featured the album version and two remixes of "Déjà Vu", was released on December 5, 2006. A Maurice Joshua remix edit of the song was released in Australia two weeks later.

Beyoncé recorded a Spanish version of the song, called "Irreemplazable", with additional lyrical contributions from Rudy Pérez and was included on the second disc of the deluxe edition of B'Day released on June 12, 2007. An Irreemplazable EP was released in the US on August 28, 2007, and on September 10, 2007, in the UK. The EP includes "Irreemplazable", the Norteña Remix of "Irreplaceable", "Amor Gitano", three versions of "Beautiful Liar", the Timbaland remix of "Get Me Bodied" featuring Voltio, and "Oye", the Spanish version of "Listen".

As a fundraiser for the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a compilation album that included "Irreplaceable", called Songs for Japan, was released on March 25, 2011.

Commercial performance

"Irreplaceable" entered various charts worldwide, and became the most successful single released from B'Day. The single debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart on November 4, 2006, at number eighty-seven. It climbed the charts rapidly because of its radio airplay, and it was the "Greatest Airplay Gainer" for six consecutive weeks by early December 2006. Three weeks after the release of "Irreplaceable", B'Day re-entered the top ten on the US Billboard 200. "Irreplaceable" reached number one on December 16, becoming Beyoncé's fourth number one single as a solo artist, and her second in 2006, following "Check on It" (2005). The single spent ten consecutive weeks at number one and was replaced by Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right" (2006) on February 24, 2007. "Irreplaceable" outperformed "Baby Boy"'s nine weeks at number one. Beyoncé's former group Destiny's Child's single "Independent Women Part I" (2000) remained at number one for eleven weeks in late 2000 and early 2001. "Irreplaceable" remained on the chart for thirty weeks, and as of December 2017, and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was additionally certified triple platinum in July 2007, denoting sales of three million master ringtones. "Irreplaceable" peaked atop the US Radio Songs, staying atop the chart for eleven consecutive weeks.

According to Mediabase, "Irreplaceable" passed the two hundred million audience impressions mark on December 11, 2006. Another Beyoncé's single "Check on It" previously passed this mark on January 31, 2006. Consequently, Beyoncé became the second singer to achieve this in the United States, the first having been Mariah Carey whose two singles, "We Belong Together" (2005) and "Shake It Off" (2005), passed the same audience impressions mark in 2005. "Irreplaceable" was the best-performing single in the United States of 2007, topping the Billboard Top Hot 100 Hits. "Irreplaceable" installed Beyoncé at third place for most number one singles by a female songwriter, overtaking Janet Jackson and Carole King and tying Diane Warren for nine number-one singles. Beyoncé received three songwriting credits in one year, the only woman to achieve this since King in 1971 and Carey in 1991. In February 2010, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) listed "Irreplaceable" as the highest certified master ringtone by a female solo artist of the 2000s. By August 2011, the single had sold over three million digital downloads in the United States. Spanish version of the song "Irreemplazable" charted equally well, peaking at number four on the Hot Latin Songs. The extended play (EP) of the same title appeared on the US Latin Pop Albums at number two, Top Latin Albums at number three, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums at number forty-one and on the Billboard 200 at number one-hundred-and-five.

"Irreplaceable" debuted at number eight on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number one, staying atop the chart for three consecutive weeks, becoming Beyoncé's first and so far only number-one single in Australia. It was certified six-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting shipments of 420,000 copies. "Irreplaceable" appeared twice on the ARIA year-end charts, reaching number twenty-three in 2006, and number forty-two in 2007. "Irreplaceable" debuted at number three on the New Zealand Singles Chart on November 6, 2006, the song's highest debut on any chart. It peaked at number one, and remained on the chart for eighteen weeks. It was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ). "Irreplaceable" peaked atop the charts in Hungary and Ireland, as well; it also entered the top ten in Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Venezuela. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart, spending twelve weeks in the top twenty and twenty-five weeks on the chart in total. It was Beyoncé's fifth longest-charting single in the United Kingdom, and spent more weeks on the chart than her number-one singles "Crazy in Love" and "Déjà Vu" but slightly less than more recent hit singles "If I Were a Boy", "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", "Halo" and "Sweet Dreams". Due to Beyoncé's performance of "Irreplaceable" at the Glastonbury Festival 2011 on June 26, 2011, the song re-entered the top forty of the UK Singles Chart at number thirty-three, and the live version appeared at number twenty-six on the UK Singles Chart Update. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), "Irreplaceable" was 2007's tenth best-selling digital single with over 4.6 million copies sold worldwide;

Music video

In the music video, Beyoncé argues with then-former lover portrayed by Bobby Roache.

"Irreplaceable" was directed by Anthony Mandler, who co-directed the video of "Get Me Bodied". The video features the debut performance of Beyoncé's all-female band, Suga Mama, who also appeared in the "Green Light" music video. Her acting-then-ex-boyfriend in the video is model Bobby Roache, who played police officer for the "Ring the Alarm" music video and warrior during Jay-Z and Beyoncé's live performance at the 2006 Fashion Rocks show. The video was included on the 2007 B'Day Anthology Video Album, and a video edit was produced for "Irreemplazable". Part of the video which shows Beyoncé dancing in silhouette in front of a glass door is inspired by a James Bond movie. Late in January 2008, "Irreemplazable" premiered on the MiTRL, a video countdown show on the bilingual channel MTV Tr3s.

The music video follows the storyline of the song's lyrics. "She told me to pack up all my stuff, I'm getting kicked out—the video starts off like that", said Roache. It opens with Beyoncé filing her nails in silence, as her ex-partner packs up his property, as Beyoncé orders him to leave. Mid-way in the video, Beyoncé follows her then-ex-boyfriend outside the house and leans on a 2007 Jaguar XK. She appears to be pretentiously caressing him; only for the audience to find out that she is repossessing things she bought for him. He leaves her and the car, about to ride off in a taxi. Between cuts, Beyoncé manages herself in front of a mirror; putting on a lipstick, wearing huge curlers and a high-waisted skirt. There are additional beats mixed to the arrangement for the video version that can be heard, when Beyoncé sings with her all-female band, Suga Mama, towards the end. It ends with Beyoncé greeting her new boyfriend at the front door.

At the 2007 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, Beyoncé won Video of the Year Award for "Irreplaceable", an award for which "Beautiful Liar" was also nominated. It was nominated for Video of the Year during the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, but it lost to Rihanna's single, "Umbrella" (2007). At the 2007 Soul Train Music Awards, the video was nominated for the Michael Jackson Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video, but lost to rapper (and husband) Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got" video. The video received two nominations for Best Female Artist and Video of the Year at the 2007 MTV Australia Video Music Awards.

Live performances

Beyoncé performing "Irreplaceable" during the I Am... World Tour, 2009

Beyoncé performed "Irreplaceable" during various public appearances, including the 2006 American Music Awards, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Today Show.

The song was a part of Beyoncé's set list for her tour The Beyoncé Experience and I Am... World Tour. "Irreplaceable" was the closing song during her 2007 The Beyoncé Experience world tour. It was performed late in the set on earlier tour dates, but when Beyoncé embarked on the US leg, it was performed earlier in the show. Beyoncé performed "Irreplaceable" during her Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live revue.

Beyoncé has performed "Irreplaceable" without backup dancers or live instrumentation, or in another case, Beyoncé was accompanied by two drummers, two keyboardists, a percussionist, a horn section, three backup vocalists called the Mamas, and the lead guitarist, Bibi McGill. Footage of Beyoncé's performance at the Staples Center, Los Angeles was included on The Beyoncé Experience Live! DVD (2007), and the deluxe edition of I Am... World Tour (2010). According to NME, "'Irreplaceable' [at the Glastonbury Festival] sparked a mass singalong, with the crowd taking the lead on the entire first verse." Following the performance of "Irreplaceable" at the Glastonbury Festival, the song was digitally released in the UK and the US on June 27, 2011, as charity single to raise funds for Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace. This version charted at number twenty-six on the UK Singles Chart Update.

Cover versions and usage in media

American band Sleigh Bells recorded an acoustic cover of the song during their Maida Vale sessions and released it Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on March 6, 2012. A writer of Billboard magazine commented that their cover was "ethereal". Ray Rahman of Entertainment Weekly described the cover as "really good!... Krauss also has a teen-pop background thanks to her Rubyblue days, so it's actually not that surprising that she can find her away around a Top 40 single so well." However, Maura Johnston of The Village Voice gave a negative review for the cover, saying: "Krauss sighs her way through the song, turning her voice into a mew that sounds like she was trying to sing along with the radio while not being heard by her roommates or anyone else outside of a six-inch radius... Also, some of the guitar chords are a bit off.... it's sorta disappointing."

In 2007, Gregory and the Hawk and Taylor Swift each covered the song. US country band Sugarland, who performed some of Beyoncé's songs during their live shows, performed a country version of "Irreplaceable" with Beyoncé at the 2007 American Music Awards, held on November 18. Kate Nash covered "Irreplaceable" in January 2008. In November 2009, Damon Thomas of The Underdogs sang the song. Kidz Bop covered "Irreplaceable" on their eleventh studio album Kidz Bop 11 (2007). A group named Faith, consisting of Michelle Delamor, Ashley Rodriguez and Charity Vance, sang "Irreplaceable" on the 'group night' episode of ninth season of American Idol on February 10, 2010, In 2011, Canadian singer Maria Aragon, and South Korean singer G.NA, covered the song. Andy Grammer performed "Irreplaceable" on the radio station The Mix Lounge 104.1 and posted the video of his performance on his YouTube page in June 2011. During the finale of the tenth season of American Idol on May 25, 2011, the lady contestants joined together onstage to perform "Irreplaceable" along with a medley of Beyoncé's other singles. On August 26, 2013, singer Barry Southgate covered the song during the fifth season of The X Factor Australia. Giles Hardie of The Sydney Morning Herald rated his performance eight out of ten and wrote it was "a very clever song choice". In September 2013, Lily Allen covered "Irreplaceable" at a celebration party in Italy, and on June 30, 2014, Anja Nissen covered the song on the third series of The Voice Australia. In May 2007, "Irreplaceable" was used in the final scene of "When the Chickens Come Home to Roost", the final episode of the first season of the television series The Game. The series also used the song in the opening moments of its premiere episode for the second season. In 2017, Woman2Woman group from Cape Town, South Africa, did a parody on the breakfast show Expresso. Felicity Kiran, Anray Amansure and Lauren-Lee Bock originally did it as promotional video. It went viral with around 40 million views worldwide.

Track listings and formats

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from B'Day liner notes.

Charts

Certifications

Release history

See also

In Spanish: Irreplaceable para niños

• List of number-one singles in Australia in 2006
• List of number-one singles of 2006 (Ireland)
• List of number-one singles from the 2000s (New Zealand)
• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 2006
• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 2007
• List of number-one R&B singles of 2006 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B singles of 2007 (U.S.)
• List of number-one dance singles of 2007 (U.S.)