“Alien Superstar” by Beyoncé
There’s a lot going on in “Alien Superstar” lyrically, as to be expected from a contemporary Beyoncé song. Knowles is the de facto queen of R&B and is known to be deeply entrenched in a number of different movements. Therefore no individual listener, in a manner of speaking, should be expecting to understand the minutia of everything she’s putting forth.
But that said, what is easily ascertainable is that this song is primarily braggadocious in nature. And with that in mind, as “classy” as Beyoncé may be, in many ways this is your run-of-the-mill early 21st century track by a mainstream female R&B/hip-hop artist. For instance, besides touting her wealth, albeit quite poetically, Knowles also uses the opportunity to boast about her ability to attract the men of other ladies.
“Alien Superstar”
The nature of the title isn’t particularly anything new. However, this may arguably be the first time we’ve come across a female artist referring to herself as an “alien”. More commonly, it would be someone like Lil Wayne or maybe Lil Uzi Vert using such an analogy to refer to themselves.
The simplest way of describing why these musicians do so is to point to the idea, most simply put, that they are unique in the world. And you see that the word “unique” is in fact heavily utilized in this song. Indeed such is actually the thesis sentiment of this track. What Beyoncé is saying, in a roundabout way, is that her high level of success – in like everything she does – is attributable to her uniqueness.
The Singer’s Marriage
Besides that, we are also living in an age when the personal lives of celebrity singers like Knowles seem to be increasingly interwoven into their lyrics.
Going back to what was stated earlier concerning an inability to specifically understand everything that’s being put forth, yes, some wording does read as if it may be speaking to Beyoncé’s personal life.
For instance, we all know that she’s married to Jay-Z. So in the post-chorus, where she is seemingly alluding to her sex appeal being able to lock down a guy who himself doesn’t read like an easy catch, then logically said guy would be Jigga. And whereas Knowles doesn’t usually take it there (nor is she directly in this piece), the truth of the matter is that, in the grand scheme of the American entertainment industry, it is quite an accomplish for, shall we say a Black female in particular to be in long-standing marriage with a male counterpart who is just as successful as she is.
Release of “Alien Superstar”
This track is from “Renaissance”, the somewhat-surprise album Beyoncé got around to dropping, via Columbia Records, on 29 July 2022. You may notice that said date is only a day prior to the writing of this post. But based on early reports, “Alien Superstar” is considered to be “the best song” on the 16 track album.
In addition to “Alien Superstar”, below are some other popular songs from “Renaissance”:
Credits
There are actually 22 different credited writers of this track. Amongst them are Richard Fairbrass and Rob Manzoli. The pair actually wrote the 1991 classic “I’m Too Sexy”, which is interpolated into “Alien Superstar”.
Beyoncé also had a hand in writing this song, as did Jay-Z and at least one other musician who is widely known, that being Labrinth.
Also acknowledged as co-writers are the track’s producers:
- NOVA WAV (Brittany Coney and Blu June)
- Mike Dean
- Chris Penny
- Honey Dijon
- Luke Solomon
Other co-writers include:
- Ink
- Levar Coppin
- Sal Dali
- John Michael Holiday
- Kam DeLa
- Peter Rauhofer
- Leven Kali
- Rami
- 070 Shake
- David Hamelin
- Lucky Daye
And to note, The-Dream and Beyoncé also co-produced this tune.
There is another pretty popular piece that is interpolated into “Alien Superstar”. It is a 1998 song titled “Moonraker” (1998) by an act known as Foremost Poets (aka Johnny Dangerous).
Interesting to Note
It has been noted that some lyrics were inspired by the works of the late Maya Angelou (1928-2014) as well another prominent 20th century African-American entertainer/activist, Barbara Ann Teer (1937-2008).
Though the Right Said Fred homeys were acknowledged as co-writers of “Alien Superstar” from the jump, they clarified Beyoncé never acquired their permission to use “I’m Too Sexy” on her track. This greatly upset them. At the end of the day, they proceeded to lambast the songstress as being “an arrogant person”.
In their complete tirade against Beyoncé, which was publicized in early October 2022, Right Said Fred basically went on to allude to the songstress being a thief.
For instance, they suggested that the reason there’s a solid 22 co-writers credited on “Alien Superstar” is because many of such individuals are actually personal associates of Queen B who are receiving kickbacks. Simply put, these “songwriters” have nothing to do with the actual composition yet are recipients of its royalties.
But Beyoncé’s people responded by noting that permission was originally sought from Right Said Fred’s publisher in May of 2022. Then the following month said permission was granted, and Right Said Fred proceeded to get paid for their contribution to “Alien Superstar” in August of 2022.
