Beyonce: "A Lot To Celebrate"
Seven months after her 25th birthday, 10-time Grammy winner and Oscar nominee Beyonce Knowles is tearing up the charts again, this time with "Beautiful Liar."
It's a sexy duet with Latin music superstar Shakira, the first single from her newly re-released CD, "B-Day — Deluxe Edition."
"Beautiful Liar" had the biggest jump in Billboard's Hot 100 Chart history, appearing on the chart at No. 94 and jumping to No. 3.
On The Early Show Friday, Beyonce told Russ Mitchell, "I love what I do. I've been doing this for a long time. So I'm just grateful that I still have a career, and that people are still loving my music."
In addition to everything else, she has a video album on the way. It has a dozen music videos, eight of them new.
"It's the first video album ever," she pointed out, "so I'm excited about that. And also, I recorded six of my songs (on the CD re-release) in Spanish, and I have five new songs (on it). So, I have a lot to celebrate."
The original "B-Day" was a best-selling Grammy winner. It was released in September 2006 as part of her 25th-birthday celebration.
Beyonce doesn't speak Spanish, but records Spanish songs phonetically. She is studying Spanish and works with a tutor.
She's also preparing for a world tour, which kicks off in April in Japan. The U.S. portion starts in July in New Orleans and goes through September.
Oh, and she's reading through scripts for her next movie, to follow up on her role in "Dreamgirls."
Beyonce now performs with an all-female band.
"I know growing up, I wish it was more female bands that I could have looked up to," she explained to Mitchell. "And I feel like, if there were, I probably would have played an instrument. My instrument is my voice. I wish I could play something else. So I had the idea of getting together all of these women and I knew it was a lot of talented women that never got the opportunity. So I held worldwide auditions (this past summer) and found all of these talented women."
Beyonce pointed to her upbringing when asked how she stays as grounded as she seems to be, despite her enormous success.
"I don't know what I would do without my parents," she said. "I am so blessed, because most celebrities don't have the family that — I shouldn't say most, but it's rare when you see the foundation as strong as our foundation with my family. So, I know that one of the reasons, you know, I'm still the same girl is because I have them around me. So I bring home with me everywhere I go."
She said she first realized she wanted to be a singer about when she was 7.
Asked when it hit her she was so good at it people would flock to see her, Beyonce replied, "I never thought that. You never know. There are a lot of talented people that never get opportunity. It doesn't matter how talented you are, sometimes it's just not your destiny. So, you can never be too confident. And when you get too confident in some kind of way, the universe and god brings you back down to earth."
Mitchell then turned to her mother, Tina Knowles, who's still very involved in her daughter's career. She heads Beyonce's clothing line and remains her stylist. In 2005, Beyoncé and her mother launched a fashion line, House of Deréon, named for Beyoncé's maternal grandmother. House of Deréon has also launched a junior line.
Mitchell noticed a look of extreme pride on her face, and Tina told him that, when she looks at Beyonce, she thinks about "all of the hard work. She's such a trooper. She works so hard, and it's so touching to see … people come out in support and appreciate all of the hard work. It makes me feel good."
Tina noted the little known fact that Beyonce paints and is, in her opinion, "great" at it. Another talent!
But one thing Beyonce can't do, Tina admitted, is cook, though she does make a mean — ice water!
Tina said it's "pretty easy" keeping Beyonce's head out of the clouds.
"She never got quite caught up in all of the hype," Tina said, "And, if people were like fawning too much over her, I would always say, 'Listen, she's just a regular person.' And it's been pretty easy with her, because She's a pretty humble person."
What would she like from Beyonce down the road?
What else?
Grandchildren! (though she has some from other children).
No response from Beyonce at that mention.