Beyoncé marked her birthday with the release of a remastered, expanded edition of 'B'DAY,' her coming-of-age second album. When it was released on September 4, 2006, music fans around the world were introduced to a 25-year-old woman with a bold, new voice - not just a powerful singing voice but an artist determined to take over her career, as a singer, songwriter, producer and visual artist. She recorded the album in a two-week session, fully cemented at the helm, and knowing exactly what she wanted to create.

She was pushing herself, revealing layers to her innovative approach to recording, writing and producing. That fierce and urgent approach was extended to all her collaborators, with each one digging a little deeper to define the sound of her deeply personal album.
'I wanted the album to be big, percussive, hard, up-tempo, and energized, and it was important to me that we used live instrumentation,' she recalls.