Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Most Memorable Songs About The Ups and Downs of Their Relationship
Beyoncé and Jay-Z have been one of the most famous power couples in the world for over a decade. They’ve always been relatively private about the details of their relationship, rarely speaking to the media about it.
However, they have never been hesitant to speak about their relationship on a record, and have done so many times. While they have made dozens of subtle references to each other on records over the years, there are several songs in particular that clearly speak on to their relationship.
Take a look at some of their biggest songs about each other.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z unveiled their relationship on ”03 Bonnie and Clyde’
“03 Bonnie and Clyde” was the first record that officially acknowledged Beyoncé and Jay’Z’s relationship. Around the time of the record’s release in 2002, there had been heavy speculation about the two being an item, but it had yet to be confirmed.
While the couple has always been notoriously private about their relationship, “03 Bonnie and Clyde”’s lyrical content took away any doubt about their relationship status. Noted for being the couple’s first collaboration, the song’s unforgettable hook is a timestamp on their world-famous relationship: “All I need in this life of sin is me and my girlfriend (me and my girlfriend) / Down to ride ’til the very end, is me and my boyfriend (me and my boyfriend)”
Hov opened up about their breakup on ‘Lost One’
“Lost One” is one of Jay-Z’s more revealing and emotionally-vulnerable records to date. Recorded after the dissolution of his record label Roc-A-Fella, the record was included on his 2006 “comeback album,” Kingdom Come, and references several controversial topics in his life.
In verse 2, Jay-z reveals his doubts about the future of his relationship with Beyoncé, who apparently was so consumed with her career that she had little time for him. At the time, the two had only been dating for a few years, and Beyoncé was still in the early stages of building her brand.
In the record, Jay-Z is quoted as saying, “I don’t think it’s meant to be, B, For she loves her work more than she does me / And honestly, at twenty-three, I would probably love my work more than I did she.” He acknowledges that although it hurts to let her go, he understands that she must make the most out of her life while she can.
Beyoncé revealed Jay-Z’s infidelity on ‘Sorry’
Fast forward to 2016, and the narrative between the two superstars was completely different. Beyoncé and Jay-Z had resumed their relationship, and later got married in 2008. Although the couple had managed to keep the details of their marriage private for years, Beyoncé’s hit album Lemonade featured lyrics that caused many to speculate that Jay-Z had been having adulterous affairs.
“Sorry,” one of the more visceral cuts from the album, all but confirms Jay-Z’s infidelity. Throughout the record, Beyoncé details his efforts to contact her while she’s out with her friends, ignoring him. Later in the record, she mentions how she turns the tables on him, and closes out the record with the infamous lines: “He only want me when I’m not there /
He better call Becky with the good hair.”
Jay-Z apologized for his mistakes on ‘4:44’
A year later, Jay-Z responded to Beyonce’s Lemonade with his own tell-all album, 4:44. Inspired by a multitude of events that had recently occurred in his life, Jay-Z had apparently woken up at 4:44 a.m. with a vision to record the album’s titular song.
“4:44” goes into painful detail about many of Jay-Z’s indiscretions toward his wife. Going deeper, he speaks on a miscarriage that Beyoncé suffered, the other women he had been involved with, and his fear of disappointing his children.
In an interview with iHeart Radio, Jay-Z said: “It’s the title track because it’s such a powerful song, and I just believe one of the best songs I’ve ever written.”
The Carters celebrated their journey on ‘LoveHappy’
In 2018, Beyoncé and Jay-Z joined forces to release the collaborative album Everything Is Love. While the album itself spanned a number of subjects, one of its songs, “LoveHappy,” references the couple’s relationship.
On “LoveHappy,” the two take turns rapping lines in each verse. In the second half of verse 1, they trade barbs, joking about their past marital troubles. At the close of the verse, Jay-Z says, “Y’all know how I met her, we broke up and got back together / To get her back, I had to sweat her.”
Beyoncé and Jay-Z have shown us that they go through the same things many of us do in relationships; the only difference is that they must go through them in the public eye. Perhaps the only other difference is that they have the freedom to make world-famous records about their experiences, as well.
