Beyonce is still dreaming big
Early success can breed great pressure and greater expectations, as musical prodigies from Mozart to Michael Jackson have learned.
So former Destiny’s Child ingénue Beyonce Knowles, who turned 25 on Monday, is determined not to disappoint.
Today, Knowles unveils a sophomore solo CD titled, logically enough, “B’Day.”
In December, fans can watch her tackle her most high-profile film role to date in the screen adaptation of the 1981 Broadway musical “Dreamgirls,” as girl-group leader Deena Jones.
Though Knowles had planned on waiting until next year to release a new CD, she decided to jump back into the studio with Deena still fresh in her mind and heart.
“I didn’t want to write sappy love songs, even though I’m happy now,” she says. “I wanted to do different things, to be innovative and kick really hard beats.
“I think I would have been scared to take that risk if I hadn’t done (‘Dreamgirls’). … The movie inspired something else that’s not in me. Or I guess it is, somewhere.”
Knowles acknowledges that parallels exist between her and her character. The Dreams, the girl group that propels the fictional Deena to fame, gets its start in a talent contest in the ‘60s; a very young Destiny’s Child got a shot on “Star Search” in the ‘80s.
“We lost, and they lost,” Knowles says. “But I didn’t want to try to recreate what had happened to me personally.”
She has cited fellow singer/actress/girl-group-grad Diana Ross, on whom Deena is loosely based, as a role model.
Ross and another famously svelte ‘60s icon – the model Twiggy – served as physical inspirations for Knowles, who lost 20 pounds by subsisting on a “cleansing” mix of maple syrup, water, cayenne pepper and lemon.
“It was tough, because even if I try to lose five pounds for a video or whatever, I’m not that disciplined,” says Knowles, who immediately gained the weight back. “But for this movie, I was willing to do anything, able to do things I could never do for myself.”
Though Knowles previously co-starred in comedies such as “Austin Powers in Goldmember” and the remake of “The Pink Panther,” she describes “Dreamgirls” as “the first movie I’ve really acted in. I put six months aside, worked with a coach for two months.
“And that carried through to my music. I treated the video for ‘Ring the Alarm’ like a movie scene. I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to make my acting coach proud.’ “
Knowles says she won’t do another film “until I’m as excited about it as I was about ‘Dreamgirls.’ If that takes six months, two years, whatever.”
Her future may include a visit to the previous home of “Dreamgirls,” Broadway.
“I saw (R&B singer) Usher in ‘Chicago,’ and it inspired me to see another young superstar do something like that,” she says. “I’d probably do it when I’m a little older and married. I could just drop the children off at school, and then go home and tuck them into bed.
“Seems like it could be the perfect job, at that point.”
The birthday bunch
Comedian-actor Bob Newhart is 77. Actor William Devane is 67. Actress Raquel Welch is 66. Actor Michael Keaton is 55. TV personality-musician Dweezil Zappa is 37. Actress Rose McGowan is 32.