Just in time for her 45th birthday, Beyoncé on Friday re-released a fully remastered version of “B’Day” to mark the 20th anniversary of her hit sophomore album.
“B’Day 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition” contains several unheard B-sides and collabs with Colombian rapper Maluma and producer Pharrell Williams, as well as the late Celia Cruz and Selena Quintanilla.
Aside from that, Queen B also re-released the music videos for ‘B’Day” in 4K, including the one for “Déjà Vu” featuring his husband Jay-Z.
“B’Day,” which includes iconic hits like “Irreplaceable,” Beautiful Liar,” “Listen,” “Déjà Vu,” “Ring the Alarm,” and “Check on It,” among others, was released by Beyoncé on September 1, 2006, when she was 25 years old.
The critically-acclaimed album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 on September 23, 2026.
It also won “Best Contemporary R&B Album” and gained nominations for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and r Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “Deja Vu” at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007.
Blending hip-hop with R&B
In a statement sent to Variety, Beyoncé recalled that when making “B’Day,” she wanted to blend the sound of hip-hop, which was becoming more mainstream back then, while preserving the elements of R&B.
“I wanted the album to be big, percussive, hard, up-tempo and energised, and it was important to me that we used live instrumentation,” she said.
“Hip-hop was taking over at the time, but I was fighting to preserve the bridges, melodies, and harmonies that have always been at the heart of R&B.
“The goal was to blend those two worlds through the art of sampling. I loved the minimalism of a beautiful vocal arrangement over a simple drum loop or a classic guitar like ‘Irreplaceable’… but only if that 808 was banging underneath,” she added.
Surprise collaborations
The re-released album contains 31 tracks, including Spanish versions of the original “B’Day” tracks originally from her Spanish EP “Irreemplazable” and several unreleased ones from the 2006 album.
New tracks include “Morning Dew (Donk),” which was originally recorded for her 2013 self-titled album and was officially released on July 4, 2026, marking the start of the 60-day countdown for the reissue of “B’Day.”
The song is one of Beyoncé’s most popular unreleased songs back then.
The demos of the track leaked online in 2021, and a full version followed in 2023, which went viral on TikTok.
Posthumous duet
Another track released from Beyoncé’s vault includes “Cuerpo Tumbao (Get Me Bodied),” featuring Maluma.
It contains a sample of “La Negra Tiene Tumbao” by Celia Cruz, whom Beyoncé said she admired for her “pride in her African culture.”
Perhaps one of the most surprising releases in the re-issue is “Irreemplazable (Como La Flor),” which features a posthumous duet with Selena Quintanilla.
Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé’s management, said Selena’s estate approved the duet, and the former said the “Queen of Tejano Music” inspired her to release Spanish-language tracks and remixes for “Irreemplazable” in 2007.
Other new tracks for “B’Day 20th Anniversary Edition” include “Can I Watch You,” produced by Beyoncé and Pharrell, as well as “Creole,” “Lost Yo Mind,” “My First Time,” and “Back Up.”
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