Listen (song)

"Listen" is an Academy Award-nominated song performed by American R&B singer-songwriter Beyoncé Knowles in the 2006 film Dreamgirls. It was released as the first single from the film's soundtrack album on December 5, 2006 in the United States. It was released in the United Kingdom on 19 February, 2007 ^[1]. The song can also be found as a hidden track on international editions of the singer's second solo studio album, B’Day (2006). The music for "Listen" was written by Henry Krieger, the composer of the original Broadway play, and the lyrics by Knowles, Anne Preven, and Scott Cutler. The song is one of the four songs to be featured in the film that are not present in the original Broadway play. It was nominated for the Golden Globe Award and Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Overview

Use in Dreamgirls

Deena has no solo number in the original stage version of Dreamgirls, although she sings lead on the Dreams' hit songs as depicted in the story. In addition, the play's best known song, the dramatic number "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", is sung by the character Effie White (portrayed in the film by Jennifer Hudson) at the play's halfway point. Therefore, "Listen" was composed and introduced into the film to both give Deena a solo and to balance the second act with a ballad on the level of "And I Am Telling You" (the two sequences exist in the film as parallels of each other).

In the context of the film, "Listen" is a song being recorded by Deena Jones, the film's counterpart to pop star Diana Ross, in the Rainbow Record studio in 1975. Her husband and employer, Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jamie Foxx), is the producer on the track, and is supervising the recording session. Several days earlier, Curtis and Deena got into an argument at dinner over Deena's desire to make her film debut in a gritty urban film instead of the Cleopatra prequel Curtis is producing. An angry Curtis asserts his creative and psychological control over his wife, informing Deena that he won't let anyone else "handle" her, because, in his words, no one knows you the way I do".

The rebuffed Deena decides to get back at Curtis the best way she knows how: by attempting to destroy his Rainbow Records empire. She finds evidence of the payola schemes Curtis has used over the years to keep Rainbows releases at the top of the charts, including evidence that one of Deena's own songs, "One Night Only", was stolen from her old Dreams bandmate Effie. Deena calls Effie, and Effie comes to the Rainbow offices in L.A. with her brother C.C., her manager Marty, and a lawyer, ready to speak with Curtis.

These scenes are intercut as a montage with Deena's recording of "Listen". During the dinner argument. Curtis had informed Deena that her voice "had no personality. No depth. Except for what [he] put in there." In response to those remarks, Deena delivers a forceful, emotional vocal performance beyond the level of anything she has sung before, underscoring the lyrics of the song, which express her desire to break free from Curtis and find her own personality and her own soul.

Music video

Two music videos were made to promote the song. The first version of the music video for the song, premiered on MTV's Making the Video on November 29.

The first "Listen" music video, which was directed by Diane Martel, features Beyoncé walking through a performance hall in modern-day street clothes, performing the song. Once she arrives onstage and at the song's bridge, she appears in costume as Deena, dressed in a 1970s-period gown. Intercut into the video are scenes from Dreamgirls, most of which depict Deena's relationship with her husband and employer, Curtis Taylor, Jr., particularly shots from a Vogue photo shoot scene in the film.

The second music video, directed by Matthew Rolston, was produced exclusively for VH1 (because of this it is known as the VH1 version). This video features Beyoncé wearing a modern-day tank top, performing the song against a blank white background. Interspersed are some scenes from the film, which were not featured in the first music video.

In the end of March 2007 leaked third version of the music video, that also was directed by Matthew Rolston, was included as bonus for the Dreamgirls DVD and for Beyoncé's DVD, B'day Anthology Video Edition. There are no scenes from the film in it.

Release and reception

"Listen" was released to radio during the week of October 16 and was released as a CD single on December 5, the same day as the release of the Dreamgirls soundtrack and twenty days before the film's expanded release.

The song, alongside "Love You I Do" and "Patience", was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song. "Listen" and "Love You I Do" have both been nominated for the 2006 International Press Academy Satellite Award for Best Original Song. Dreamgirls received seven nominations at the 12th Annual Critics Choice Awards, where the film won 4 awards,including Best Original Song for "Listen". ^[2] "Listen" was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

Beyoncé has scored positive reviews for "Listen," with most reviewers praising her range and intensity. USA Today suggested "Listen" as one of the tracks off the "Dreamgirls" soundtrack to download, stating that "Beyoncé delivers some of her fiercest singing yet." ^[3] Pitchfork gave the song 3 and a half stars, with the reviewer saying that "when [Beyoncé] belts out the chorus, the inspiration is real, tangible, and contagious." ^[4] An impressed Chuck Taylor of Billboard magazine said "Beyoncé delivers the performance of her career in "Listen", another defining moment in the brilliant flick [besides Hudson's "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"]. In this devastatingly beautiful ballad, she shimmers with evocative emotion, rising to new heights alongside a golden melody with spellbinding, rafter-raising production. As Beyoncé sits atop The Billboard Hot 100 and R&B/hip-hop charts with "Irreplaceable", a mediocre composition with all the distracting bells and whistles of the modern urban template, at last we see that she is a real talent when free of the accompaniment that has long masked her voice." ^[5] Entertainment Weekly was less impressed, describing "Listen" as "an inspirational ballad about 'the song in my heart,' which builds to an enormous schlock-opera climax" and "gloopy."

Beyoncé performed "Listen" at the 2007 49th Annual Grammy Awards. At the 79th Academy Awards held the same year, Beyoncé performed the song as a duet with her Dreamgirls co-star Jennifer Hudson.

Tracklisting

• U.S. CD single:

1. "Listen"
2. "Listen" - Instrumental
3. "Irreplaceable" (DJ Speedy Remix)

Listen (Remix) featuring Bizzy Bone

Charts

Awards

Notes

1. ^ http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=602765 UK release date confirmed.
2. ^ (Dec. 1, 2006). Official press release for International Press Academy Satellite Awards Nominations. Retrieved from http://www.pressacademy.com/satawards/forms/pdf/2006-IPA-Nom-Announce.pdf on December 2, 2006.
3. ^ http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/2006/12/this_weeks_revi.html
4. ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/track_reviews/Beyonc%C3%A9_Listen#40231
5. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/singles/e3iacXfgBSOlsp4gfuAfQjyFw%3D%3D
6. ^ UK Singles Chart. BBC Radio 1. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
7. ^ UK Official Download Chart. Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
8. ^ UK R&B Singles Chart. BBC Radio 1. Retrieved on 2007-03-06.

pl:Listen

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