Jack Battle

“She’s the Einstein of the arts.” —Lil Walt about Beyoncé while talking about Resentment Lil Walt: I wasn’t there, but Beyoncé cut the vocal at Sony during an unscheduled session. It’s the same melody from Candice’s demo, but when Bey sent her version back, she added a modulation and tricked out the background vocals. I would have never modulated the record, but that’s the genius of Beyoncé. She’s the Einstein of the arts. I thought her vocal control was amazing, and the nuances of her intonation and placement were so good. Singing is a very different thing today. People hear you do runs and say you can sing. But, by definition, singers can just stand flatfooted and sing without any acrobatics. Think of CeCe Winans, Whitney Houston, Marvin Winans. That’s what Beyoncé is. She’s a bridge between those two types of singers.