20. Temptation (1999)
There is no getting around the fact that Temptation is a deeply weird idea on paper: a dreamy ballad about contemplating infidelity (“I’ma write your number in the palm of my hand / Oops, I forgot I got a man”) with a melody stolen from the children’s song This Old Man. But the strangest thing about it may be how well it works.
19. Brown Eyes (2001)
Amid the Survivor album’s Stevie Nicks samples and futuristic beats, Brown Eyes is an old-fashioned pop-R&B ballad that wouldn’t be out of place on Mellow Magic – tellingly, it was co-written by Mariah Carey’s longstanding collaborator Walter Afanasieff. The great vocals from Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams are proof that, for all that Beyoncé was now co-writing and co-producing everything, Destiny’s Child were never a one-woman show. What a song.
18. Nasty Girl (2001)
It’s hard to work out whether Nasty Girl is aimed at someone in particular, or is a general complaint about the oversexualisation of female artists. Either way, it would doubtless get condemned for “slut-shaming” today. Unsisterly, perhaps, but the insults it throws its subject’s way are wickedly bracing and the suitably tough music is terrific.
17. Cater 2 U (2004)
Beyoncé also wouldn’t release Cater 2 U today; its vision of how women should behave within a relationship seemed unnecessarily subservient even 20 years ago. But ignore the lyrics, which stop just short of offering to wipe her boo’s bum for him, and it’s musically superb – a sparklingly original take on a slow jam.
16. Apple Pie à la Mode (2001)
Home to the oddest lyric in the Destiny’s Child oeuvre – “Starin’ at me, had my nostrils open wide” – Apple Pie à la Mode is fabulous nonetheless: super-cool, low-slung funk with a supremely creative vocal arrangement that weaves the three singers’ contributions intricately around each other. Sorry, did you say nostrils?
15. Girl (2004)
Girl reaches back into soul music history – it’s based around a luscious sample from a heavily orchestrated 1977 single by the Dramatics. Dismissed by some critics as sappy, there is darkness at its centre: the conversational lyrics were inspired by an abusive relationship in which Rowland was embroiled.
14. Through With Love (2004)
The album version is great, but the take on Through With Love you want is the one recorded live on the Destiny Fulfilled tour: wind machines turned up to full, gospel choir on stage and – for once – Williams’ super-powerful testifying vocal stealing the spotlight.
13. Emotion (2001)
Destiny’s Child didn’t record many covers, but their most famous displays excellent taste. It’s an imperial-phase Barry and Robin Gibb ballad, intended for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, but turned into a 1978 hit by Samantha Sang. The melody is pure Bee Gees. (The Neptunes’ breakbeat-driven remix is worth seeking out.)
12. Soldier (ft TI and Lil Wayne) (2004)
History has Soldier down as the moment when Beyoncé went public about her relationship with Jay-Z – or at least a mysterious “boy from the BK” – but the sharp take on southern hip-hop has more to commend it than gossip value. Lil Wayne later claimed his guest verse kickstarted his career.
11. Bug a Boo (1999)
A commercial disappointment, so much so that the Refugee Camp remix opens with an admission: “We’re gonna do it right the second time.” No need: the original is a perfect mix of ping-ponging synths and salty lyrics (“Even if the pope said he liked you, too / I don’t really care”).
10. Bills, Bills, Bills (1999)
Destiny’s Child’s answer to former tourmates TLC’s No Scrubs, which spikes its no-romance-without-finance narrative with moral indignation – not only is he less flush than he pretended to be, he’s maxed out her cards and drained her petrol tank. The fabulous staccato rhythm track is filled with pregnant pauses.
9. Get on the Bus (1998)
The great overlooked Destiny’s Child single found its co-producer, Timbaland, at the peak of his visionary form. The lurching, frantic bassline is spliced with scatterings of acoustic guitar and moments where the vocals are battling for space with samples of birdsong. A minor hit – perhaps too wacky for mass consumption – it still sounds amazing.
8. Survivor (2001)
Survivor threw so much shade the way of two former Destiny’s Child members that it occasioned a lawsuit. Beyoncé, Rowland and – in an awesome middle eight – Williams sing up a ferocious storm, but its greatness isn’t really in its lyrics, rather the melody and backing to which it harnesses them: forceful and epic enough that their vitriol sounds like empowerment.
7. No, No, No Part 2 (1997)
No, No, No Part 1 was a fairly standard slow jam, but Wyclef Jean’s remix transformed it into something out of the ordinary. It’s faster and tougher, the sound stripped back to a beat, a killer bassline and a Love Unlimited Orchestra sample (there is a nod to Sly and the Family Stone in the vocals, too).
6. So Good (1999)
The first, and possibly best, of Destiny’s Child’s diss tracks, aimed at persons unknown who “said we wouldn’t make it” (“Stop smilin’ at me,” offers an enraged Beyoncé). So Good’s genius lies in its lightness of touch: a warped acoustic guitar sample and perky – if bizarre – scratching effects amplify the heartfelt ire.
5. Jumpin’, Jumpin’ (1999)
A backing track intended for a hip-hop album, but mistakenly sent to Destiny’s Child by the producer Chad Elliott, was transformed by Beyoncé into Jumpin’, Jumpin’s irresistible evocation of the dancefloor as a cure for life’s ills. The vocal ties Beyoncé’s old-school R&B voice to rap-inspired phrasing and the spiralling bridge is exhilarating.
4. Say My Name (1999)
By Say My Name’s release, Destiny’s Child were in turmoil – half the band left before the video was made. But it’s an assured, spectacular single – its leaps into double-time are electrifying – and early evidence of Beyoncé’s steely approach: the producer Rodney Jerkins was forced to rework the whole song on her say-so.
3. Lose My Breath (2004)
They may have stronger songs melodically, but is any Destiny’s Child single as flat-out exciting as Lose My Breath? Beats courtesy of a university marching band (an idea Beyoncé evidently filed away for future use), dramatic synth stabs, sampled gasps and panting; this is Jerkins at his far-out best.
2. Independent Women Part 1 (1999)
The solitary Destiny’s Child single to feature Farrah Franklin proved rather more enduring than her tenure in the band – she was gone before it was released. An ode to empowerment with a monster-sized chorus, it also long outlived the Charlie’s Angels film it soundtracked.
1. Bootylicious (2001)
The usual line about Bootylicious is that it provoked an addition to the Oxford English Dictionary (“esp. of a woman, often with reference to the buttocks: sexually attractive, sexy, shapely”). That tells you something about its commercial success, but not about the song’s quality. There is genius in how the guitar and hi-hat from Stevie Nicks’ Edge of Seventeen are repurposed – the sample is immediately recognisable and transformed by the beat underneath it – as well as in the rawness of Beyoncé’s vocal and the abundance of hooks. Perhaps the best tribute you can pay it is that, 20-plus years of ubiquity later, it still sounds thrilling.
