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“Etta James had a darker side. And with the profanity I use in the movie, and being addicted to heroin, and having a scene where I’m strung out, I’m sure audiences are gonna be extremely shocked. But I’m an artist and I’m playing a character. When I’m doing a movie, Beyoncé is nowhere on film. “One thing playing Etta James taught me is to be fearless..And it taught me I can’t be afraid or ashamed of the things that I like, even if it’s shocking to people. I know it’s time to take a chance. I don’t have a need to do another record to make more money or become a bigger superstar.”

  “I still have the values I grew up with. But when I’m performing, I’m able to be whoever I want to be. I have Sasha, and it’s kind of like a character, but I leave it on the stage. And I don’t walk around being over the top, the way I am onstage. It’s just a part of my artistic expression. I’ve learned to use Sasha for other things. Sometimes I have to be strong in meetings or in my everyday life. And I’ve learned how to use that side of my personality and merge the two. Definitely, when I was younger I was very sheltered. I never tried drugs. I was never out at clubs. I didn’t have boyfriends. So I kind of used Sasha to separate my sexual freedom onstage from my everyday life. And I still use Sasha to protect me.”

On “If I Were a Boy”:

“The first time I heard it, I didn’t think it sounded like me, because it’s really folk, alternative, not the kind of music I sing. But I was reading the lyrics and I said, ‘Wow, this is powerful.’ I felt like I was singing for every woman in the world. I feel like I say a lot of things in my songs that women need to hear or want to say.”

On relationship with Jay-Z:

“This is like my first relationship. I’m very private and, of course, I don’t talk about it, but I’m very, very happy. That’s all I’ll say. We were together for a really long time before we got married; we were in no rush. We don’t have a normal relationship because of our careers. But celebrity or not, you go through the exact same things. We’re not perfect.”

 

 Read it all at Gotham