<p id=”par-1_38″>No <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/beyonce/”>Beyoncé</a> song was born in a vacuum. One of her <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/beyonce-how-if-i-were-a-boy-was-taken-from-another-singer.html/”>most iconic tunes from the 2000s</a> sounds a lot like a classic rock hit. Interestingly, the Beyoncé song in question was partly inspired by pizza and popcorn.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-1-beyonce-song-sounds-like-a-1980s-hit”>1 Beyoncé song sounds like a 1980s hit</h2>
<p id=”par-2_61″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/madonna-cowboy-era-beyonce.html/”>Beyoncé’s latest album, <em>Cowboy Carter</em></a>, took a lot of ideas from classic rock. It samples The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” and Nancy Sinatra’s <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/nancy-sinatras-explanation-these-boots-are-made-for-walkin-proves-beyonce-sampled.html/?swcfpc=1″>“These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”</a> on the same track. It also includes a cover of <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/paul-mccartney-thinks-beyonce-covering-the-beatles-blackbird.html/”>The Beatles’ “Blackbird.”</a> Queen B’s 2000s output was not as indebted to rock ‘n’ roll, but there are exceptions to every rule.</p>
<p id=”par-3_63″>“If I Were a Boy,” Beyoncé’s only hit that could be described as a folk rock song, sounds quite a bit like Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’.” It has a beat that sounds a lot like Petty’s signature hit. It’s hard to listen to one right after the other without noticing the similarities. However, Petty’s song has a much more traditional view of gender.</p>
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<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-queen-b-s-song-was-written-after-someone-resisted-eating-pizza-and-popcorn”>Queen B’s song was written after someone resisted eating pizza and popcorn</h2>
<p id=”par-4_58″>“If I Were a Boy” was co-written by a songwriter named BC Jean. During a 2019 interview with <a href=”https://www.songwritingmagazine.co.uk/interviews/if-i-were-a-boy-beyonce-bc-jean” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Songwriting</a>, Jean discussed penning the ballad with Toby Gad. “We were walking through Times Square on a lunch break,” she recalled. “Toby carried around a recorder, and any time I said something ‘weird,’ as he called it, he’d record it. </p>
<p id=”par-5_122″>“I was trying to fit into my skinny jeans, watching my weight and all that stuff, and I was like, ‘Oh man, I wish were a boy right now. I’d eat the pizza and the popcorn,’” she added. “He was like, ‘That’s so weird, how would you sing that?’ He put a recorder in front of my mouth and I sang, ‘If I were a boy’ just like that. We ran back to the studio, and it was what I like to call a therapy session or diary entry because I’d finally decided to open my heart, and 20 minutes later, we had a song.” Interestingly, her memories of writing the song had nothing to do with a certain song by Petty.</p>
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<iframe loading=”lazy” title=”Tom Petty – Free Fallin'” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/1lWJXDG2i0A?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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‘Single Ladies’ Wasn’t One of Beyoncé’s Biggest Hits </a>
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<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-how-tom-petty-s-free-fallin-performed-compared-to-beyonce-s-if-i-were-a-boy”>How Tom Petty’s ‘Free Fallin” performed compared to Beyoncé’s ‘If I Were a Boy’</h2>
<p id=”par-6_69″>Regardless of whether or not “Free Fallin’” consciously inspired “If I Were a Boy,” the two songs were roughly as successful. “Free Fallin’” reached No. 7 on the <a href=”https://www.billboard.com/artist/tom-petty-and-the-heartbreakers/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Billboard Hot 100</a>, spending 21 weeks on the chart. The song appeared on the album <em>Full Moon Fever</em>. That record reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and lasted on the chart for 77 weeks. It was Petty’s biggest studio album.</p>
<p id=”par-7_56″>Meanwhile, “If I Were a Boy” climbed to No. 3 on the <a href=”https://www.billboard.com/artist/beyonce/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Billboard Hot 100</a> and stayed on the chart for 20 weeks. The track appeared on Beyoncé’s most impactful 2000s album: <em>I Am… Sasha Fierce</em>. The album topped the Billboard 200 for one of its 193 weeks on the chart. It remains Beyoncé’s longest-charting record.</p>
<p id=”par-8_41″>“If I Were a Boy” might have taken some ideas from “Free Fallin’” — but it remains a beloved song in its own right. After all, it’s pretty hard to think of a single Beyoncé song that doesn’t have numerous fans.</p>