B’Day was released on Beyoncé’s 25th birthday, September 4, 2006.
The album’s title is a play on “birthday” and Beyoncé’s name. It followed her successful debut, Dangerously in Love, and was created during a relatively short recording period after she completed filming for the movie Dreamgirls.
B’Day produced several well-known singles, including “Déjà Vu,” “Irreplaceable,” and “Beautiful Liar,” a duet with Shakira. “Irreplaceable” became one of Beyoncé’s longest-running number-one hits in the United States.
The album’s release strategy also included visual material. A deluxe edition added new tracks, and Beyoncé later released the B’Day Anthology Video Album. The project is sometimes confused with I Am... Sasha Fierce because both are major early solo albums, but B’Day came first and was specifically tied to her 25th birthday.