Beyoncé - Control (2013)

Beyoncé's first solo recording was a feature on Jay-Z's song ''03 Bonnie & Clyde' that was released in October 2002, peaking at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, but her own debut solo album was released in June 2003, after her Destiny's Child compatriots Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland had released their solo efforts. The album sold 317,000 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and has since sold 11 million copies worldwide, with the album's lead single, 'Crazy in Love', becoming the first of many number-one singles for her as a solo artist in the US. Following the 2006 disbanding of Destiny's Child, Beyoncé released her second solo album, 'B'Day', which contained singles 'Irreplaceable' and 'Beautiful Liar', as well as starting a film career, with appearances in 2006's  'The Pink Panther' and 'Dreamgirls', followed by 'Obsessed' in 2009 and 'The Lion King' in 2019. Her marriage to Jay-Z and her portrayal of Etta James in 2008' film 'Cadillac Records' influenced her third album, 'I Am... Sasha Fierce', earning her a record-setting six Grammy Awards in 2010, and spawning the hit singles 'If I Were a Boy', 'Single Ladies', and 'Halo'. After professionally splitting from her manager and father Mathew Knowles in 2010, Beyoncé released her musically diverse fourth album '4' in 2011, and later achieved universal acclaim for her sonically experimental albums, 'Beyoncé' (2013) and 'Lemonade' (2016), the latter of which was the world's best-selling album of 2016, and the most acclaimed album of her career, exploring themes of infidelity and womanism. Throughout her solo career she's recorded many more songs than could fit on her albums, taping up to 40 of them for her debut album alone. After its massive success, she planned to release her second album in 2004 featuring tracks that were cut from it, such as 'Settle For You', 'What's Good With You' and 'Ice Cream Truck', but that never happened. Her third album in 2008 was to be called 'Virtuoso Intellect', and was to be a dance-oriented record produced by Freemasons, but once again this idea was put on the back-burner. When coming up with her fourth album, Beyoncé started writing and producing songs inspired by Afrobeat star Fela Kuti, although the only surviving song from this session is 'End Of Time', and in 2013 her fifth album was to feature songs produced by Major Lazer, and also include some inspired by '60s doo-wop, Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross. Before collaborating with Boots and reworking some of the songs for her 'Beyoncé' album, she planned to release a much more diverse record, and although we still got some of the results of those sessions, like 'Partition', 'Grown Woman', and 'Rocket', those Aretha/'60s doo wop/Major Lazer/Diana Ross songs never made it. As none of these albums are ever likely to see the light of day, here's a selection of tracks that could have appeared on them, spanning the decade from 2003 to 2013. 

Track listing

01 Settle 4 U ('Dangerously In Love' out-take 2003)
02 Waiting ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
03 Roc ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
04 Slow Love ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
05 Postcard (New Shoes) ('B'Day' out-take 2006)
06 I'm Alone Now ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
07 Baby You're The Only Man ('Dangerously In Love' out-take 2003)
08 Kick Him Put (Next Ex) ('B'Day' out-take 2006)
09 Stop Sign ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
10 Forever To Bleed ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
11 Control ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
12 Ice Cream Truck ('Dangerously In Love' out-take 2003)
13 Wake Up ('Beyoncé' out-take 2013)
14 Standing On The Sun ('Beyoncé' demo 2013)
15 God Made You Beautiful ('Beyoncé' out-take 2013)