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On February 10, 2008, Knowles performed a duet with Tina Turner at the 50th Grammy Awards. They performed one of Turner’s signature songs, “Proud Mary”, receiving positive reviews from the press. Knowles released her third studio album, I Am… Sasha Fierce, on November 18, 2008. Knowles says that the name Sasha Fierce is the name of the persona she adopts when she performs onstage. The album was preceded with the release of its two singles, “If I Were a Boy” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”. While “If I Were a Boy” topped numerous charts worldwide, mostly in European countries, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart, for four non-consecutive weeks, giving Knowles her fifth number one single in the United States.
Knowles appeared in the musical biopic film, Cadillac Records, in which Knowles had been cast to play famed blues singer Etta James. Her performance in the film has received praise from critics. Knowles also starred opposite Ali Larter and Idris Elba in a thriller film called Obsessed, which was in production since May 2008. The film received a poor critical response and has a rotten rank of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film has so far proved to be a commercial success and was released in the United States on April 24, 2009, the film grossed $11.1 million on its first day of release and ended its opening weekend at number one, with a total of $28.6 million.
“Halo”, the fourth single off I Am… Sasha Fierce, went on to peak at number five, becoming Knowles’ 12th Top 10 single on the Hot 100 as a solo artist. This made Knowles the female artist with the most top tens on the Hot 100 this decade. She is also the female artist with the most cumulative weeks at number one this decade, with 37 total weeks at number one, the most top fives and the most top ten hits this decade with thirteen, as well as the most top 40 hits of the decade with 18 top 40 hits.
Knowles won the Outstanding Female Artist at the 2009 NAACP Image Awards. She also won the Best R&B Artist award at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards. Knowles performed on January 18, 2009 at the Lincoln Memorial festivities in honor of the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States. Knowles also sang her cover of the R&B classic most famously sang by Etta James, “At Last”, as President Obama and his wife Michelle had their first dance as President and First lady of America, on January 20, 2009 at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball.
In support of the album, Knowles embarked on her lengthy I Am… Tour concert tours starting in the Spring of 2009, visiting venues all over the world. She concluded the North American leg of her tour with a four-day limited engagement at the very intimate, 1500-seat Encore Theater at Steve Wynn’s Encore Resort in Las Vegas, from July 30 through August 2, 2009. As of August 2, 2009, Knowles’s tour has officially been ranked a No. 1 concert attraction thanks to record attendance and an unprecedented multi-leg journey. Billboard magazine’s journalist Bob Allen confirms the tour’s success, stating: “With reported grosses topping $36 million since the tour began, her show ranks among the top 15 grossing tours of the year, with still more dates scheduled, beginning in 2010.”
The “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” video won the 2009 BET Awards Video of the Year. In addition, it was nominated for a total of nine awards at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, and ultimately won the award for Video of the Year, and an additional two awards, though its loss in the Best Female Video category to Taylor Swift’s “You Belong with Me” led to controversy during the ceremony; Swift’s award acceptance speech was interrupted by Hip-Hop artist Kanye West, who grabbed her microphone to declare the “Single Ladies” video as “one of the best videos of all time”. When Knowles accepted the Video of the Year award, she stated, “I remember being 17 years old, up for my first MTV award with Destiny’s Child and it was one of the most exciting moments in my life” and that she would like for Swift to “come out and have her moment”. In October 2009, Knowles was honored with Billboard magazine’s “Woman of the Year” award. Accepting the award, Knowles remarked “I am the luckiest woman in the world.”
[Text from Wikipedia]