Beyoncé didn't need to put on the diamond-encrusted high on her 'Dangerously in Love' cowl, and extra on-set insights from her photographer

• Beyoncé’s debut solo album “Dangerously in Love” turns 20 years previous on June 24.
• To have a good time the anniversary, Insider spoke with Markus Klinko, who photographed the long-lasting cowl.
• He gave behind-the-scenes particulars about working with Beyoncé — and lending her a pair of denims to put on on set.

Twenty years in the past, Beyoncé — the most-awarded individual in Grammys historical past, game-changer of the digital age, “Homecoming” queen, “Lemonade” maker, “Renaissance” girl, mom of three — was nonetheless greatest generally known as one-third of Future’s Baby.

That’s, till “Dangerously in Love” arrived on June 24, 2003.

Beyoncé’s debut solo album did not simply alter the course of her profession. It helped form the subsequent twenty years of pop music.

“Dangerously in Love” debuted atop the Billboard 200, spawned still-beloved hits like “Loopy in Love,” and earned Beyoncé 5 Grammy Awards.

However it wasn’t the music alone that made it legendary. The album cowl, shot by Markus Klinko, has carved its personal place in music historical past. Beyoncé’s iconic rhinestone high was even displayed on the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame.

To have a good time the album’s twentieth anniversary, Insider spoke with Klinko about collaborating with Beyoncé to attain her diamond-draped imaginative and prescient — which concerned lending her a pair of denims on the fly — and photographing girls on the cusp of superstardom.

The album cowl got here along with a mixture of inspiration and spontaneity

Klinko met Beyoncé in 2000, shortly after “Payments, Payments, Payments” grew to become Future’s Kid’s first tune to hit No. 1 on the chart. He was employed to {photograph} the group for Vibe journal.

“I had no thought who they have been till I obtained the decision from Vibe,” he mentioned. “Her mother was styling it. And I keep in mind pointing at Beyoncé and saying, ‘This one within the center right here, she’s going to be large. She has plenty of charisma.’ Her mother simply mentioned, ‘Yeah, we all know.'”

For sure, his prediction got here true. After only a few years, Klinko obtained one other name to work with Beyoncé, this time as a solo artist.

As we speak, we consider the “Dangerously in Love” cowl as quintessentially Y2K. The saturated blue, airbrushed pores and skin, and nude lipgloss — the informal glamour — completely seize our sentimental reminiscence of the early aughts.

However on the time, the period was nonetheless within the midst of creation. So as a substitute of nostalgia, Beyoncé’s inspiration was an commercial for diamonds.

Throughout a pre-production name, Klinko mentioned Beyoncé referenced a picture he captured of Laetitia Casta, titled “The Net.” The mannequin is splayed throughout a glowing spider-web, almost nude, wrapped in opalescent bondage.

“She mentioned she actually cherished that picture and if we might do one thing like that, simply smaller, on her. And I did not actually know how you can interpret that,” he defined. “That picture could be very blue, primarily blue, darkish blue. When she mentioned it, I did not actually instantly know what to do about it.”

When he arrived on the shoot, nonetheless, the answer had already arrived on a silver platter due to Tina Knowles-Lawson, Beyoncé’s mother and go-to stylist at the start of her profession.

“She introduced this diamond high and I instantly acknowledged it as a possibility,” Klinko mentioned. “I introduced it as much as Beyoncé and I mentioned, ‘Nicely, right here you go. That is what we should always do.'”

“She mentioned she did not prefer it,” he continued. “She did not suppose it labored as a result of her mother needed to pair it with these lengthy skirts. Beyoncé mentioned, ‘That is going to look very promenade or crimson carpet and I do not need to try this.'”

Klinko instantly recognized the difficulty. It isn’t simply Beyoncé lined in gleaming gems that makes the duvet unforgettable, however the scrumptious distinction on the coronary heart of the photograph: a swooning, glittering high paired with a low-slung, denim-clad waistline.

However there was yet one more downside for Klinko to resolve.

“Beyoncé mentioned, ‘Nicely, we haven’t any denim. We did not convey any.’ I mentioned, ‘You may match my very own denims that I am sporting,'” he provided. “She mentioned, ‘OK, let’s strive.’ So we did.”

Ultimately, the impromptu determination labored for one of the best. Klinko’s denims enhanced the distinction within the photograph and doubled down on its core conceit — that Beyoncé could make something work in her favor. (Naturally, millennials who grew up with “Dangerously in Love” would try to recreate the jeans-and-a-cute-top combo after they obtained sufficiently old to celebration like Beyoncé in “Naughty Lady.” Outcomes have been combined.)

“I feel there is a second of improvisation in all of my shoots. I like to come back in with a really clear idea and a plan of what I need to do. However my hope is all the time that one thing higher will occur,” Klinko mentioned.

“Beyoncé contributed rather a lot as a result of she labored it,” he continued. “She labored a bit — that is not simple to do. She discovered the precise proper motion. That wasn’t my thought to place the arms up. That was her thought, and I do not even know if it was an thought. It was her intuition. And I knew: ‘That is the duvet.'”

Lately, Klinko mentioned, he is flooded with requests to buy the unique denim pants that she wore throughout the photoshoot. However he isn’t giving them up so simply.

“It was very cute, as a result of Beyoncé took them together with her after the shoot. After which on our subsequent shoot for Pepsi, she introduced them again and he or she had them wrapped and dry cleaned,” he mentioned. “She gave them again to me and he or she mentioned, ‘Thanks a lot and please do not promote them on eBay.'”

‘I attempt to seize a magical feeling’

The “Dangerously in Love” cowl would not be the final time Klinko took {a photograph} of a well-known girl that grew to become “a second in time.” 

He went on to shoot Kelis for her hit single “Milkshake” and Mariah Carey for her Grammy-nominated comeback album “The Emancipation of Mimi.” Extra just lately, he photographed Billie Eilish for Vogue and Ice Spice for Paper.

All the photographs share an aura of surrealism. Certain, they could remind you of iPods and butterfly clips — however in fact, Klinko works in a realm that is indifferent from the mundane schedule of our bodily world. These are timeless fantasies of stardom and femininity, glossed with an affectionate sheen.

For Klinko, it is about creating “a magical feeling” and sense of drama, whoever the topic is, no matter period they exist in. (To underscore his level, he mentioned Paper editors referenced his photograph of Kelis as a touchstone for Ice Spice’s photoshoot.)

He additionally cited Andy Warhol as a significant affect, particularly the painter’s “combine of economic and artwork” and his function as “a defining pop-culture creator.”

“I do love merch simply as I really like {a magazine} cowl,” he mentioned. “I am not against business actions. A number of artists look down on the business, perhaps the artwork world basically. I do not see it that approach in any respect. I simply see good work and unhealthy work and I feel that plenty of typical gallery pictures work to me — it bores me to demise.”

“The pictures grow to be works as soon as they’re in a gallery. I suppose how they grow to be artwork items is a matter of what you name them,” he mentioned, including, “But when it does not transfer individuals, to me it is not likely artwork, it doesn’t matter what the idea is.”

Each Beyoncé’s “Dangerously in Love” cowl and Ice Spice’s Paper cowl are at present on show at Pop Worldwide Galleries in Manhattan.

Certainly, lots of Klinko’s topics — who additionally embrace Britney Spears, Girl Gaga, and David Bowie — do not want a museum curator to approve their standing as tastemakers. But when a photograph turns into an artwork piece when it passes by means of the doorways of a gallery, these stars actually hold in rarefied air.

“I feel that is my alternative, to actually outline these moments,” Klinko mentioned. “Undoubtedly Beyoncé’s ‘Dangerously in Love’ was one among these moments. I feel Ice Spice, that Paper cowl, individuals will keep in mind. It may be one among these moments.”

“She’s solely the most popular individual on Earth proper now,” he gushed of the “Bikini Backside” rapper. “Now the gallery is run over, principally, with individuals coming in like, ‘What is going on on?’ Ice Spice — she’s within the gallery subsequent to Warhol and Basquiat.”