Beyoncé was inspired to record “Brown Skin Girl” because of her daughter Blue Ivy.
On the latest episode of Won of One: A PLLRS Podcast, Warner Records President of A&R Steve Carless revealed the story behind the song.
According to Carless, he was pitching songs to Beyoncé was working on The Lion King: The Gift album in 2019. Originally, she was not feeling “BROWN SKIN GIRL” from the demo version made by SAINt JHN and producer P2J.
“We keep playing the song, keep playing the song, and she’s like, ‘No, that’s not it. Stop playing me that shit,’ in so many words,” Carless said.
Carless played the song again three weeks later when Beyoncé, Disney execs, Jay-Z, and others involved in the soundtrack were in a meeting.
“Blue Ivy’s in the meeting. She starts singing the hook: ‘Your skin’s just like pearls. The best thing in the world.’ Now, [Beyonce’s] like, ‘Play it again.’ Now, we’re in the room for 15 minutes listening to this song,” he remembers. “She’s like, ‘Alright, I like it. I’ll take it. It’s going to be the single.”
“Brown Skin Girl” would peak at 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Carless also spoke about working with Nipsey Hussle early in his career.
“One time we were talking, and he came up with some term I never heard of called ‘vertically integrated.’ I said, ‘‘Wow, if that’s the case, I’ll teach you radio promotions. He was like, ‘You would?’ [I told him], ‘I’ll show you one of the budgets.’ I gave him a budget, and he started calling me every day,” Carless recalled.
Carless spoke about his time interning at Pharrell’s StarkTrek record label, working as senior director of A&R at Def Jam, and helping Jeezy as the President of his CTE World Records.