Beyoncé's Dangerously In Love Turns 20

On June 24, 2003, Beyoncé released her debut solo album, ‘Dangerously In Love.’ The album went on to win five Grammys and has gone 3x Platinum in Canada.

Photographer Markus Klinko took the photo for the album cover and recently shared some behind-the-scenes of the shoot.

Beyoncé had asked Markus to reference a photo of his, from a previous shoot for the cover. “She said she really loved that image and if we could do something like that, just smaller, on her. And I didn’t really know how to interpret that,” he explained.

“She brought this diamond top and I immediately recognized it as an opportunity,” he said. “I brought it up to Beyoncé and I said, ‘Well, here you go. That’s what we should do.'” He explained that original the top was going to be paired with a skirt, but Beyoncé said that she thought it would look “very prom or red carpet”.

From there, Markus recommended denim. “Beyoncé said, ‘Well, we don’t have any denim. We didn’t bring any.’ I said, ‘You might fit my own jeans that I’m wearing,'” he offered. “She said, ‘OK, let’s try.’ So we did.”