Beyonce Puts Rumors to Rest With Fierce "Letterman" Performance

Beyoncé's "Halo" was tight on the Late Show With David Letterman last night, which aired just hours after she called rumors she warbled off-key at the Today show last November "completely ridiculous." The only snafu came after she stopped singing, when an impressed (and somewhat tongue-tied) Letterman called her album "I Am ... Sara Fierce."

Earlier in the day, the Internet was abuzz over a YouTube clip played on Howard Stern's show that claimed to be a sound board recording of Sasha Fierce's live feed while she sang "If I Were a Boy" on NBC's morning show. The clip sounded doctored — pitches jumped improbably and somewhat randomly — and within hours TMZ had confirmed that a prankster had indeed digitally manipulated the song. Perez Hilton named the culprit as Aladdin82.

While in the interview chair, Beyoncé discussed her seven-month, 115-date world tour, which opens its U.S. leg at New York's Madison Square Garden on June 21st. She also admitted that she watches her performance at President Obama's inaugural ball repeatedly, and told a tale about Jay-Z changing "99 Problems" 's lyrics to "99 Problems ... and a Bush ain't one" for an Obama event where the word "bitch" seemed a bit inappropriate. B also revealed that Destiny's Child had to turn into a street gang to protect her younger sister, Solange, from a bully and complained that there's no way to reach her sibling without resorting to Twitter. Watch the whole interview here:

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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