May 23-29: Jay-Z Captures Beyonce's Subtler Side In Dressing-Room Rehearsal Footage

It's been a great week for Beyoncé's confident, fist-pumping, female-anthem-making alter ego Sasha Fierce. She rocked three major stages to rave reviews: the "Billboard Music Awards", "Oprah's Farewell Spectacular," and "American Idol." But she's also receiving some deserved attention for her impressive acoustic rehearsal footage.

Following the "Idol" broadcast, Beyoncé's husband, Jay-Z, posted behind-the-scenes footage of his wife singing her new emotional ballad "1+1" in her dressing room. Accompanied by a pianist and her background singers, Beyoncé simply stands in front of a vanity mirror with her head humbly held low and eyes closed as she belts her way through the lyrics while her mother, nephew, and cousin, among others, watch in awe.

In the song, Beyoncé pledges her unconditional love for someone special. "We ain't got nothing but love, and darling you've got enough for both of us," she sings.

Jay-Z, who actually videotaped the clip, stressed the uniqueness of the stripped-down run-through. "This is the dressing-room rehearsal for 'American Idol,'" he wrote on his Life+Times website under the pseudonym Andy WarHOV. "'NO MICROPHONE. No effects."

Fans online are equally pleased, saying this raw performance reflects the depths of Beyoncé's talent. "Amazing pitch! Great control over her voice. No reverb, microphone, fade-in/out, vocaline, compressor, emlodyne, autotune, logic audio or protools needed," Denasimone commented on popular urban blog Concrete Loop, one of the first sites to post the video.

Jay-Z described Beyoncé's "pregame" show as refreshing. "Sometimes you need perspective," he wrote. "You've been right in front of greatness so often that you need to step back and see it again for the first time."

But of course, Beyoncé's "Idol" experience wasn't the only cool "Idol" news to break this week. On Wednesday night, the show named its 10th winner, Scotty McCreery. Elsewhere in the latest happenings in the music world, Justin Bieber and girlfriend Selena Gomez confirmed their boyfriend-girlfriend status when they shared an on camera kiss as the 17-year-old pop singer headed to the stage to receive a Billboard Music Award. The demand for Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" album caused the servers at online retailer Amazon to crash, as eager fans rushed to take advantage of the 99-cent presale promotion. And the Grammys caught flack from music veterans Carlos Santa and Paul Simon who demanded that the respected National Academy Of Recording Arts And Sciences reinstate the 30 categories it eliminated earlier this year.

Hopefully, this recap gives you the information you need to be pop culture experts at Memorial Day barbecues this weekend. Enjoy. We'll see you back next week.