u/Ghost-Quartet

It’s no secret that America has a huge culture of patriotism- I’ve often seen visitors from abroad remark that they were shocked by the huge number of flags that are just hanging everywhere, or that schools actually make all of the kids stand up every morning and recite a “Pledge of Allegiance” to those flags.

And we have our "official" patriotic songs like "The Star Spangled Banner" or "America The Beautiful," but it's 2026 and no one is bumping to those casually- everyone knows that the TRUE national anthem of today's American is “Party In the USA” by Miley Cyrus (or "Before I Let Go" depending on your demographic).

But in celebration of America's birthday, let's shut the fuck up about it for a second and hear from the rest of the world.

Sometimes I’ll see someone from another country refer to as pop song as “basically the national anthem” because it’s popular with all demographics and played all the time- often times a song that isn’t really played outside of its domestic region so it truly feels like a national treasure.

So, what are some songs that you heavily associate with your home country? I don’t necessarily mean songs with patriotic lyrics, but rather songs that feel “special” to your community, and that you're likely to hear played at events and celebrations.

Would love to hear people from outside of the US sharing stories about songs that are like this~

Edit: And it would help if you would name the country you are from T_T

> My life goes by so fast, my idea of success has completely changed. Whatever I do, it has to be something that's gonna teach me about life. My album 4 represents my most defining moments. Can I share my story with y'all?

2008's I Am... Sasha Fierce was Beyoncé HUGEST album to date but the process of touring and promoting it had been exhausting and even traumatic at times. When the tour finally ended in 2010, Bey announced that she would be taking the year off to travel, rest, and reconnect with herself.

And when it was time for her to make her return to music, she knew what she had to do.

If you take a gander at the year-end Hot 100 from the 2010 you'll notice that it is very heavily dominated by electro-pop and dance- these were the legendary "recession pop" years, where even the r&b greats like Usher were falling in love with the dancefloor -and while Beyoncé was no stranger herself to the sound, she just felt like something was... missing.

Sure we were having fun, but where was the SOUL?

Bey was a commercial artist at the peak of her career, but she was willing to take a chance and gamble that success on a project that she found artistically fulfilling: an album influenced by old school r&b/funk/hip-hop music, the music that had inspired Beyoncé growing up. Lots of horns, organic instruments, big vocals, but updated for 2010s audiences.

Tapping old school talent (Babyface, The-Dream/Tricky Stewart, Diane Warren) alongside exciting new names (Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Ester Dean), Beyoncé worked in close collaboration to create 4, a tour-de-force album that perfectly showcased why she was the ONE.

While the singles underperformed relative to what Bey had done before (none cracked the Top 10, although it is worth noting that the album leaked in full several weeks before release), the album itself still sold very well and (perhaps more importantly) was adored by fans and critics.

Beyoncé was always something of an industry superstar but she was still considered primarily a singles artist on the level of, say, Katy Perry; 4 felt like the moment when she shifted into BEYONCÉ, an artist whose talent and vision were on a level above the rest who commanded special attention.

Nobody else could have pulled off "Love On Top," and she did it pregnant.

Anecdotally, I was in high school at this time, and on the first day of one of my classes we had to go around the room and do one of those little "say your name and a fun fact" games. One of the girls stood up, introduced herself, and said "if I could be anyone, I would be Beyoncé, because she's Beyoncé." Everyone in the room just nodded in agreement because we were like yeah. Of course!

She is Beyoncé.

#Some Questions:

1. Were you around for the 4 era? What are your memories from the time?

2. Where does 4 rank in Bey's discography for you?

3. What are your favorite songs from 4?

4. Is there anything you would have changed about the 4 rollout to make the album more successful?