Apparently, it all started with a thunderstorm.
Beyoncé was hours late to a studio in Miami. Her plane was circling due to dangerous weather, and producer Rico Love, along with Jim Jonsin and Wayne Wilkins, found themselves killing time at South Beat Studios. Rico, thinking he might have missed his shot with one of the biggest stars in the world, pulled up a beat he hadn’t planned on using.
“All I heard was, ‘Turn the lights off,’” he recalled in multiple interviews, including during sit-downs for “R&B Money Podcast” and “BUILD Series.” “So, I wrote ‘Sweet Dreams.’” He didn’t even think she’d hear it.
Seven hours later, Beyoncé walked in fully dressed, makeup flawless, heels on, earrings in. She was apologetic: JAY-Z was about to kick off his “Heart of the City” tour with Mary J. Blige, and she only came by to show face and say sorry for the delay. Still, he managed to convince her to listen to two songs he worked on during the wait.
He started with a metaphor-heavy ballad about a house. Beyoncé politely nodded. Then he queued up the one he’d written just hours earlier. Originally titled “Beautiful Nightmare,” the track opened with the haunting line that would come to define it: “Turn the lights on.”
She paused, looked at her assistant (who happened to be her cousin, Angela Beyincé) and asked, “How much time do we have?”
“About 30 minutes,” Rico recalled her saying in response.
She took off her heels and earrings, stepped in the booth, and recorded the entire song in 15 minutes.
When Rico Love met Sasha Fierce
By the time Beyoncé walked out of the booth, “Sweet Dreams” was all but final. Her main vocal was done, and there was one detail she almost forgot: That now-iconic prelude.
In a rare move, she kept his background vocals in the hook as well: “She liked how it sounded. It stayed.”
That night, Beyoncé turned Rico’s scratch demo into a fully realized moment for her alter-ego. The pulsing bassline, the slinky vocals and the eerily seductive lyrics made the song a standout on the more aggressive half of her double album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, a more proper introduction to the aforementioned character she created.
The leak that nearly killed it
Before the song could get the proper rollout, it hit the internet.
The day after it was recorded, an early version of “Beautiful Nightmare” leaked — eight months before the album was set to drop. At the time, leaks like this often meant a track would get shelved.
Rico was worried. “I was more concerned that [Beyoncé] would feel that we did it,” Rico told MTV News. “A lot of times, producers or songwriters leak records because they feel if you put the song out there it would go.”
Beyoncé posted a message on her website, thanking fans for the support while stressing that it was “just a work in progress.” She redirected fans to check out music from her sister Solange and former Destiny’s Child bandmates Kelly and Michelle. She wasn’t ready to drop solo material. But fate had other plans.
Despite the hiccup, the song gained traction. Beyoncé eventually renamed it “Sweet Dreams” and chose it as a single for summer 2009.
“That song [had] nine lives,” Rico said.
Beyoncé’s transition from R&B to electropop
“Sweet Dreams” was a departure from Beyoncé’s usual sound. Built on slick synths, minimal snare kicks and a bassline that nodded to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” the track introduced a darker, more experimental edge.
Critics drew comparisons to Rihanna’s “Disturbia” and praised Beyoncé for stepping into a synth-pop lane without losing her vocal power. It was eerie, club-ready and seductive — the perfect sound for Sasha Fierce.
Even its tempo was unique: 122 beats per minute in E-flat minor, with Beyoncé’s voice fluttering between different notes throughout. The lyrics blended vulnerability with obsession: “You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare... either way, I don’t wanna wake up from you.”
Per a 2009 GIANT article, Beyoncé explained the theme as “a relationship that seems too good to be true. You don’t know if it’s a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare.” She added, “It’s very rare to find an up-tempo song that means something, that’s not just about going to a club or partying or being a sexy girl. It’s about a relationship, but it still is a great, sexy dance song.” Presumably, of course, the muse was likely Hov, making this all the more an authentic work of art.
Rico Love really did “turn the lights on,” literally
Rico’s now-signature producer tag — “Turn the lights on” — became iconic after Beyoncé left it on “Sweet Dreams.” It was so effective that other artists started asking to say it themselves.
Rico said that once Beyoncé kept the tag on the final track, other artists — including Usher and Brandy — began requesting to use the phrase in their own songs. Her co-sign gave it a level of credibility and visibility it hadn’t had before.
A video wrapped in symbolism
Directed by Adria Petty, the “Sweet Dreams” video brought the song’s surreal vibe to life. Beyoncé levitated off a bed, smashed mirrors, transformed into a gold-plated robot and danced inside kaleidoscopic sci-fi dreamscapes.
She wore Thierry Mugler fashion, danced with her longtime collaborators Ashley Everett and Saidah Nairobi, and reprised elements of her “Single Ladies” routine.
While some viewed the visuals as simply high-fashion, others have speculated that the video hides a darker narrative. One Medium breakdown interpreted it as a metaphor for psychological manipulation, even drawing parallels to alleged “Monarch programming” symbols: Shattered mirrors, robotic behavior and disassociation.
It could have been abstract art or coded commentary, but one thing was clear: Every frame of that video was intentional, otherworldly and timeless.
The legacy of Beyoncé’s “Sweet Dreams”
“Sweet Dreams” climbed to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went platinum in multiple countries, including triple platinum in the U.S. It topped the dance charts and remained in rotation for years, with remixes, live performances and even a Glastonbury Festival mashup with Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).”
For Rico, it marked a career-defining moment. For Beyoncé, it expanded her sonic palette and reinforced her mastery of mood and mystery.
And for the rest of us? It’s proof that sometimes, the songs made in a rush — in the middle of a storm, no less — are the ones that last the longest. “That was the experience of a lifetime,” Rico expressed, “working with one of the greatest vocalists of all time.”