BEYONCE took a year off from making music to avoid cracking up.

But unlike most people in their twenties, the singer didn't spend her sabbatical enjoying Amsterdam's "herbal" cafes or meeting Toadfish on the Neighbours set in Melbourne, Australia.
When you're one of the world's biggest pop stars you can afford a more pampered "cultural" experience.
Beyonce recalled: "It was beginning to get fuzzy - I couldn't even tell which day or which city I was at.
"I would sit there at ceremonies and they would give me an award and I was just thinking about the next performance.
"My mother was very persistent and she kept saying that I had to take care of my mental health."
"So I went to see museums, ballets, the Great Wall of China and everywhere I had been to but never got to see."
The singer had no problems scaling the Great Wall of China, courtesy of her famous long pins.
She said: "I actually started running, I don't know why. The steps are really small. I just felt like I was in my own world."
She must have watched Rocky films on the plane.
The break clearly did her the world of good.
Beyonce returned refreshed with album 4, which recently went to No1 on both sides of the Atlantic, and her performances at Glastonbury and T In The Park were a big hit with festival-goers. And despite all that travelling, the singer also got plenty of rest. Rather than hitchhike with a huge backpack like most gap-year travellers, Beyonce rode on luxury tour buses and private jets while joining her rapper husband Jay-Z on his world tour.
Beyonce said: "I got the chance to see the Jay-Z shows in the audience which I had never been able to do, so I was really inspired.
"I've always been a Jay-Z groupie."
Just like Kanye West then...