JAŸ-Z IN 8: Speaking about the song "4:44," JAŸ-Z says he was afraid to be vulnerable before his relationship with Beyoncé turned romantic “I probably heard that song less than any song I’d ever written, except for ‘You Must Love Me’. Just listening to it is hard. Doing it was difficult enough. Then hearing it back.” He revealed that the song's lyrics describe exactly how their relationship began “That’s how we start going together. I was so immature and so afraid to be vulnerable that I like this person. I like this woman. And I’m like, how do we take the step from just talking on the phone and being friends to boyfriend and girlfriend?” he recalled. “And instead of saying, ‘Let’s try this thing, boyfriend and girlfriend...’ I was like, ‘Don’t embarrass me,” he added. “It’s like, are you asking me to be your girlfriend? That was the only way I could get to being vulnerable like that.” But, Beyoncé was “able to see, ‘Oh, you struggling with this, let me help you out with it.’ Because that’s a horrible [dating] proposal.” Regarding the impact that album and that period might have had on his children, he replied: “Just the loss of innocence. Seeing their parents as something other than their parents,” he said. “Growing up, your parents are superheroes. And then one day you realize, ‘My parents are people. They make mistakes and they’re not perfect.’ That loss of innocence is what I was dealing with, too. But we love each other. Soul mates. We choose each other. Let’s do it, let’s heal it, let’s heal this pain, be there for each other let’s just do the work.”