With a new fragrance and a documentary on the way, Beyoncé is ready to shed her alter ego and show the world she’s fierce in her own right. See these outtakes from the star’s shoot with Michael Thompson in New York City, plus exclusive shots from her 2002 Allure cover story. For more of our interview with Beyoncé, pick up the February issue of Allure, on newsstands January 26.

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As the clock starts ticking for 2010 Grammys’, pop star Beyonce Knowles who has been nominated for 10 honours is reportedly set to perform with Maxwell at the ceremony which will held at the Staples Centre.

The 28-year-old singer who collected nominations including album of the year for her ‘I Am . . . Sasha Fierce’ double CD and for the single ‘Halo’ has been booked for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards to be held on Jan 31 here, Aceshowbiz reported.

In addition to Beyonce, another musician who is speculated to make a live performance at the forthcoming show is Maxwell, who has grabbed six nominations.

However, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences which organises the event has not yet confirmed the report.

Jay-Z has already staked a claim as the next King of New York with “Empire State of Mind,” but thanks to a new ranking in Forbes magazine, he can now claim regal status in Hollywood as well. Jay and wife Beyoncé topped the magazine’s list of Hollywood’s top-earning couples thanks to a combined household income of $122 million between June 2008 and June 2009, acing out such fellow power duos as Brangelina, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith and David and Victoria Beckham.

The combination of Jay’s musical empire, Beyoncé’s chart-topping hits, movie roles and clothing lines and endorsement deals for both with companies including Budweiser and American Express helped the couple rake in more than any other power pair, married or unmarried, in entertainment. In case anyone in the household is keeping score, Beyoncé out-earned Jay $87 million to $35 million. It was their second year at #1, after snatching the top spot last year with a combined haul of $162 million.

Way behind in second place was longtime couple Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, with a combined $69 million, most of it from Ford’s $65 million paycheck for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and Flockhart’s pay for the TV show “Brothers & Sisters.”

Another unmarried pair, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, came in third with $55 million, thanks to hits like “Wanted” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” one of Pitt’s highest-grossing movies ever with $334 million worldwide. The other couples in the top five were Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith ($48 million) and David and Victoria Beckham ($46 million).

Among the other names on the list: new “American Idol” judge Ellen DeGeneres and her partner Portia de Rossi ($36 million), Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson ($35.5 million), Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy ($34 million), Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes ($33.5 million), Coldplay singer Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow ($33 million), Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick ($29 million) and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill ($28 million).

The figures in the story were based on interviews with managers, agents, producers and lawyers, who provided a picture of what the stars earn from movies, touring, album sales, sports contracts, clothing and perfume lines and endorsements.

Beyonce Knowles wants to take a six-month break from music.

The ‘Crazy in Love’ singer – who is married to hip-hop mogul Jay-Z – thinks she worked too hard last year and needs time off to focus more on her personal life, including spending time with her five-year-old nephew Daniel.

She said: “It’s definitely time to take a break, to recharge my batteries. I’d like to take about six months and not go into the studio. I need to just live life, to be inspired by things again.

“I’m going to do random things. I want to go to restaurants, maybe take a class and see some movies and Broadway shows.

“I’ll spend more time with Daniel. He’s a wonderful kid, amazing, so smart. And I spoil him, so it’s a lot of work. He’s a 24-hour job.”

However, Beyonce, 28, admits she will find her music sabbatical tough.

She said in an interview with the USA Today newspaper: “It will be the hardest thing in the world for me to make myself not do an album and shoot a video and turn it in and say: ‘I’m ready!’ I already have all these melodies and ideas in my head. I have to tell myself: ‘Sit down! Sit down!’ “

By now you should know Beyoncé’s infectious tune by heart. It’s the get-the-party-started anthem of the year, the fun kiss-off track that got Justin Timberlake dancing in a leotard on SNL, The Chipettes shaking their hips in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and fans of every age, shape and size posting tributes to YouTube.

Nominated for three Grammys, Beyoncé’s hit “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” from her third solo album, I Am … Sasha Fierce, has taken the world by storm. Peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard chart and staying on top for four non-consecutive weeks, the single dominated Hot 100 Airplay, topped U.K., Canadian and Australian charts and, with over 3,000,000 digital downloads, became the singer’s highest-selling song.

But do you know the story behind the music and the moves?

The Lyrics
“Single Ladies,” conceptualized by singer-songwriter The-Dream, was recorded after Beyoncé secretly married Jay-Z.

“It was the only public statement that they ever made about marriage,” says the song’s producer Christopher “Tricky” Stewart. “When we went into the studio she didn’t have a ring on or anything, because at that point they were still really hiding it. That’s where Dream got that concept from.”

“I thought it was a subject that most women wanted to talk about because most of us men are scared as s— to be bound to a commitment,” adds The-Dream (real name: Terius Youngdell Nash).

The Sound
Ever notice that “Single Ladies” sounds a lot like another Beyoncé dance hit, “Get Me Bodied?”

“I always believe that every artist has a groove to them,” says Tricky, who crafted the song’s shuffle beat. “That rhythm is what she responds to,” he adds. And once she had the rhythm locked in, she delivered the now-classic lines, “on point right away,” says vocal producer Kuk Harrell. “She knows what she’s going for.”

The Video
Spawning a massive dance craze and hundreds of YouTube tributes, the moves in the music video for “Single Ladies” were choreographed by Frank Gatson Jr. and JaQuel Knight.

“She wanted it to feel good and powerful and she wanted something that everyone would do,” says Knight. Beyoncé’s main inspiration was the Bob Fosse-choreographed performance of “Mexican Breakfast” on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969 and, says Gatson, “Shirley MacLaine in Sweet Charity … That is why Beyoncé ran up the wall [in the video].”

Pair those moves and killer costumes, “reminiscent of the high-cut leotards seen in both A Chorus Line and All That Jazz, but modern,” according to designer Tina Knowles, and add a flash of that $5-million Lorraine Schwartz wedding ring, and it’s easy to see why “Single Ladies” became an instant classic.

“I think the visual is what really pulled the record together as a whole,” says Tricky. “The reach was just unparalleled.”

Watch the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, live on CBS – and catch up on all the news and style from the show on PEOPLE.com!