Beyonce "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
Beyonce’s back with her first album since being crowned Miss Carter, but sadly, it’s not the country album or a full-on dance release that was rumored earlier. Apparently, those quite exciting and ambitious ideas were scrapped for a comparably less intriguing double album concept that finds one side focusing on mature R&B/ soul, while the other, under Be’s feisty alter-ego “Sasha” (insert eye roll), busts out a slew of upbeat hip hop tracks.
The “Sasha” halve is being kicked off with single “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”, which, on first listen, lands as a lackluster retread of B’Day boppity tunes “Check On It” and “Get Me Bodied”, incorporating her seemingly undying love for child-like melodic whimsy and energetic production detail as she works overtime to make an ex-lover green with envy.
“You had your turn/ But now you gonna learn/ What it really feels to miss me,” she sasses, wrapped up tight in a sweaty bump n grind with some male club attendee while in full view of her former beau. When it comes to the hyper-rhythmic vocal, few can touch Miss Bey, and she flexes that gift well here, but having to sit through another cantankerous beat swing like this one just feels a bit wearisome, no matter how great it’s hard/ soft bridge or inviting its sure-to-soon-be-anthemized hook (“Cause if you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it!!”) are.
But those initial negative impressions towards the song suddenly deteriorate once eyes are lain on it’s accompanying video.
The ’60’s variety show-themed performance clip for “Single Ladies” plants the singer in the middle of a sexy female triumvirate, shaking her tightened, yet still mouth-wateringly jiggly jelly all throughout a sparse set. Yeah, the vid is an odd one (Up there with the head-scratching “I’ll African dance while lost in the Bayou” scenario of “Deja Vu” as one of Beyonce’s most WTF visual tie-ins) and it definitely leaves many questions when it’s all over (like, what’s up with the bionic glove thing?), but it’s celebration of the thick black female physique as the trio jerk, dip and thrust (Beyonce doesn’t really dance as much as she…well, Beyonce’s) to the song’s otherworldly groove, makes it one you can’t easily tear your corneas from.
To any heterosexual dude most likely left panting alongside her at the video’s close, let’s all shake our heads in unison: Damn, why’d she go and have to let Shawn put a ring on it.
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