Mrs Carter! How dare you use the same mouth that lip synced for the President’s inauguration to sing those nasty words!
Beyonce’s bizarre new single “Bow Down / I Been On,” released earlier this week on her web site, has caused a veritable public outcry, with some fans applauding Queen B’s more aggressive sound, and others criticizing her for straying from imminent R&B sainthood.
In short, it’s just a bad song. There are so many problems with it … so many convoluted messages … that it’s hard to know where to begin.
The foremost problem is that Beyonce’s greatest strength is her voice … obviously … and you barely hear it here. The song is actually a mash-up of two distinct songs. In the first segment,”Bow Down,” the vocals are standard Beyonce, but their beauty is overshadowed by the stupidity of the lyrics themselves … we’ll get to the lyrics in a second. About mid-way through it shifts to “I Been On.” In that section, the vocals are so distorted that you can’t even tell it’s Beyonce. It’s a slow-style rap with an operatic backing and her voice is heavily altered to sound like a man’s. Who knows why.
The controversial aspect of this song is that substitution of Beyonce’s typical girl power/anthemic pap for somewhat harder lyrics … she even uses the other B word! But it sounds more sad than raunchy. It’s not going to be included on a Kidz Bop compilation, but it’s hardly Lil’ Kim.
“I know when you were little girls, you dreamt of being in my world/Don’t forget it, don’t forget it, respect that/I took some time to live my life, but don’t think I’m just his little wife/Don’t get it twisted, get it twisted. This my shit. Bow down, bitches.”
First, get over yourself. No one likes conceited, uppity mega-stars. Second, Beyonce’s new tour may be called “The Mrs. Carter Show” … presumably a title she chose … but who on earth considers her to be Mrs. Jay-Z? Their careers are pretty distinct and she is, dare I say, pretty successful in her own right. So why would she tackle this kind of nonsense?
In the second segment of the song, Beyonce’s weird man-rap is very disconcerting. The lyrics are conventional, old-style rap-misogyny.
“Didn’t do your girl but your sister was alright, damn/In ya homeboy’s Caddy last night … I heard your boo was talking lip/I told my crew to smack that trick.”
A lot of critics are bashing Beyonce, calling the song anti-feminist, including Keyshia Cole who quite aptly tweeted:
“First ‘Women need to Stick together’ now bitches better Bow.”
Beyonce’s defenders point out that she transforms into her ballsier alter ego, Sasha Fierce, when she’s performing … which is so fucking stupid. It’s not a split personality. She knows what she’s doing. At best, this song can be written off as poor guidance by producers. At worst, it’s unlistenable horseshit.
All Beyonce cares about is making more money.
@Caroline…I have long thought that too. She shows zero growth as an artist or woman. Her music is the most juvenile, frivolous crap since the Spice Girls. It irks me when Michelle Obama, who is the complete opposite of this rump-shaking moron, sends the message that she is somehow in awe or in admiration of Beyonce and her pedestrian message. Little girls should be emulating the Michelle Obamas, Oprahs, and Sheryl Sandbergs of the world. In an ideal world, they would be, but alas, sex and simpletons run the world.
Beyonce should really get over herself. She is so stupid.
Perhaps it would help if I knew what the hell she was talking about? How can anyone honestly call this songwriting? Utter dross. Get over yourself, love.
God gives and God takes away! Bey has been on a self-righteous journey for 10 years, caring about no one or anything but herself. She has had plenty of opportunities to grow her mind but instead she concentrated on growing her money. I too found it appalling that the FLOTUS would give this ‘girl’ such credibility but then one had to wonder if it was a part of the FLOTUS plan to get her husband re-elected or a real ‘kinship’ with Bey. I tend to think Bey/Jay were used for their popularity as neither of them will ever be invited to be true friends of the First Family. What I can’t understand is why Bey would wait until she became the mother of a daughter to find it necessary to call other women bitches…it was bad enough she was ok with her husband saying such things but now her daughter has a mother and father who one would find hard-pressed to be considered adequate role-models. Money will NEVER replace ones character.