The video: The debut song from Beyonce's hotly anticipated new album, which comes out in June, is now available for public consumption, at least in demo form. (Listen below.) "Girls (Who Run the World)" was produced by the superstar DJ Diplo, and samples Major Lazer's "Pon de Floor." It opens with a military-like chant over Beyonce intoning "Girls! We run this mutha/Girls! We run the world." The snare-drum-heavy beat then starts integrating electronic bleeps, all over the same relentless chorus. "Girls" is the latest in a long string of Beyonce singles promoting female empowerment, from "Survivor" to "Independent Women" to "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On it)." How does "Girls" compare?
The reaction: The song is "fun to listen to," and will "probably inspire plenty of peppy YouTube tributes," says Maura Johnston at The Village Voice. But "there's also something exhausting about it." Like many of its current pop counterparts, this song tries to incorporate too many elements at the expense of a unifying vision; it should "heed Coco Chanel's advice and take one accessory off before leaving the house." Sorry, says Brian Moylan at Gawker, but this song just "sucks. I mean, it sucks really bad." The dizzying mess of "feedback squiggles, ray gun zaps, and snare drums" brings to mind a "scene in a sci-fi movie in which someone is walking through a marketplace and they're assaulted by all sorts of synthesized noise and babble from all directions at once." Have a listen for yourself:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'King's horses take free rein through London'Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
-
Is pop music now too reliant on gossip?Talking Point Taylor Swift's new album has prompted a flurry of speculation over who she is referring to in her songs
-
Nuclear near-missesThe Explainer From technical glitches to fateful split-second decisions, the world has come to the brink of nuclear war more times than you might think
