A beautifully written song about the seldom-explored topic of long-term monogamy, its musical setting nods towards 60s southern soul, lent extra power by the emotional commitment in her voice.Ī still from Homecoming. All Night (2016)Ī low-key delight amid Lemonade’s attention-grabbing hell-hath-no-fury, All Night is, in its own way, as striking as anything on the album. There’s an argument that, while less hooky, it’s a melodically stronger song than its more famous sibling, and the intro, where Beyoncé gradually introduces each instrument over an urgent bassline, is spectacularly exciting. Déjà Vu (feat Jay-Z) (2006)Ī Jay-Z guest slot, blasting brass and a distinct old-school funk feel, but Déjà Vu is more than just Crazy in Love 2.0. A song about the messy cocktail of alcohol and sex, its lyrics are filled with gleeful double entendres – “park it in my lot”, “ride it on my surfboard” – while its music is equal parts woozy and euphoric. Drunk in Love (feat Jay-Z) (2013)ĭrunk in Love feels symbolic of a distinct loosening up of Beyoncé’s expertly choreographed image. But it’s all about the vocal performance on her solo version, its switches from intimacy and vulnerability to full-throttle power always maintaining a hint of rawness. On one level, Dangerously in Love – previously recorded by Destiny’s Child – is a decent, standard-issue R&B ballad, nothing like as distinctive as Beyoncé’s greatest songs. Photograph: Kevin Winter/BET/Getty Images for BET 27.

The live version on Homecoming amps things up even further, stirring Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir into the mix.Īt the 2016 BET awards in Los Angeles. Don’t Hurt Yourself (2016)ĭon’t Hurt Yourself’s co-author Jack White compared Beyoncé’s voice to that of Betty Davis, and there’s a definite hint of Davis’s raging rock/funk hybrid about Lemonade’s most aggressive track. Beneath its heartbroken lyrics about a failed relationship lurks a subtle, sad excoriation of what would now be called male privilege, the lyrics smartly switching between exploring the topic and suggesting how it might be altered. It’s lovely: a great song, beautifully sung, with Beyoncé admirably uncowed by the presence of a soul titan.Īs acoustic-guitar-driven, powerfully sung mainstream R&B power ballads go, If I Were a Boy is an impressively original example of type. The Closer I Get to You (feat Luther Vandross) (2003)Īs far removed as you can get from the innovations of the Beyoncé album or Lemonade, The Closer I Get to You is a slick cover of a 1977 Roberta Flack-Donny Hathaway duet, with Luther Vandross filling the Hathaway role.

With me all night beyonce