The Knowles and Carters? They’re different from you and me. Of course, sometimes shit go down when it’s a billion dollars on an elevator.” (“ Elevators” is an old hit by OutKast, who played Lollapalooza on Friday.) She repeats the last line a few times, so if you thought that security camera-footage was your business, here’s your response. She sounds more than a little like Rihanna in the opening, adopting a West Indian lilt and lifting up into a cobra hover, speak-singing about sex: “It stay Yoncé, oh Yoncé in that lingerie, on that chardonnay, it’s gonna touch down like a runway.” Then, smoothly, she slips into a harder register for her airstrike on rumors about the video of an elevator tussle between Jay Z and her sister Solange: “And we could go around and get some good karma, but, no, we escalate, up in this bitch like elevators. Beyoncé sounds less like a regal instructor this time than a deep-voiced ninja, subsuming other artists into her performance. For the remix, it is just thinned out and reorganized. The music for the “Flawless” remix is the same as the original, as produced by Hit-Boy, Beyoncé, Rey Reel, and Boots. (Both “Anaconda” and the “Flawless” remix are now at the top of Billboard’s “Realtime” chart.) Minaj claims royal-ass status, and she asserts her right to pick a partner. ( The single is now out.) But “Anaconda” doesn’t stand a chance against the “Flawless” remix, fun as Minaj’s reworking of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s ode to butts is. Minaj was supposed to release “Anaconda,” the second single from “The Pink Print,” last Monday, but that release was pushed to today. Beyoncé’s words fold in recent gossip and nod subtly to the OutKast reunion, and she outshines her guest, who specializes in outshining hosts. The remix is flawless, though, because it is conceptually coherent and ferocious, and neither performer makes a mistake. The song is a strong bricolage, proud while calm, though not thoroughly flawless. The irrational reason I don’t mind is that I’m charmed by Beyoncé the more coherent defense is that Beyoncé doesn’t often celebrate the material girl, so it’s easy to give her a mulligan. Beyonce’s verses are about “waking up like this” (“this” being an enviable state) and having things like flawless diamonds, which for someone else might puncture the narrative and deflate it. The track is hard but swaying, a relaxed beat that backed Beyoncé as she praises her own flawlessness (axiomatic now) while preaching power to young girls, telling unnamed “bitches” to “bow down.” Adichie’s speech, in a different tone, addressed the societal pressure on girls to marry, to compete for the attention of suitors, and to be sexual beings, not for themselves but for men. Here’s what she pulled off: the original of “ Flawless” featured an excerpt from a TED talk by writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A lot happened when she released a remix of “Flawless,” on Saturday at midnight, that features the rapper Nicki Minaj. Beyoncé is redefining the pop star and the meaning of the diva (a pointlessly gendered term, considering that male pop stars often exhibit all the traits of this type of female celebrity).
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