Listen: Official new Beyonce track ‘Girls (Run the World)’

Two days after the song originally leaked and we all had to pull down our posts of that leak, we”re getting the full version of  Beyonce”s “Girls (Run the World)” legitimately this time and it”s clear she”s taking no prisoners.

For all its sassiness,  her mega-hit “SingleLadies  (Put a Ring On It),” was basically an old-fashioned look at marriage being the ultimate goal.  That Bey is gone, replaced by a fierce, trash-talking female, who isn”t looking for man”s proposal to validate her self-worth.  Even when she coos “Boy… I hope you still like me,” you know she”s going to throw that boy to the side as soon as she”s done with him.

[More after the jump…]

Musically, the Switch-produced “Girls” (with additional production by Beyonce and Shea Taylor) is more of a chant than a song and it feels like it came straight out of Bollywood by way of a very cool rat-a-tat sample of Major Lazer”s “Pon de Floor.”  (The rhythm sounds more Indian to us, but the video supposedly features 200 female African dancers). After a dozen listens or so, it”s grown on us. At first, we thought it was a throw-away track, but we”re coming around and love the percussive precision and lack of an identifiable chorus. There”s not a lot of build here; it stays at one level from start to finish, but it works. 

A track like “Girls,” written by Beyonce and The-Dream, isn”t necessarily meant to go to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (although that”s always a nice bonus). It”s used more by the label to signal a change of tone and show that Beyonce has used her time off well to grow as an artist, as well as to whet fans” appetites. Trust us, there will be much more mainstream stuff on the album.

The word is that Beyonce will drop a new album in late June, right around the same time she headlines Glastonbury.

Below the embed for the song are some footage of Beyonce on horseback for your viewing pleasure.

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