“7/11” by Beyoncé

song info

    “7/11” by Beyoncé (official video) is a hip hop song.

link to the static song information page for this song:
http://www.thissideofsanity.com/music/songs/7/711.php

    Summary quotation from Wikipedia:

    “7/11” is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé for the reissue of her fifth studio album Beyoncé (2013), subtitled the Platinum Edition (2014). It was released on November 25, 2014 by Columbia Records as the lead single from the reissue and the sixth single overall. It was written by Beyoncé and Detail; the latter collaborated with Bobby Johnson during the production process. “7/11” is a hip hop song with trap elements present in its composition. It features rap-singing vocals by Beyoncé over a warped up-tempo beat.

    Upon its release, “7/11” received mostly positive reviews by music critics who praised its club-ready and frenetic sound. Its accompanying music video was premiered through YouTube on November 21, 2014. It features Beyoncé dancing at various locations and was filmed by the singer herself using a static camera. The visual was praised for its personal, relaxed and fun nature and critics deemed it a departure from Beyoncé’s other high-budget videos on the visual album.

Background

    On November 4, 2014 it was announced through a press release by Parkwood Entertainment that Beyoncé would release a platinum edition of her self-titled fifth studio album on November 24, 2014 containing a disc on the album titled Beyoncé: More which would include two new songs titled “7/11” and “Ring Off”. On November 19, 2014, 30-second snippets of the two songs appeared online along with reports that “7/11” would impact radio stations on November 25. The following day, the full versions of both songs surfaced on the Internet. “7/11” was sent to urban contemporary radio stations in the United States on November 25, 2014 and contemporary hit radio in Italy on November 28, 2014. On December 8, 2014, the single was also sent to contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom.

    “7/11” was written by Beyoncé and Detail, while the production was handled by the latter along with Bobby Johnson. Beyoncé further served as the song’s vocal producer, while the co-production was finished by Detail and Sidney Swift. It was recorded with guidance by Stuart White at two studios — Record Plant in Los Angeles and Le Royal Monceau in Paris. Ramon Rivas and Jon Schacter served as the assistants of the track’s audio engineering while Tony Maserati and Stuart White were responsible for its mixing. The mastering was finished by Dave Kutch at The Mastering Palace in New York City.

Composition

    “7/11” is an up-tempo hip hop track complete with Auto-Tune. Its production consists of trap, and R&B elements accompanied by a “rattling” bassline. Caitlin White from MTV News noted that it was “all beats and bragging” with Beyoncé’s vocals seldomly transfering into her singing voice. Gerrick D. Kennedy from the Los Angeles Times likened the singer’s rap-singing in a warbly double-time cadence to her early work with the girl group Destiny’s Child. “7/11” was also noted for containing Southern rap “swagger”. Her vocal performance was further noted for being filled with “intensity” and Nicki Minaj-esque wails while singing the staccato rap verses. Allison Piwowarski opined that the actual meaning of the song’s title has to do with the drinking game “Sevens, Elevens, and Doubles” as the singer hints it in the line “Man it feel like rolling dice / seven eleven.”

    Beyoncé raps commanding and demanding lines throughout accompanied by a “warped” beat, shouting the lyrics: “Smack that, clap that…like you don’t care! [sic]”. The singer goes on repetitively describing her dance moves with the lyrics “I put up my hands up, spinning while my hands up… Let’s move it side to side, smack in the air.” She uses braggadocio while boasting about “flexin’ with my hands up”. The last 60 seconds feature a slower tempo as compared to the rest of the song along with an “atmospheric” outro.

Critical reception

    Erika Ramirez of Billboard magazine imagined that “7/11” would “spark a dance craze”. Colin Stutz from the same publication described it as a “swaggering number”. Writing for Fuse, Jeff Benjamin concluded that it was apparent from the song’s “hard-hitting, trappy production” that Beyoncé “hasn’t lost her edge in between recording sessions”. Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone deemed the song as a “rapid-fire banger” and “frentic”. Joey Guerra of the Houston Chronicle described it as an “irresistible club panger” which “is going to pack dance floors and inspire plenty of moves”. Upon hearing a 30-second snippet of “7/11”, Nate Jones from the website Vulture concluded that it was “harder than anything on the original album” with Beyoncé bragging and showing various “assorted signs of self-confidence”. Spin’s Brennan Carley commented that the song was “warbly rapped” and less interesting than “Ring Off”. Caitlin White in her review for MTV News spotted that “7/11” headed further than the direction the singer aimed in songs like “Drunk in Love”, “Partition”, and “Flawless”. She further added that considering its writers and producers, “[It is] [n]o wonder the track is a veering, experimental club anthem more reminiscent of the initial version of ‘Flawless’—‘Bow Down / I Been On.’”

    Justin Davis of Complex magazine positively reviewed the “catchy” song with an “easily repeatable” chorus as a worthy addition to the album’s original tracklist, further adding that it “is sure to be a staple in the clubs”. Patrick Ryan of USA Today found an “instantly recognizable refrain” present in the song. Robin Murray in a review for Clash magazine found an “impeccable” pop production in the song and described it as Beyoncé at her best. Consequence of Sound’s Michelle Geslani described it as “quite the banger”, concluding, “If you thought the self-titled LP flaunted unflinching assertiveness, consider this track Beyoncé taken to the next level.” Exclaim! editor Josiah Hughes deemed it a “certified banger” filled with heavy trap drums and half-rapped vocals. Gerrick D. Kennedy of the Los Angeles Times described the track as “nonsensical fun for the club or treadmill”. Kate Hutchinson of The Guardian called “7/11” a “tropi-bomb”.

    A mixed review came from Bianca Gracie from the website Idolator who criticized it as a “try-hard, club-ready tune” and a leftover of Rihanna’s recording session for her album Unapologetic (2012). Gracie further criticized the fact that Beyoncé’s vocals were “embarrassingly run through an autotune machine”. The Michigan Daily’s Christian Kennedy wrote that the track wouldn’t have been suitable for the album’s original tracklisting. He noted that the song was “choppy and in large part does not make much sense” which according to him would trigger many to deem it “a musical mess”. Katie Hasty from the website HitFix criticized “7/11” as a “club throwaway [which] isn’t likely to move you, even physically”; she went on to compare it with Mad Libs for people who get bottle service.

Chart performance

    In the United States, the single debuted at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs following its first week of availability as a digital download from the Platinum Edition reissue, having sold 85,000 copies that week. The debut position on the latter chart marked the second highest entrance for the singer on the chart after “Drunk in Love” which premiered at number 12. In the United States, 7/11 debuted at number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs chart, becoming her first number one on the chart. In the United Kingdom, it debuted at numbers 36 and 2 on the UK Singles Chart and the UK R&B Chart respectively on December 6, 2014. The single debuted at number 11 on the French Singles Chart on December 6, 2014. “7/11” made its debut in Australia at number 59 on the country’s ARIA Singles Chart for the chart issue dated December 1, 2014 and peaked at number 41 a week later.

Music video

    On November 21, 2014, a music video for the song was released on Beyoncé’s official YouTube account. The clip was shot in the style of a home-made visual with the singer dancing at various locations: patio, balcony, hotel suite, a bathroom and in front of a Christmas tree. It starts with Beyoncé dancing on a balcony dressed with a sweatshirt with the word “Kale” and knee pads; from there it proceeds to a hotel suite. Beyoncé is joined by five female dancers to perform a choreography. Other scenes show her rolling dices on her dancer’s buttock and blowing her hair with a dryer. She is also seen getting out of a present box in front of a Christmas tree and dialing a phone number on her foot. The clip finishes with Beyoncé blowing a New Year whistle while wearing glasses shaped in the form of the number 2015. Throughout the whole video, the singer is seen passing through quick cuts and wardrobe changes. The scenes shot at the balcony were filmed using a fisheye camera. Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter and her husband Jay-Z also make cameo appearances.

Reception

    Jeff Benjamin of Fuse found the singer looking “adorably cute” in it. Colin Stutz of Billboard deemed the clip “awesome” and felt that the singer had “hilariously fun time” in it. Pitchfork Media writer Molly Beauchemin commented that the video gets more interesting from the beginning. Stereogum journalist James Rettig also felt that the “really effective” low-key video “gets progressively crazier”. and A writer from Rap-Up summarized the visual as “fun and playful” and full with surprises. Patrick Ryan writing for USA Today likened the song’s music video to “Flawless” in terms of the similar potential to become a “viral sensation” due to its club dancing moves “that have since ignited Tumblr with GIFs”. Spin’s Andrew Unterberger felt that the “slight and formless” song lacked hooks by Beyoncé’s standards; however he noted how its fun and fast-paced video could be enough to keep it as an essential part of the singer’s discography and predicted it would end up “be[ing] a thing”. Frances Perraudin felt that the video looked as if it was shot with an iPhone which, according to him rendered it a “music video the selfie generation”. The video was included on Pitchfork’s list of The 20 Best Music Videos of 2014 with Molly Beauchemin writing that “Beyoncé brings together a host of modern obsessions: GoPros, twerking, kale. Even though the clip is edited to a T, it gives us a glimpse into Bey’s life offstage: a hopeless perfectionist goofing off at her leisure.”

    Lindsay Zoladz from Vulture similarly felt that the track seemed like “a bit of a throwaway” until the release of its clip. She emphasized how its video was in line with the overall aim of the album Beyoncé to disassemble the idea of the singer being a perfectionist, but somehow assert she is “a little bit fresher than you”. Zoladz concluded her review by summarizing the clip as “aspirational chilling, carefully curated fun, a GoPro feminist utopia… a glorious ode to goofing off with your ladies”. Sharan Shetty of Slate viewed the clip as “unusually candid” and “delightfully low-concept” further noticing how despite the acrobatic moves and synchronized twerking, the singer also “injects some dorkiness into her ‘woke up like this’ image”. He described it as the singer’s routine on a Friday night and further praised Jay-Z and Blue Ivy’s appearances. Justin Block of Complex praised the fact that most of the dance moves were not coordinated enough, further praising Beyoncé for using an “ubiquitous ‘selfie-stick’ to bring more private moments of her life into the fold”. Joey Guerra from the Houston Chronicle felt that the video was not “groundbreaking in any level” but noted it was intentionally not supposed to be. On the other hand, The Michigan Daily writer Christian Kennedy called it revolutionary with “no fear of hyperbole” and went on to describe it as the “most real video she has ever released”.

    Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone who felt that unlike the rest of the music videos found on the visual album Beyoncé which seemed like Hollywood production, the clip for “7/11” was “refreshing” and “successfully operate[d] on a low budget”. Kreps finished his review calling the “well-shot, spryly edited” video one of the more personal in the singer’s career. Caitlin White of MTV News somehow echoed his opinion writing that the intimate clip showed a new side of the singer and contrasted its “carefree, casual vibes” with the rest of the album’s choreographed videos. Dose editor Barbara Pavone deemed the personal video “a breath of fresh air” when compared to Beyoncé’s other high budget videos and went on to praise her humor, wardrobe and look. Emily Blake writing on beahlf of Entertainment Weekly pointed out that “7/11” was not “glossy” as the rest of Beyoncé but was “just as fun to watch” by being “playful and casual”. She futher commented how it looked as if it was filmed in a single afternoon. Idolator’s Mike Wass called “7/11” a “mockery” of the singer’s big budget videos and went on to highlight the “insane” dance moves throughout.

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