“All the single ladies…all the single ladies…put your hands up!”
As I grind the nightlife scene to snap pics for stlamerican.com, I don’t have to tell anyone how many thousands of times I hear the most recent Beyonce jam. Even though her next single is already out, I figured I would go ahead and address the song as it relates to the REAL single ladies before it goes all of the way out of style.
The way she sings and the way y’all break towards the dance floor when the call-and-response intro kicks in, somebody might think that we actually enjoy being single.
I know that there are exceptions to the rule, but I’m speaking as victim when I say that the “single black female” epidemic has been a silent killer of healthy self-esteem for more than a minute.
The way Bey sings it, “All the single ladies put your hands up” is misleading in more ways than one.
For one, she makes it like it’s a badge of honor. It is not. Just about every one of those ladies who tear the club up in their renditions of the video choreography would much rather put a hand up that has a ring on it.
And when she requests the single ladies to put their hands up, she makes it sound as if you have to search for them or they have to be identified out of the crowd. Let’s face it, the single ladies ARE the crowd. She should have said, “All the ladies put your hand up, because I know you are single.” I’m just stating the facts.
Then in the chorus she states, “If you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it.” Shoulda, coulda, woulda, didn’t.
Beyonce – with her happily married self – eludes to the idea that the man sees that he missed out on a good thing because of commitment fear. But in actuality it seems like the brothers’ good thing is not having to bother with the ring. Right? I’m not stereotyping, am I?
She is not single. I am, and let me tell you: the last thing I want to do is sing about it! Cry maybe, but definitely not sing. Considering my vocal skills, you might not know the difference, but I digress.
Anyway, as I dissected each phrase from the intro to the bridge, I felt overcome to get to the bottom of why so many of us ladies are living single. (Yes, I swagger-jacked a television show title. It proves my point, doesn’t it?)
Maybe this is her way of encouraging the ladies to embrace the notion if you can’t be with the one you love, then love the one you are with – meaning you!
And just like the song, the idea sounds good and it has a great ring to it. However, do we actually apply it to our lives after the song is over? It’s a rhetorical question.
But back to the “Single Ladies.” What Beyonce taught me two things with her latest musical contribution and accompanying video. While I have no conclusion to the motives behind her song, two very important questions came to mind.
First of all, is it me or does she have mind control over 95 percent of all black women ages 14-54?
And more importantly, does anyone ever remember her singing about how great it is to be single before she got married?
