(Yes, again. You have a problem?)
(Word to contributors: I think Blogger’s great, as long as you dont mess with the window size and if you remember to CTRL-C a post before you publish it.)
What I noticed this morning: the very end of the song, where the beat falls away and Beyonce moves for a few seconds into an exhausted chorus chant punctuated by back-up commands of “Work! Work!”. It’s the only part of the song which offers any kind of – even a suggestion of – counterpoint to the positivity/strength stuff in the rest of it. You don’t for a second believe the girl will fail, but it’s an acknowledgement that it’s a hard slog. And the rhythm reminds you that she could be singing about her bandmates or her man but she could just as well be singing about aerobics, too.