I was recently thinking of blogging on the subject...

2011-01-02T12:47:36.423-08:00

I was recently thinking of blogging on the subject of Beyonce's use of "it" to refer to herself but a quick Google search revealed that you had most handily beat me to it! Well done. Yours is also the only analysis I've seen so far to also refer to "Check on It" which I think does illuminate the discussion (I'm assuming they weren't co-written by the same men, but perhaps the writers for "Single Ladies" were riffing off of the earlier song in some way).

I had also been talkign with a friend on FB who just dismissed "Single Ladies" as "bad writing" because the "it" reference wasn't clear, which struck me as odd as I've always found it disturbingly clear. Actually, I wonder which song's use of "it" is worse. "Single Ladies" seems to conflate sexuality with everything else while "Check on It" is only about sexual desire, and seems to at least suggest she's pursuing her desires for their own sake rather than just to tweak an ex-lover, but the earlier song also suggests some staggeringly low criteria for partner choice ("as long as you don't grab it?" really, that's it?).

Comments on Clebilicious: Beyoncé and the Impersonal Pronoun

I was recently thinking of blogging on the subject...