By Sterling Wong
Girls may run the world, but on the pop charts these days, Beyonc? isn't exactly running things. The diva has cemented her position as arguably the world's top female pop star, so expectations have been high for the first song off her much-anticipated fourth album, 4. But so far, her new single, "Run the World (Girls)," hasn't had an overwhelming reception, at least not by Beyonc?'s meteoric standards. And last week, it was announced that the video's official release was being delayed because the singer is "perfecting it."
The song was released to iTunes nearly a month ago and it hit the top 10 for a day, before descending again. It's currently languishing at #157 on the iTunes top 200. Compare this to peers Lady Gaga and Britney whose recently released first singles, "Born This Way" and "Hold It Against Me," both shot to #1 just hours after being released to iTunes and maintained those positions for several days.
In fact, the chart performance of "Run the World (Girls)" is looking similar to that of Christina Aguilera's "Not Myself Tonight," which also fizzled upon its debut last year. (Both "Run The World" and "Not Myself Tonight" sold 77,000 downloads in their first week of digital release, maybe not the most flattering parallel.)
But this isn't the first time Beyonc? has had a first single underperform ? and that's actually good news. The lead single off B'Day, "D?j? Vu," peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it didn't rule the charts for long. Follow-up "Ring the Alarm," from the same album, became her first solo single to miss the top 10 on the Hot 100. But then she released "Irreplaceable" in 2007 as the third single and that, of course, became a massive global hit, revitalizing 'B'Day and confirming B's status as pop royalty.
Similarly, for I Am ... Sasha Fierce, one of her two lead singles, "If I Were A Boy," was chugging along steadily, doing well but far from reaching the heights of "Crazy In Love" or "Irreplaceable." And then "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," which was originally supposed to be an Urban Radio-only single, took off everywhere, thanks to that iconic video. Everyone loved themselves some Sasha Fierce, it turned out.
In fact, the eventual release of the "Run the World (Girls)" video might be just the boost the song needs. Just like the amazing "Single Ladies" video turned the song into a cultural phenomenon, a great video for "Run the World (Girls)" could change everything. And with acclaimed director Francis Lawrence making his music-video comeback for her, don't bet against Beyonc?. (The last video Lawrence directed was Gaga's "Bad Romance.")
There's also the fact that Beyonc?'s so charismatic and, well, fierce onstage. I'm sure a couple of performances of "Run the World (Girls)" will help get everyone onboard for the song. Also, it's refreshing that Beyonc? chose to release the experimental and edgy-sounding "Run the World (Girls)" as her first single (she's done it before with the un-radio-friendly "Ring the Alarm"). She's at the very top of her game right now, so why not take some artistic risks? I have absolutely no doubt that she has some mega-hit ready to go. Consider this a slight delay to what is surely Beyonc?'s inevitable return to world domination!
Source: http://newsroom.mtv.com/2011/05/16/beyonces-plans-to-run-the-world-delayed-but-not-derailed/
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