“Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” is a song by American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles, written and produced by Christopher Stewart, Terius Nash, Kuk Harrell and Knowles for her third solo album, I Am… Sasha Fierce (2008). Alongside “If I Were a Boy”, the song was released to U.S. radio stations on October 8, 2008. The song is the second consecutive top-3 single by Beyoncé, from the same album and the fifth solo Hot 100 #1 for Beyonce, which makes her the second female artist with most Hot 100 number ones this decade, tying with Rihanna.

“That song is all about: ‘I’ve been with you all this time, you’re taking too long and now I’m looking hot and you see it and you gotta suffer because you shoulda put a ring on it,’” Knowles explains in her MySpace account. “In my life, when I put on the stilettos, it’s all about being confident, sometimes overly confident, and hearing all the things that women need to hear to boost themselves and go out and to move on.”

Release and promotion

“Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”, alongside “If I Were a Boy”, was initially targeted to debut on radio stations on October 7, 2008, with aims at rhythmic formats. However, the song premiered the following day on the mainstream urban radio station Power 105.1.

The song was performed on November 9, 2008 at the 2008 World Music Awards and at Saturday Night Live on November 15, 2008; that night, Beyonce was also featured in a parody of the “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” music video, where the two female backup dancers from the video were replaced by three men, one of whom was Justin Timberlake (the other two were SNL castmembers Andy Samberg and Bobby Moynihan). On November 16, 2008 Knowles performed the song during the final episode of Total Request Live. Beyonce performed the song on November 18, 2008 at BET’s 106 & Park. She also performed “Single Ladies” during the 2008 AMA Awards on November 23, 2008. On November 25, 2008, she performed the song on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. On November 26, 2008, she performed the song in Times Square on The Today Show. Beyonce also performed the song on The Tyra Banks Show.

The music video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” was choreographed by JaQuel Knight and directed by Jake Nava, with whom Knowles had worked with on previous videos. In a black and white tone, Knowles is performing as her alter ego Sasha Fierce. It shows her in asymmetrical leotard and high-heels, with two dancers. The video is choreography-driven, with a routine emphasizing hip-and-leg shaking and heels clicking, “almost as if they’re tap dancing, to give the song some extra beats”. Towards the end of the video, Knowles flashes her wedding ring that is almost camouflaged by her cyborg arm.

Knowles premiered the music video, along side the video for “If I Were a Boy,” also directed by Nava, on MTV’s Total Request Live show. The video was released to major outlets on October 13, 2008.

Music video

Upon the video’s release, many internet bloggers noticed similarities between the choreography of “Single Ladies” and that of a June 1969 performance by Gwen Verdon on The Ed Sullivan Show entitled “Mexican Breakfast.” The latter—choreographed by Broadway legend, Bob Fosse—became an internet viral sensation when Unk’s “Walk It Out” was dubbed over the original mix. While promoting the song on BET’s 106 & Park, Knowles stated that she was inspired by the video after viewing it on YouTube and wanted to see if she could attempt it. Another video by Knowles, “Get Me Bodied”, was inspired by Fosse’s musical Sweet Charity. As of December 2, 2008, the video has been viewed 11,370,350 on YouTube.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 and slowly rose up the charts. On the Billboard issue dated November 29, the song entered the top 40 at number 28. The following week, “Single Ladies” surged up to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. With strong digital sales of 204,000, “Single Ladies” topped the Hot Digital Songs chart and caused Beyonce’s other single release, “If I Were A Boy”, to drop down to the number 2 spot on the same chart with a lower tally of 160,000 copies sold. On the issue dated December 13, 2008, “Single Ladies” topped the chart knocking off T.I.’s massive hit with Rihanna, “Live Your Life.

The single debuted as Billboard’s “Hot Shot Debut” at number 20 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. After gaining the most airplay each week, it has peaked at number one, becoming Knowles’ fifth number-one R&B single in her solo career. The song captured No. 1 on iTunes U.S. Top Songs, Top Ringtones, and Top Music Videos lists. Also, the song debuted at number 81 on the Canadian Hot 100 based on downloads alone. On the November 24, 2008, “Singles Ladies” debuted at number 15 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart.

On November 23, 2008, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at #67 on downloads alone and has so far peaked at #62.

Other Information

• A-side “If I Were a Boy”
• Released October 8, 2008 (2008-10-08) (U.S. radio)
• Format CD single, digital download
• Recorded 2007-2008
• Genre R&B, dance-pop
• Length 3:13
• Label Columbia
• Writer(s) C. Stewart, T. Nash, B. Knowles, Kuk Harrell
• Producer Tricky Stewart, The-Dream

Tags: Beyonce Knowles, hot 100, world music awards