Beyoncé slays your faves - YET AGAIN

"Run The World (Girls)" is now a gold-selling top 10 hit. In Australia. Not only that but "Best Thing I Never Had" is already top 30 on our iTunes with no airplay or promotion - a stark contrast to its position in America. I think we all know what this means. Beyoncé is the new Kat DeLuna. Only instead of ruling Belgium's airwaves, Honey B is snatching wigs from Penrith to Perth. Kelly Rowland could never!

Beyoncé - Best Thing I Never Had

Damn, Bey. You've done it again! The official second single from "4" hit the internet this afternoon and it's a triumphant return to form. I love "Run The World (Girls)" - for so many different reasons - but it's kind of hard to identify with. Unless you're a pantsula practising glamazon from the hood with a fetish for Major Lazer beats. "Best Thing I Never Had", on the other hand, strikes an immediate chord with anyone who has ever been fucked over by someone they love. It's a bitter Dear John letter set to music. Beyoncé lets her man know exactly how bad he screwed up before declaring that he was just a loser and she's better off without him. Preach!

I love the lyrics ("thank god you blew it, thank god I dodged a bullet") and her vocal oozes raw emotion. I wonder if Bey wrote it - after all she was recently named one of the 20 most successful songwriters of the new millennium! It will be interesting to see how "Best Thing I Never Had" is received. I think it's her most commercial single since "Sweet Dreams" but she has a hit-and-miss track record with ballads. Hopefully radio play it after completely ignoring the genre-defining flawlessness of "Run The World (Girls)". If all else fails she can get Miss Kelly on the remix to add a bit of star power. Listen to Bey's new single below. I can't wait for the song to hit iTunes so I can play it on repeat and feel completely miserable!

Beyoncé - 4 tracklist and 1+1 review

After a month of absolutely nothing, Bey's promo campaign went into overdrive this week. She touched Oprah in ways that made Gayle jealous on Monday night before unveiling her album tracklist and setting a new standard of excellence on American Idol on Wednesday. But more about that career-defining performance later. I have some "4" stanning to get out of the way first. These are the names of 11 of the best songs you will hear this year as well as the hottest mess of the decade:

1+1
I Care
I Miss You
Best Thing I Never Had
Party (Featuring Andre 3000)
Rather Die Young
Start Over
Love On Top
Countdown
End of Time
I Was Here
‎Run The World (Girls)

I'm happy with 12 songs. Given Beyoncé's recent track record, "4" will probably be re-released more times than "Good Girl Gone Bad" - so I'm sure we'll end up getting a bunch of extra tracks anyway. The only surprise is the Andre 3000 collaboration. Was Flo Rida busy? Whatever. I'm sure it's amazing. Speaking of which, how stunning is the diva's latest promo pic (above)? That should have been the album cover. Every other bitch in the game can only nod and say yep, she got this. Sasha Fierce is back from beyond the grave!

But while the styling still has an edge, there is something very old-fashioned about "4". Take the new song Beysus premiered this week. I heard a preview of "1+1" online before seeing her holiness belt it out on American Idol and was left scratching my head. In a good way. Much like the recently leaked "End of Time", this sounds like a throwback to old school 80s soul when music was allowed to grow on you instead of beating you over the head with a robotic hook. "1+1" is the best ballad Anita Baker never got to record. The love song Karyn White wishes she got sing after "Superman". Yes, it's that amazing! And if you think "1+1" sounds brilliant on record wait until you hear it live. Bey tore the stage up on American Idol with another flawless vocal performance that stole the show. Even better is the backstage rehearsal Jay Z posted on his blog today. Watching this is like having a front row seat to greatness. Beyoncé is now operating on a whole different level.

Run The World (Girls) - Video Review

I must have started this "Run The World (Girls)" video review at least 30 times. But every time I sit down to write it, I get the urge to watch Beyoncé's Francis Lawrence directed extravaganza one more time without having to analyse each and every frame. It goes without saying that my expectations were high. I agreed with Kanye when he called "Single Ladies" one of the best videos of all time and justifiably ruined Taylor's moment. That clip is already an important piece of modern history and I hoped lightning would strike twice. Because - to be brutally honest - another video phenomenon is about the only thing that can reverse the fortunes of "Run The World (Girls)". As it turns out, Bey doesn't quite pull it off but damn she comes close. There is so much to love about this epic clip. Brilliant photography, breathtaking choreography and a pair of fucking hyenas. It's completely demented in an America's Next Top Model meets Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome kind of way and shows why Mrs Carter is still the fiercest diva on the block even when she's pushing a single with no chorus that sounds like five songs thrown into a blender.

The opening of the clip is immaculate. I defy anyone to name a more impressive introduction. I get chills watching Beyoncé ride that horse through what appears to be a post-apocalyptic landscape like Xena if she wasn't a lesbian. The cinematography is eerily beautiful and there's a real sense of foreboding as the soldiers pile in, while warrior B stands on a burned-out car and her model friends, who prudently held on to their curling irons and couture after the apocalypse, writhe around in the desert. And then, at the 30 second mark, the queen of pop appears in that gorgeous red dress with a lion at her feet looking like something from a renaissance painting. By this point I had a semi and was about to faint from the sheer ferocity of my fave but it only got better. I live for the scene where she slowly lifts her face towards camera in that metallic headdress and her slinky walk towards the soldiers makes Rihanna's entire career instantly redundant.

And then the real magic happens. Bey starts shaking like she's having the most glamorous epileptic fit on record and breaks into the best dance routine featured in a music video since "Single Ladies". I love that Francis Lawrence keeps the camera still in a long shot so you can see that this all Beyoncé - my only gripe is the fact that you would need superhuman powers to duplicate these moves without breaking something. The influence of African tribal dance in the choreography is blindingly obvious and works brilliantly. Next are those hyenas. I just can't. It's the most fabulous thing I've ever seen! While the mirrored outfit and exploding car come a very close second. By the time the choreography returns at about 2:35 mins I thought Beyoncé had pulled a rabbit out of her House of Dereon wig and delivered another flawless masterpiece but unfortunately the final quarter of the clip is a bit of a let down.

Given the frenetic rhythm of the song and the breathtaking choreography that precedes it, the scene where Bey and her girls lie in the sand and deliver some Kylie-esque foot dancing doesn't quite cut it. The moves seem too slow for the music. Then there's the bizarre upside down sand twist. I honestly thought I was watching Kylie the first time I saw it. Beyoncé looks eerily like Ms Minogue circa "Body Language" and rolls around like she's re-making "Slow" in the desert. I actually love the scene visually but it's like they completely forgot the song. It just doesn't fit the aural mayhem that is "Run The World (Girls)". Happily, Bey pulls it together for a truly memorable finale, which again highlights the fact that she is the only big name in music that can sing and dance. The hair whipping is amazing and the choreography is nuts. Taken as a whole this is clearly the best video of 2011 and one of the best clips of the diva's entire career but a little bit of sloppiness stops it from being a flawless masterpiece. Nevertheless, your faves have been scalped and Bey is back on top. The end.

9.5/10

Beyoncé's new album cover

Stay tuned for my "Run The World (Girls)" video review later tonight. Needless to say, the clip is fucking amazing and slays all your faves but, in the meantime, here is the cover of Beyoncé's 4th studio album - appropriately titled "4". Does anyone else thinks this is very Kylie circa "Body Language"? I might pull some pics together to illustrate my point. Bey looks absolutely breathtaking and I feel that the "Run The World (Girls)" video just gave the whole project a massive shot in the arm. The excitement level for the project just rose 200%! So what do you make of this? I prefer "Dangerously In Love" but it's a tie with "Sasha Fierce" for my second favourite B cover.