About “Partition”

Track number six from Beyonce’s surprise self titled album. On the album, “Partition”, like “Haunted”, has two parts to it – “Yoncé” and “Partition”. The former of the two features the birth of a new alter-ego – Yoncé – and has Bey half-rapping through clever verses about asserting her sexuality in the club. The second part – “Partition” – tells of, quite frankly, sex with her man in the back seat of the car, slinking suggestively through a simple drum beat, finger snaps, and occasionally pulsing synthesizers.

As part of her mini-documentary about the making of Beyoncé, this is what she had to say about “Partition”:

It takes me back to being in my car as a teenager. It takes me back to when me and my husband first meet, and he tries to scoop me and he thinks I’m the hottest thing in the world. I kinda had this whole fantasy of being in the car, and this whole movie played in my head. I didn’t have a pen and paper. I got to the mic, I’m like, ‘Oh, press Record.’

The videos for “Yoncé” and “Partition” are separate despite the two being released as one track in the album. Directed by Ricky Saiz, Yoncé’s video features models Chanel Iman, Jourdan Dunn and Joan Smalls. The video largely takes place in a dirty Brooklyn alley, and is clear in its spontaneity. Very street, gritty and somewhat provocative, it is certainly one of the most laid-back works on the visual album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcF5HtGvX5I

“Partition”, on the other hand, is very well-thought out. The video is irected by Jake Nava, who is responsible for not only “***Flawless” and “Grown Woman” on Beyoncé but also many of Bey’s most iconic videos, including “Single Ladies”. Taking place at the Parisian strip club Crazy Horse, it is certainly one of the most sexual videos Beyoncé has ever done.

I was 195 pounds when I gave birth… I worked crazily to get my body back. I wanted to show my body. I wanted to show that you can have a child and you can work hard and you can get your body back. I know that there’s so many women that feel the same thing after they give birth. You can have your child and you can still have fun and still be sexy and still have dreams and still live for yourself. I’m not embarrassed about it, and I don’t feel like I have to protect that side of me because I do believe that sexuality is a power we all have.

-Bey commenting on the relevance of the “Partition” video