All the Single Ladies is one weird song. It has to have the weirdest dance break I have heard in a long time. I mean, weird. The dance break, aka, the bridge, is usually that transitional moment in a song where you, the listener, are swept up and transported to another key, or even meter: your limbic system is commandeered, synaesthesia is induced (this music is hot, what a sweet riff, etc), and off you go into the sublime. Well, if they are a great performer that is. If they are not, you likely will yawn and think, "oh yeah, here comes the big chord change, still didn't save it," or if it's poppy RB, "this bridge is better than the rest of the song, but it still ain't happening." That transition becomes predictable, hackneyed, embarrassing. When it's good, like, Whitney Houston back in the day good, you get chicken skin on your arms, you burst into tears without knowing why, you loose your breath, you wanna spin around in a circle holding your heart.
Well, Beyoncé did not achieve that at all with this song, but she managed something else:
What is it with the diapered set that this song moves them so? I would like to go back to that awkward bridge and rethink it for what it is: the song kernel. Yes, maybe the song marshals such strong, quick and easy infatuations from babies because it is all dance break with a wee bit of verse. All up in the limbic system, this vapid call and response ditty simply drives impulse through repetition, never allowing synaesthesia to occur. Rather, it seems to me, that it allows practice to occur. DO it over and over and over; it is literally pre-mastered. If I were a toddler trying to get my walk on, I would feel mighty good grooving the biped-way after one chorus. What do think? What's Beyoncé's special sauce?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mVEGfH4s5g
(embedding disabled)
(as I am reviewing the video, my 4 year old is right now, mastering the choreo as she sees it for the first time. not kidding. she completely stopped moving at that "bridge")
