On top of that, at the videoвЂ™s conclusion revealing the true roles of BeyoncГ©В and Goines, my conflicting feelings drained out. Why should one gender automatically вЂњknow better?вЂќ What made women, half of the worldвЂ™s population, completely innocent, the better half that never cheats? What protected men from being cheated on? Teen Me realized, to her horror, that she had double standards of her own. You swore in your own lyrics that youвЂ™d be a better man! I thought. With every passing scene, though, I felt worse and worse for GoinesвЂ™ character and angrier and angrier with BeyoncГ©вЂ™s. When I first watched the video, I initially thought, Ha! Serves him right, this is how men treat women all the time. The hypothetical title of the song proves to be true: BeyoncГ©В only imagines what life would be like if she acted like вЂњa boyвЂќ as her immature husband does. The end of the video reveals that in actuality, BeyoncГ©В is the faithful wife while Goines is the cheating husband.

Her husband, played by Eddie Goines, cooks breakfast that goes uneaten, rejects advances from female coworkers, and gifts BeyoncГ©В expensive earrings which she wears to a party where she dances with her partner instead. The concept was a role reversal, in which BeyoncГ©В played a married cop who flirts with her partner while on duty, turns off her phone to hang out with her friends without including her husband, and mocks her husband when he calls her on her flirtatious behavior by making it seem as if heвЂ™s overreacting. It was also shot in black and white, but where вЂњSingle LadiesвЂќ focused strictly on costumed choreography in front of a blank background, вЂњIf I Were a BoyвЂќ was filmed as a mini-movie and created a narrative to complement the lyrics.

Jake Nava, whoвЂ™d directed the вЂњSingle LadiesвЂќ music video, helmed the video for this single as well. At that time, I believed women to be the only victims of double standards, the only victims of cheaters in relationships.вЂњIf I were a boy,вЂќ BeyoncГ©В croons, вЂњвЂ¦IвЂ™d kick it with who I wanted, and IвЂ™d never get confronted for it, вЂcause theyвЂ™d stick up for me.вЂќ Righteous fury blazed in my girl powerВ heart as I sang along. Having heard the song a number of times before seeing the video, my teen self accepted it as calling out male cheaters and jerks and whatever else. The song came out when I was in high school, and I was at a prime age to latch onto its message of the double standard between men and women. Yet double standards canвЂ™t only be viewed on the surface level, and вЂњIf I Were a BoyвЂќ tackled that, too-in its music video. While both areВ reactions to a failed relationship, one is an upbeat battle cry from a woman who rises above a jealous partner, while the other is a hurt reflection on being cheated on and how society views male cheaters (somewhere on the вЂњboys will be boysвЂќ spectrum) versus female (expected to be faithful and committed). Fans and critics alikeВ heralded itВ as a powerful performance, and it followed in the footsteps of вЂњSingle LadiesвЂќ as a feminist song.

ItВ bolstered the contrast between BeyoncГ©В as herself and as Sasha Fierce, and displayed herВ range as an artist. вЂњIf I Were a Boy,вЂќ aВ post-breakup ballad, was BeyoncГ©вЂ™s follow-up single to 2008вЂ™s вЂњSingle Ladies (Put a Ring on It),вЂќ the definitive girl power anthem of the late 00s (and, letвЂ™s face it, still one of the best).

Mp3 beyonce if i were a boy