What’s Beyoncé’s Finsta? She’s been too quiet on main. She’s only popped up on Instagram a few times this year, to show off her New Years fits, to honor Kobe and Gianna Bryant, to advertise her Ivy Park line, to plug Kelly Rowland’s latest single, to catch fans up on her Disney Family Singalong spot, and to introduce a new COVID-19 relief fund. But a week ago, her mom, Ms. Tina Lawson, went live and said her daughter has been cooking so much on Instagram that she deserves her own show. Today, Bey appears on the remix to Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” rapping about Onlyfans and Instagram “demon time,” major topics of conversation in the last two months of terminally online, perpetually horny social media discourse. She’s watching us. Come forward, queen!
“Savage” is a spring banger in the curious absence of a functioning spring, the obvious gem of Stallion’s Suga, an EP that almost didn’t happen. Without nightlife to boost play counts, “Savage” has been holding tight, creeping toward the top tier of the Hot 100 solely off the strength of Meg’s charisma, cocky verses, a killer chorus, and excited TikTok users’ choreography. Beyoncé ups the ante on the “classy, bougie, ratchet” mood of the original, returning to the swag rap and mogul talk she used to keep Jay-Z on his toes on the pair’s Everything Is Love album. “Savage” is a treat for fans who go up for songs like “Nice,” “Upgrade U,” and “I Been On,” periodic reminders that the leader of Destiny’s Child has been barred up since The Writing’s on the Wall at a minimum.
The remix sneaks up on you. Each verse is a little harder than the last. You think the “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” piece at the beginning is entertaining, but the second verse embodies the spirit of the hook as Bey switches from a Texas drawl to a rich, conceited snarl to say “Can’t argue with these lazy bitches, I just raised my price.” By the third, she’s sprinkling in a bit of the Atlanta crunk hit “Some Cut” while Meg salutes snap kings D4L, the Houston duo trading killer bars like a sequel to “Feeling Myself.” Verse four goes nuts in overtime as Bey fires off a stream of clever puns and sneaky double entendres: “Woodgrain we swervin’, keepin’ his mind on all of these curves / Coupe fly like a bird, cold on them like brrr.” “Stallion when I ride him like them hot girls, them hips.”
It’s so rare in this era for a remix to feel like an event and not just a few new words plopped onto an existing song. “Savage” takes what made the Suga cut great in the first place and beefs it up. Let us pray they somehow found time to make a video.