By Maya Dusenbery • @mayadusenbery • 9 years ago

Watch: Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” performed as a dramatic monologue

I know Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” has a disputed status as a feminist anthem. While some feminists bristled at the way the calls to “put a ring on it” seem to position monogamous marriage as the ultimate goal for single ladies, I always appreciated the way she speaks to a real frustration with one dude’s inability to commit, while defiantly claiming her right have fun with other men in the painful aftermath of a breakup. And regardless of the lyrics, it’s certainly been claimed as an empowering anthem on many a dance floor over the years.

Nina Milli’s dramatic rendition of the song for her Beyoncélogues strips it of its upbeat danceability and plays up both the pain and the defiance. Queen Bey cannot be improved upon, obviously, but I’m loving the rawness Milli brings to the lyrics.

(h/t Jezebel)

Maya DusenberyMaya Dusenbery is an Executive Director of Feministing.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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