10 Most Empowering Beyoncé Songs

6. Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY The track that informed thousands of engagements at the insistence of the zeitgeist that is Beyoncé also stands out as one of her most confrontational. By showcasing marriage as a bond rather than entrapment, both men and women alike took notice of the higher status that an engagement ring holds over couples and society at large. Moreover, the underlying message isn't necessarily to go out and get hitched cause you "like it", Beyoncé argues that women can have the same tendency for promiscuity as men, and all should be held to the same standard, good and bad deeds alike. The notion of telling your man to "put a ring on it" is not some girlish squeal of nuptial bliss in Beyoncé's world, it's an ultimatum; pick me or don't. Crafting the oft-imitated 'Single Ladies dance' moved Beyoncé out of mere music stardom and into the realm of a cultural iconoclast. Months went by as the dance moves and the lyrics became as ubiquitous as anything that came before it, getting people to move and shake in the name of matrimony. Single Ladies is the complete Beyoncé package, a mega hit for the charts while retaining a complex and easy to miss critique of the double standard - subtle yet still sassy.