Beyoncé has long transcended the rules of traditional pop stardom. She no longer needs to follow the path of radio singles/music videos/interviews/promotional performances; she can release what she wants, when she wants, and still succeed. She strayed so far from the path she was on that she started teasing fans who wanted her to release music videos for Renaissanceselling tour merchandise that read “You’re the visual, baby.” For Cowboy Cartershe stated that she wanted people to “focus on voice» rather than getting distracted by the visuals. Which makes things all the more confusing since she published a visual on Tuesday to accompany the Cowboy Carter track “Bodyguard”.

It’s not a music video per se. It’s mostly a glorified photo op (she used to dance in it!), and it doesn’t even cover the entire song, stopping after the second verse. The next point of confusion is that the music video is titled “BEYWATCH”, which only serves to sow more discord over the pronunciation of its nickname (the Bay against. Bee wars continue). In it, the singer dresses like Pamela Anderson (to complement the lyric “I could be your rescuer”) and cheekily recreates the actor’s 1999 MTV VMAs red carpet look with a twist : Beyoncé’s version of the character attends the “No Visual Awards.” »

This non-music clip is ostensibly meant to celebrate Halloween — she wishes fans a “Happy Beylloween” at the end — except, as you know, we’re now several days away from the Halloween season. This is also apparently a “get out the vote” ad, given that it was released on US election day and the YouTube video’s caption is simply #VOTE, but beyond a little “Vote!” flag coming out of a toy gun, there’s nothing particularly political about it. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a bit of a whiskey advert (at one point she takes a sip of her new Sir Davis liqueur). Overall, “BEYWATCH” isn’t anything in particular, except perhaps a reminder to Grammy voters: Cowboy Carter is still in the running for the top prizes. Never mind; the Beyhive will surely be happy with whatever he gets.