Music Review: Justin Bieber & Nicki Minaj "Beauty And A Beat"

Justin Bieber & Nicki Minaj

Beauty And A Beat

Album: Believe

Year: 2012

          Justin Bieber takes his new girlfriend out dancing in the moneyed   “Beauty And A Beat.”

          Glinting synths open the single, setting an ostentenious tone.  In the intro, Nicki Minaj promotes her record label and says who’s on the single. (“Yeah, Young Money, Nicki Minaj, Justin!”)

          His tells his driver to turn right, it’s the third house in the neighborhood.  He eyes his girlfriend, twirling the 24 karat gold bracelet he bought her for tonight, and admires her red Herve Leger bandage dress outlining her shape. They stop and driver opens the door for them. He takes her hand and they climb out of his leopard print Lambourghini.

She has a presence a majority of pop stars wish they had. He leads her to the football fied sized- pool, passing by sculptures commissioned by the  host of the party and a several tennis courts. He whispers he will buy her a house like this one day.  Someone next to her takes a picture of them. He tells her they will be what people remember in the next century. They are the elite, made immortal by their money. (“Show you off, tonight I wanna show you off /What you got, a billion could've never bought /We gonna party like it's 3012 tonight/I want to show you all the finer things in life/So just forget about the world, we're young tonight/I'm coming for ya, I'm coming for ya.”)

            In the chorus, dancing and pretty arm candy are the main concerns of his life. His center of attention, besides his material possessions, his is current girlfriend. She can slink to the beat, turning on every guy in the room. (“Cause all I need is a beauty and a beat/Who can make my life complete/It's all 'bout a you, when the music makes you move/Baby do it like you do/Cause”)

        The popping beat gurgles and spits.

         Her long, chestnut hair grazes his shoulder as she slips his arm around her waist. All the guys in the party are staring at her which makes him proud. He tells her she’s the It girl of the party once she stops to rest and to expect to see her picture online tomorrow. (“Body rock, girl, I can feel your body rock/Take a bow, you're on the hottest ticket now/We gonna party like it's 3012 tonight/I wanna show you all the finer things in life/So just forget about the world, be young tonight/I'm coming for ya, I'm coming for ya.”)

            The chorus is sung again.

           In the bridge, Nicki Minaj envisions a life of fame for herself. She’ll take him on tour with her as her opening act. To the world, they will be “just good friends.” But when the cameras aren’t around, they’ll be making out. They’ll have to be extra careful when his girlfriend Selena Gomez comes to visit. She can be tough when she wants, even getting a priest to divulge his sins. Nonetheless, the music makes her alive, stopping time. (“In time, ink lines, them bitches couldn't get on my incline/World tours, it's mine, ten little letters and a big sign/Justin Bieber, you know I'mma hit 'em with the either/Buns out, wiener, but I gotta keep a eye out for Selener/Beauty, beauty and the beast/Beauty from the east, beautiful confessions of the priest/Beast, beauty from the streets, we don't get deceased/Every time beauty on the beats.”)

          In the beat break, Bieber adlibs part of the second verse. Minaj eggs him on. (“Body rock, girl, I wanna feel your body rock (yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go, let's go.”)

             The chorus is sung again.

              The popping returns to rinse to end the single. 
         

          Bieber’s lordly vocals are thinned out, torpodoeing his efforts to be seen as cool and of the moment. The girlfriend is a status symbol, proof of his masculinity and will be quickly replaced if she harms his image.

        Minaj’s urbane rap douses herself in the glamour, having attended a few parties like this one in the past. She knows what’s expected of her. She has the obligatory shout-outs to Gomez. However, it’s as though she’s composing the Twitter war in her head already, licking her chops at the scandal. But it’s the last half of her section that she should’ve kept for one of her own songs. There’s an air of mystery to it (with the “beautiful  confessions of the priest..we don’t get deceased)”

        The gauche “Beauty And A Beat”  buys into the short-lived lifestyle of endless tabloid covers and paparazzi photographing every move (called or not), thinking it’s going to last forever.