"Countdown" is the best Beyonce video in awhile, as good as "Single Ladies" or better. It's got successfully modified modern dance, big smiles and one showstopping maternity dress. Second (first?) trimester B pulls out a Diana Ross/early-career Beyonce homage sparkle late in the clip. The ensemble feels superfluous. But you imagine her pulling the same outfit out of a her closet months and years from now, her kid and boo beside her, laughing.
Is Beyonce believable when she sings here that, for a strong woman, there is nothing more satisfying than falling gone in the brain in love and living with a partner you give your all to, because they deserve it always? What about sex critic Dan Savage who says monogamy is hard, and harder for most couples than they'd like to admit? That more (honest) fucking around, flexibility and compassion would help us stay in long haul relationships? Will the lessons Beyonce and Jay-Z learn together apply to us all?
