"Blow" is a song by American singer Beyoncé from her fifth studio album, Beyoncé (2013). It was written and produced by Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams; additional writers were Timbaland, J-Roc, James Fauntleroy, and Justin Timberlake. "Blow" was set to be released as one of the album's lead singles alongside "Drunk in Love", but its release was cancelled in favor of "XO". It was only released as a radio single in Italy. A remix featuring Pharrell Williams was included in the album's 2014 reissue Platinum Edition.
"Blow" is a disco-influenced R&B and funk song which has several other musical influences and elements featured in it. It received comparison to songs from the 1970s and 1980s mostly by Prince and Janet Jackson. Lyrically it talks explicitly about oral sex and cunnilingus through heavy innuendo in line with Beyoncés sexual tone. Thanks to several promotional remixes of the song, "Blow" peaked at number one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Hype Williams and released on the album on December 13, 2013. It was filmed at a roller skating rink in Houston and it features Beyoncé's sister Solange Knowles, her background dancers and her female band. The singer's style received comparisons to 1980s fashion and music videos in a similar way to the song itself. "Blow" was included on the set list of the European leg of Beyoncé's The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2014) and The Formation World Tour (2016). It was also performed during the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards as part of a medley of Beyoncé's self-titled album.
Background and production "Blow" was written by Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, James Fauntleroy, Timbaland, J-Roc and Justin Timberlake. It was produced by Beyoncé and Pharrell, with co-production by Timbaland and J-Roc. Beyoncé produced her vocals, which were recorded by Stuart White, Chris Godbey, Bart Schoudel and Andrew Coleman at Jungle City Studios and Oven Studios. White and Coleman also digitally arranged and edited the track. White handled the mixing at the Mix room in North Hollywood, California. The track was engineered by Justin Hergett with help from James Krausse, Paul Pavao and Edward Valldejuli. The track features backing vocals by Williams and Timbaland. The horns are performed by Katty Rodriguez, Adison Evans and Crystal Torres and arranged by Derek Dixie. When Beyoncé was released on December 13, 2013, Billboard reported that "Blow" would be released as a contemporary hit radio single both in the US and worldwide, and "Drunk in Love" was reported to be sent to urban radio in the US only; "XO" was reportedly scheduled to be released as the second worldwide contemporary hit radio single in 2014. However, the US release of "Blow" was cancelled, reportedly due to the song's racy lyrics, and "XO" was issued to radio in that country instead. "Blow" was eventually only serviced to Italian radio.
Composition
"Blow" is a five-minute and nine-second disco-influenced, R&B, funk, retro-soul song with an electro-funk groove and a jazz-influenced opening. Critics also found elements of "chilly" neo-disco in the groove with Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield further noting that it created an "air of melancholy". Instrumentally it is complete with a heavy bass, sparse piano chords and guitars altogether creating a blipping, marching and parping beat. Kevin Fallon from The Daily Beast described the song's production as "so bouncy it's almost coyish and flirty" and added that it was a counterbalance to the "raunchy" lyrics.
An ode to oral sex, "Blow" stands in line with the explicit theme of the album about frank female sexuality and eroticism. Lyrically, it refers to cunnilingus through heavy innuendos omitting subtlety; the lines "Can you lick my Skittles, it's the sweetest in the middle/ Pink is the flavor, solve the riddle" are sung "flirtatiously" by Beyoncé. It opens with a breathy atmosphere and Beyoncé singing the lines, "I kiss you and you lick your lips/ You like it wet and so do I/ I know you never waste a drip/ I wonder how it feels sometimes". The chorus lines are "pleaded" by the singer as stated by Fallon: "Keep me coming, keep me going, keep me humming, keep me moaning". The second half of the song contains a tempo change with a funkier beat and the singer singing verse-chorus-verse trajectories. Chris Richards of The Washington Post compared this type of songcraft with Maxwell, Erykah Badu and Frank Ocean's work. It starts with Beyoncé declaring "I'm about to get into this girls. This for all my grown women out there". During this part, Timbaland's vocals can be heard in the background as part of a call and response. It follows with Beyoncé singing the lines "I can't wait 'til I get home so you can turn that cherry out" to her man; according to Caitlin White of the website The 405, these line "exhibit deep assurance of her usual freedom". During the second part, the lines "turn that cherry out" are repeatedly sung followed by the lyrics "I'm-a let you be the boss of me". She finishes the second part by delivering, "Don't slip off when it drip off on top of you... Gimme that daddy-long stroke". The second part was further described as a "masterful recreation of mid-'80s First Avenue funk". At the end "Blow" features a French-language interlude.
The song's composition mostly drew comparisons to Prince, Janet Jackson and Timberlake. Whitney Phaneuff from the website HitFix wrote that "Blow" sounded like it was written by Prince; Writers of Spin and Variety compared it with his song "Dirty Mind" (1980) which was being used as a template for creating "Blow" and its minimalist new-wave sound with the song's parent album. The Verges Trent Wolbe noted similarities to his song "Erotic City" (1989). Joey Guerra of the Houston Chronicle described it as a "disco-fueled ode to oral sex that erupts into a Prince-inspired funk groove". Greg Kot from the Chicago Tribune compared the song's electro-funk groove with Jimmy Jam's collaboration with Janet Jackson during the 1980s while Sheffield also compared it with Jackson's album The Velvet Rope (1997). Julia Leconte of Now magazine opined that Beyoncé "manages a Janet Jackson delivery over a Michael Jackson beat" with the song. Evan Rytlewski of The A.V. Club compared the pace of "Blow" with the songs on Timberlake's albums FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006) and The 20/20 Experience (2013). Andrew Hampp and Erika Ramirez of Billboard found similarities between "Blow" and Beyoncé's previous work with Williams on the songs "Kitty Kat" and "Green Light" from her album B'Day (2006). Tom Breihan from Stereogum compared the "organic breezy joy" of the song with the one found on Solange Knowles' extended play True (2012). It also received comparisons with "Blurred Lines" (2013), Rick Jamess Cold Blooded album (1983) and its guitar riff with Mtume.
Critical reception
Writing for Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield called the song the best one on the album. Jon Dolan of the same website described it as the "hottest slinky Seventies electro-soul jammy". Idolator reviewer Mike Wass described it as a "contender for the song of ." The A.V. Clubs Evan Rytlewski thought that the song was "the last great disco song" of 2013. AllMusic's Andy Kellman chose the song as the best one on the album, writing that it is a "playfully risqué boogie loaded with instantly memorable lines". Emily Mackay of NME wrote: "[The] Most gleefully brazen of all [on the album]... is the soft-focus disco-tinged romp 'Blow'". Mesfin Fekadu of the Associated Press wrote that "the old school-flavored" song was one of the best on the whole album. Melissa Locker of Time described it as "one of the better tracks on the album". While reviewing the album Jody Rosen of Vulture hailed the song as "beatific" and added that it had potential to become a future hit. In another review he wrote that it "find[s] a sweet spot between nostalgia trip and future shock". Chris Talbott and Mesfin Fekadu of the Associated Press described "Blow" as "addictive". Digital Spys Robert Copsey wrote in his review that the "hipster funk" song was the closest one to being a single from the album and one of "the most obvious chart contenders". Under the Radar editor Ryan E.C. Hamm felt that the song "could skyrocket up the charts". USA Todays Amanda Dobbins felt that the song should have been released during the summer of 2014 as "It has that feel-good '70s sound that's very popular right now".
Andrew Hampp and Erika Ramirez of Billboard magazine praised Beyoncé's "sexy" vocals on the track which they hailed as a "slinky club banger". The Washington Post writer Chris Richards described "Blow" as a "strutting, moaning disco vamp". Sal Cinquemani, writing for Slant Magazine described it as a "post-disco slink". The Quietus writer Mof Gimmers wrote, "The cocaine soul bears down again, with the excellent 'Blow' which grooves along like Kelis on a Friday night, before gnashing its teeth into the gonzo pop of Cameo or Parliament." The Guardians Michael Cragg described it as a "delicious throwback funk" song. Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times felt that the "sumptuous" song allowed Beyoncé "to flex her impressive stylistic chops". Spins Anupa Mistry praised the collaboration of Timbaland and Pharrell on the "nimble and funky" track "Blow" as "mighty" and "genius". Similarly, Claire Lobenfeld from Complex who felt that Justin Timberlake and Timbaland "lost their ability to make their distinctive, infectious love-pop" on Timberlake's album The 20/20 Experience, noted that "Blow" proved the opposite: "The two have reinvigorated the overused private-parts-as-candy trope by writing one of Bey's friskiest songs ever. Add some Pharrell production... and you have one of the smoothest pieces of filth of the year." Ryan Dennehy from AbsolutePunk found "trademark" Timbaland production in "Blow" and opined, "Bey[oncé] wisely co-opts Timbaland himself to deliver a steamy hook that interlocks with her own vocals." Cosmopolitan writer Alex Rees deemed "Blow" an "awesome disco moment".
Carrie Battan of the website Pitchfork described the song's innuendo as "bawdy and overblown" but praised the singer for being sincere. She concluded, "Monogamy has never sounded more seductive or less retrograde as when dictated on Beyoncé's terms." Janice Llamoca of the website HipHopDX found "straight-to-the-point raunchiness" in the song. Philip Matusavage from the website musicOMH noted that the lyrics of the song sounded "more saucy than salacious". Ryan B. Patrick of Exclaim! felt that the text of the song "lays the sex kitten shtick a bit thick". He further described it as a "weird '80s Prince/Vanity 6 roller-skating throwback". Una Mullally from The Irish Times gave a mixed review for "Blow", saying that the album "falls off a little" with the song. Similarly, Stereogum Tom Breihan criticized Timbaland's vocals featured in the song. In the annual Pazz and Jop mass critics poll of the year's best in music in 2013, "Blow" was ranked at number 228.
Commercial performance