In the vast catalogue of inspirational Beyoncé songs, “Runnin’ (Lose It All)” is the track most suited for an Olympic bid, or at least the third stage on a FIFA blow-out (IRL or XBOX). A track by British producer Naughty Boy, it features Bey and man-singer Arrow Benjamin oozing a state of uplifting self-acceptance over a proscenium of Aritizia-ready drum-n-bass. Its message of triumph through love is the kind that can penetrate through your most cynical membrane, whether you like it or not; positivity at its most infectious and, some might say, deadly.
I do not really go in for most Beyoncé ballads; the voice is gorgeous but the disposition often too sticky-sweet for me, the intent often too reductive and even manipulative. Slap on anything alluding to jungle or dnb, though, and it hardens it up a bit, balances it (save for the a cappella in the intro, which is marred by a distracting overwrought clipped echo effect). “Runnin’” is somewhere in the middle there, over the top but saved by the fact that much of it’s in Bey’s mid-range, husky and measured enough to match Benjamin’s response-melody which may be better suited to the song than Bey’s with its raspy tenor. What’s most interesting about this song is how it relegates her to a hired gun on a dance track, something de rigueur in this post-EDM world but unexpected in a post-Beyoncé one.