Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé have gone and done it again. They’ve teamed up on the video for the song Feeling Myself, simultaneously snatching the edges of their devoted fans – collectively known as the Barbz and Beyhive – and inviting the usual flurry of “This is trash/Why are they showing off their bodies?” responses. It’s like that surprise Flawless remix all over again, but with the added impact of visuals revolving around both women lounging around a house in full make-up and leotards.
I didn’t want to like this video for the collaborative track, taken off Minaj’s recent album the Pinkprint. Shot in California’s Indio Valley during Coachella, it basically flaunts the worst of VIP, “you can’t sit with us” festival behaviour and lacks a concept. I’m here for the song as much as the next person, and applaud its simple reverence for feeling like hot shit and wanting to tell everyone. It isn’t the most cerebral idea, sure, but we also live in a time when T Wayne can go viral singing about a woman’s “ass sitting like a horse” and Bruno Mars can sing about retired dragons and still top the charts. Maybe I can’t always be too picky.
Even with the relatively vapid subject matter taken into account, the Feeling Myself video still comes out on top. I’m furious. How have I managed to fall for a video that feels like a cross between this generation’s Dancing in the Street and a Topshop advert? How have I been so swayed by gratuitous burger-eating and weave-swishing? Or so gripped by quick cuts of Nicki and Bey dancing in front of a car and – blink – switching outfits?
Because these women, even when obviously performing in promotional material for profit, look so ludicrously at home with one another. They’re giddy, silly and playfully beautiful. They make splashing around in a children’s paddling pool in coloured fur look more lit than whatever night you last attended and genuinely enjoyed or didn’t want to end. Like I said: I’m livid.
Beyoncé and Nicki mirror David Bowie and Mick Jagger’s childlike abandon, transferring Dancing in the Street’s lanky limb-flailing to body-rolling and water pistol-shooting. Like Bowie and Jagger, both women jokingly look as though they’re on a mission to one-up each other, peacocking for the lens’ focus and the viewer’s attention.
Yet there’s a non-competitive affinity at the centre of this infuriatingly irresistible video. It picks up where Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves left off, twisting that universal message into one that serves as more of an ego-stroke. When Bey and Nicki sing that they’re feeling themselves, they’re reminding the listener of their pop culture relevance and self-confidence. When you sing along, you’re letting the world know that now the song’s message is about you. It’s a glossy, unapologetically self-assured take on the announcement Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox belted out in 1985: we’re doing it for ourselves now, and the rest of you need to just deal with it.
Plus, it’s a relief to see two pop acts collaborate in a way that looks lively and feels genuine. Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea’s recent video for the track Pretty Girls – indeed all about how awesome it feels to have a nice face – came off like a stilted venture more likely dreamt up by major record label executives than born of a true friendship between Brit and Iggy.
Feeling Myself’s video isn’t perfect, and certainly won’t appeal to plenty of people, but is still wonderfully executed. Following on from the self-shot aesthetic of Beyoncé’s 7/11 music video, it looks like the product of a one-day shoot involving a couple of wealthy friends hanging out between shows at Coachella. You got me this time, Nicki and Bey. You really got me.
