Beyoncé Says She Put Out ‘Bow Down’ For Her Haters

Yes, Beyoncé cares about her haters. Or at least for one day she did.

Earlier this year, she became the topic of many conversations after she told “b-tches” to “bow down” on the track “Bow Down/I Been On.” The song’s release even sparked debates on whether or not Beyoncé had given up on her female empowerment movement. Ironically, the song was later reworked into a feminist track titled “Flawless,” which is included on her new CD.

Recently, during a sit-down with Itunes, Bey explained that she put “Bow Down” out because she felt the need to defend herself at the time:

            The reason I put out ‘Bow Down’ is because I woke up, I went into the studio, I had a chant in my head. It was aggressive. It was angry. It wasn’t the Beyoncé that wakes up every morning. It was the Beyoncé that was angry. It was the Beyoncé that felt the need to defend herself, and if the song never comes out…Okay! I said it. I listened to it after I finished, and I said ‘This is hot! I’ma put it out. I’m not going to sell it. I’m just going to put it out. If people like it, great. If they don’t, they don’t.’ And I won’t do it every day because that’s not who I am. But I feel strong. And anyone that says, ‘Oh that is disrespectful.’ Just imagine the person that hates you. Imagine a person that doesn’t believe in you. And look in the mirror and say ‘Bow down b–h’ and I guarantee you will feel gangsta! So listen to the song in that point of view again if you didn’t like it before. *laughs*

Bey also gave a track-by-track rundown of the inspiration behind each song. Catch a few below:

Pretty Hurts
It’s really difficult to find a song with such a strong message that doesn’t feel preachy. Sia is such a genius. The second I heard the song I’m like, ‘I have to sing this song. I don’t care how hard I have to fight for this song. This is my song.’ I immediately saw the vision and I thought about pageants and I thought about the most humiliating, judgmental place you could be as a woman. I feel like sometimes the world is a big contest. We’re all being judged. I wanted to capture how humiliating and how insecure that makes you feel. Melina was able to capture that emotion and capture the extremes that we feel that we have to go through to please the people that judge us. I knew from the moment I heard the song that she was the person that I wanted to bring the visual to life.
Drunk in Love
‘Drunk In Love’ is a song I did with my husband Jay and we worked with Hype Williams for the video. We shot in Miami last summer. The shoot was extremely effortless and spontaneous. We completely captured the energy of the song.

Blow
I shot [the video] in Houston, Texas and I grew up in FunPlex, which is a skating rink that we went back to. It was so strange because one of my first dates with my first boyfriend was at FunPlex, and now I got the whole FunPlex that I rented out. I thought I was ballin’. *laughs* I’m like, man, this FunPlex is just for me. But it was beautiful to be back there and to shoot with Hype Williams. I was really happy to work with him again because growing up he created the music video for hip hop artists and R&B artists. He was the visionary for that. For him to bring out the art direction and the ‘hood and the sex appeal and all the things that he brings to the music industry and kind of pay homage to everything brilliantly that he’s done was exciting for me.
Yonce
I love it because it’s really organic and the drum beat was actually done in the studio by Justin Timberlake. He just started beating on these buckets and The-Dream started coming up with this little chant. ‘Yonce all his mouth like liquor liquor…’ and it’s so exciting when something naturally happens that way.

Partition
‘Partition,’ which is a song that didn’t need a pen and paper, it just kind of flew out of my mouth and it’s one of my favorites.
Rocket
‘Rocket’ is one of the most sensual songs. It reminds me of the vibe I got when I first heard D’Angelo’s ‘Untitled.’