Last night, JAY-Z dropped what many are calling his follow-up to Beyoncé's Lemonade, new album "4:44". While several of the songs seem to have responses to some of Bey's tracks, JAY-Z's most heartfelt track to Bey appears to be "4:44", which is part love song, part apology track for committing infidelity.
While JAY-Z hasn't said point blank the song is about Bey, the lyrics offer plenty of hints, as well as its backstory. "I woke up, literally, at 4:44 in the morning, 4:44 a.m., to write this song," the rapper told iHeartRadio. The song is also purposely just 4:44 long.
Four has long been a special number to Bey and JAY-Z; they were both born on the 4th (Bey, Sept 4; Jay, December 4) and were married on April 4. They both had "IV" tattooed on their ring fingers as a matching wedding tattoo. Blue Ivy Carter's middle name "IVy" is believed to be a homage too.
"So it became the title of the album and everything," JAY-Z continued. "It's the title track because it's such a powerful song, and I just believe one of the best songs I've ever written." The rapper co-wrote the song with Karan Keeney and No I.D. so it's possible their own experiences also influenced the lyrics.
Here, them annotated (via Genius). You can stream 4:44 here on Tidal if you have a subscription.
Intro: Kim Burrell:
Do I find it so hard
When I know in my heart
I'm letting you down everyday
Letting you down everyday
Why do I keep on running away?
Verse 1: JAY-Z:
Look, I apologize, often womanize
Perhaps a reference to the cheating rumors around the couple (and that Bey herself called out in Lemonade, particularly its track "Sorry"). Before he settled down with Beyoncé, JAY-Z called himself something of a player. "When Lisa Bonet was Beyoncé of her day, I had divas, y'all," he rapped on 4:44 track "Marcy Me".
Took for my child to be born
See through a woman's eyes
Took for these natural twins to believe in miracles
Bey just gave birth to twins, the couple's second and third children.
Took me too long for this song
I don't deserve you, I harass you out in Paris
"Please come back to Rome"
You make it home
We talked for hours when you were on tour
"Please pick up the phone, pick up the phone"
A likely reference to Bey's Lemonade song "Sorry", where she sang: "He trying to roll me up, I ain't picking up."
Said: "Don't embarrass me," instead of "Be mine"
That was my proposal for us to go steady
That was your 21st birthday, you mature faster than me
As Genius notes, a reference to how Bey and JAY-Z first started going steady at her 21st birthday party.
I wasn't ready, so I apologize
I've seen the innocence leave your eyes
I still mourn this death, I apologize for all the stillborns
Beyoncé opened up in her 2013 documentary Life Is But a Dream, sharing that she'd had a miscarriage. "About two years ago, I was pregnant for the first time, and I heard the heartbeat, which was the most beautiful music I ever heard in my life. I picked out a name. I envisioned what my child would look like, I was feeling very maternal. I flew back to New York to get my check up, and no heartbeat. Literally the week before I went to the doctor, everything was fine, but there was no heartbeat."
'Cause I wasn't present, your body wouldn't accept it
I apologize to all the woman whom I
Toyed with you emotions because I was emotionless
I apologize 'cause at your best you are love
And because I fall short of what I say I'm all about
Your eyes leave with the soul that your body once housed
And you stare blankly into space
Thinkin' of all the time you wasted in on all this basic shit
So I apologize
Chorus: Hannah Williams:
I'm never gonna treat you
Never gonna treat you like I should
Verse 2: JAY-Z:
I apologize, our love was one for the ages and I contained us
And all this ratchet shit and we more expansive
Not meant to cry and die alone in these mansions
Or sleep with our back turned
We're supposed to vacay 'til our backs burn
We're supposed to laugh 'til our hearts stops
Bey and JAY-Z are music's highest paid couple. They're also made a habit of posting their lavish vacations on social media.
And then we in a space where the dark stops
And lets love light the way
Like the men before me, I cut off my nose to spite my face
I never wanted another woman to know
Something about me that you didn't know
I promised, I cried, I couldn't hold
I suck at love, I think I need a do-over
Perhaps an acknowledgement that what Bey sang in "Don't Hurt Yourself" (presumably about him) is right. The lyrics include: "You ain't trying hard enough/You ain't loving hard enough/You don't love me deep enough/We not reaching peaks enough/Blindly in love, I fucks with you/'Til I realize I'm just too much for you/I'm just too much for you."
I will be emotionally available if I invited you over
I stew over
What if?
You over
My shit?
A likely response to Bey's closing line in "Don't Hurt Yourself: "Uh, this is your final warning/You know I give you life/If you try this shit again/You gon' lose your wife."
Chorus: Hannah Williams:
I'm never gonna treat you
Never gonna treat you like I should
Verse 3: JAY-Z:
And if my children knew, I don't even know what I would do
If they ain't look at me the same
I would prob'ly die with all the shame
"You did what with who?"
What good is a ménage à trois when you have a soulmate?
"You risked that for Blue?"
If I wasn't a superhero in your face
My heart breaks for the day I had to explain my mistakes
And the mask goes away and Santa Claus is fake
And you go online and see
For Blue's tooth, the tooth fairy didn't pay
An acknowledgement and what appears to be repentance for the infidelity Bey suggested he committed in Lemonade. Blue here is obviously Blue Ivy, the couple's daughter, who at five is likely sheltered from the rumors surrounding her parents' relationship for now.
Chorus: Hannah Williams:
I'm never gonna treat you like I should
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
