"Beauty and a Beat" is a song by Canadian singer

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

from his third studio album ''

Believe Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...

'' (2012). It features rapper

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accents ...

, who co-wrote it with

Savan Kotecha Savan Harish Kotecha is an American songwriter and record producer from Austin, Texas. Kotecha is of Indian (Gujarati) descent. He was also the executive music producer of the 2020 film '' Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga'', for ...

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (; born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
allmusic.com known profess ...

and

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German DJ, record producer, and songwriter. Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaiserslautern, G ...

. It was also produced by the latter two with a heavy drum machine and "rushing" synthesizers. Lyrically, it speaks about Bieber wanting to take his love interest to a club, where they can "party like it's 3012". It is the only song from ''Believe'' that Bieber did not co-write. The song became the third official single from the album. Following the release of ''Believe'', "Beauty and a Beat" debuted on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at 72 due to strong digital downloads. After the release of the song's music video, it re-entered the Hot 100 at number 72 and peaked at 5. It also debuted on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record ...

at 47.

Background

"Beauty and a Beat" was originally written by Anton Zaslavski for his debut album, ''

Clarity Clarity may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Clarity, a magic spell in the online game ''EverQuest'' * Clarity, a fictional drug from the film '' Minority Report'' Music Albums * ''Clarity'' (Jimmy Eat World album) ...

''. Zaslavski, however, felt the song did not quite fit his new album's style, so he,

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (; born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
allmusic.com known profess ...

, and Onika Maraj wrote a version for Bieber's third studio album, ''

'' released in 2012. Maraj, known by her stage-name Nicki Minaj, provides guest vocals on the track. Bieber later spoke upon the collaboration with Minaj, saying: "I wanted a female rapper and I think that she is the best choice. I felt she just fit on the song perfectly." An album of remixes was released on December 11, 2012.

Composition and lyrics

Nicki Minaj - Live Femme Fatale 8 cropped

"Beauty and a Beat" is an

uptempo A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

and

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a r ...

song that lasts 3 minutes and 48 seconds. With the chord progression of F–Dm7–Am–Gsus, the song is written in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...

. The song moves at a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 128 beats per minute. The song contains elements of R&B. Sarah Deen of '' Metro'' described it as a "frantic dance track", while ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

s Jon Dolan called the song a "disco-inferno". "Beauty and a Beat" contains fast-paced drum beats and an

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthes ...

break down. Bieber's then-girlfriend

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

is referenced in the song during Minaj's rap: "Justin Bieber/You know I'm gonna hit 'em with the ether/Buns out, wiener/But I gotta keep an eye out for Selener." Reviewer Jason Lipshutz noted the rhyme between "wiener" and her given name.

Critical reception

The song was met with mixed reviews. Many contemporary critics praised Bieber's attempt to reach an audience not usually interested in his music, while others criticized its lyrics and Minaj's rap. Andy Gill of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' listed the song in his "Download" category during an album review for ''Believe''. Laura Sassano commented on the song upon its leak, saying: "The new song continues Justin's quest to grow up and be taken more seriously as an artist". Becca Longmire of Entertainmentwise felt that the song was impressive; she also compared this with Bieber's previous single "

Baby An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

Music video

The music video was released on October 12, 2012 on Bieber's YouTube channel. According to the video's storyline, in October 2012, 3 hours of personal footage was stolen from Justin. The story continues, this footage was then illegally uploaded by an anonymous blogger. It starts with a short montage of video clips, and heads into a party at a waterpark featuring dancers, and Nicki Minaj rapping beside Justin in a pool. The video ends with Justin sliding down a waterslide. Bieber wrote the video's storyline himself and co-directed the video itself with Jon Chu. All of the waterpark footage was shot on scene at

Raging Waters Raging Waters are a chain of four water theme parks in Sacramento, San Dimas, San Jose, California, and Sydney, Australia. The parks are operated by Palace Entertainment and owned by its parent company Parques Reunidos, but they each contain d ...

in San Dimas, a suburb of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. Most of the clip was recorded on a

GoPro GoPro, Inc. (marketed as GoPro and sometimes stylized as GoPRO) is an American technology company founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman. It manufactures action cameras and develops its own mobile apps and video-editing software. Founded as Woodman ...

Hero 2 by Bieber, with some footage shots on the

Olympus Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Le ...

Tough TG-1. As of May 2022, the music video had received more than 1 billion views.

Live performances

Bieber performed the song for the first time at the

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Pro ...

with Minaj. Since then, Minaj has rapped her verse on select dates of her Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour. Bieber also performed the song at the 2012 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and the 2015 Wango Tango.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release

The song was released on October 12, 2012 on the video-sharing website,

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. By May 2022, it accumulated over 1 billion views. This song is on '' Just Dance 4'' and a DLC in '' Just Dance 2014''.

Release history

References

{{authority control 2012 singles Justin Bieber songs Songs written by Nicki Minaj Nicki Minaj songs Electropop songs 2012 songs Songs written by Savan Kotecha Song recordings produced by Max Martin Songs written by Max Martin Songs written by Zedd