"Apeshit" (stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is a song by American musical duo

The Carters The Carters are an American musical superduo consisting of singer Beyoncé and rapper Jay-Z, who have been married since 2008. Outside of the Carters, the couple has also frequently collaborated in recordings and songwriting. Their first album ...

, composed of

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

and

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

. The song was written by the duo,

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

, and

Quavo Quavious Keyate Marshall (born April 2, 1991), better known by his stage name Quavo (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the now-defunct hip hop group Migos. Formed with his nep ...

& Offset from the hip hop trio

Migos Migos () were an American hip hop group founded in Lawrenceville, Georgia, in 2008. The group was composed of rapper Quavo, his nephew Takeoff, and their "cousin" friend Offset. Quavo is from Athens, Georgia, while Offset and Takeoff were bo ...

, with the former three producing the song alongside Stuart White and the latter two providing ad-libs on the song. The song was released on June 16, 2018, as the only single from the duo's collaborative studio album '' Everything Is Love'', along with a music video filmed at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The video received eight nominations at the

2018 MTV Video Music Awards The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards were held on Monday night, August 20, 2018 at 9:00–11:43pm EDT at Radio City Music Hall in Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City. The 35th annual award show aired live from the venue for the 12th time, t ...

, including for Video of the Year, and a nomination for Best Music Video at the

61st Grammy Awards The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys hosted. During her opening monologue, Keys brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, an ...

Critical reception

Otis Hart of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

dubbed the song one of the catchiest to be released in 2018, adding that it "lives up to the grandeur on first listen". Kory Grow writing for the ''

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. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' described the beat as "hard-hitting".

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his career at ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He subsequently worked as a freelancer and published a number of books on music and popular culture. Reynold ...

cited "Apeshit" as an example for the continuing "triumph" of

Auto-Tune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and Pitch correction, correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles ...

in contemporary music, with Beyoncé "jump ngon the trap bandwagon na transparent attempt to compete on urban radio by adopting the prevailing template of commercial-yet-street rap". In December 2018, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' ranked "Apeshit" as the 27th best song of the year. For ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', it was the 85th, while ''Rolling Stone'' named the song as the 24th best one of 2018, writing: "Rumors swirled for years that one day the biggest music power couple of all time would release a collaborative album together. ..The video was as over-the-top and luxurious as one would hope, taking over the Louvre and filling it with a sea of black and brown dancers and models amongst the world’s most iconic art pieces." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' listed "Apeshit" at number 21 on their year end ranking, while '' Q'' at number 19, and ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' at number 14.

Impact

The

said there was a more than 50% increase in under-30 visitors in 2018 thanks to the video shot by the couple in the museum, marking a record number of visitors with over 10 million. The museum has created a guided tour centered around the works of art seen in the "Apeshit" video.

Awards and nominations

Music video

The music video for the song was directed by Ricky Saiz, produced by Iconoclast, and filmed in the Louvre in Paris and

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in May 2018. The video premiered on the second night of the London show during their

On the Run II Tour The On the Run II Tour (stylized as OTR II) was the second co-headlining concert tour by American singer-songwriter Beyoncé and rapper Jay-Z, also known as The Carters. The all-stadium concert tour began on June 6, 2018, in Cardiff, Wales and co ...

at the

London Stadium London Stadium (formerly and also known as the Olympic Stadium and the Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford, London, Stratford district of London. It is loc ...

. The clip lasts for six minutes. It opens with a man who has wings, seen crouching as bells and sirens are prominent in the background, and features visual

imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as. Imagery in literature can also be instrumental in conveying ...

suggesting comparisons and linkages between wealth, status, and royalty in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-era artwork and the eventual evolution of these characteristics into the Carters. The visual narrative moves on to reveal the empty halls at the Louvre and the pair posing in front of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

's masterpiece the ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, ...

''. Once the song starts playing, the scene cuts to the duo poised atop a marble staircase while dancers lay across the descending steps contracting and releasing their torsos to the rhythmic flow of the song. Statues and paintings such as ''

Winged Victory of Samothrace The ''Winged Victory of Samothrace'', or the ''Niké of Samothrace'', is a Votive offering, votive monument originally discovered on the island of Samothrace in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It is a masterpiece of Greek sculpture from the Helleni ...

'', ''

Venus de Milo The ''Venus de Milo'' or ''Aphrodite of Melos'' is an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek marble sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic art, Hellenistic period. Its exact dating is uncertain, but the modern consensus places it in the 2nd ...

,'' and '' The Coronation of Napoleon'' are featured throughout the video as the duo lip-sync the lyrics to the track. The cost of the music video is unconfirmed, but details regarding renting out the Louvre for private events can be found on their website. Otis Hart of NPR called the video "extravagantly produced six minutes, filled with high art, pastel suits and turnt up museum parties". Kory Grow writing for ''

'' deemed the clip "stunning" and noticed how the duo looked "serene" in it resembling "works of arts themselves". Later in the year, ''Rolling Stone'' declared the video the best one of 2018, and would later name it the 29th greatest music video of all time.

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

named "Apeshit" the 17th greatest music video of all time. The music video received 8 nominations at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, in categories Video of the Year, Best Collaboration, Best Hip-Hop Video, Best Cinematography, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Choreography and Best Editing, winning Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. The music video was nominated for Best Music Video at the

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. * Pharrell Williams – production * Beyoncé – co-production * Jay-Z – co-production * Stuart White – additional production, mixing, recording * Offset – additional vocals * Quavo – additional vocals *

Young Guru Gimel Androus Keaton (born February 27, 1974), professionally better known by his pseudonym Young Guru, is an American audio engineer, record producer, disc jockey, and record executive from Wilmington, Delaware. In 2019, Young Guru won a Grammy ...

– recording * Mike Larson – recording * DJ Durel – recording * Dan Ewins – mix engineering assistance * Adrien Crapanzano – engineering assistance * Colin Leonard – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2018 songs 2018 debut singles Roc Nation singles Song recordings produced by Beyoncé Song recordings produced by Pharrell Williams Songs written by Beyoncé Songs written by Jay-Z Songs written by Offset (rapper) Songs written by Pharrell Williams Songs written by Quavo Trap music songs The Carters songs