"Feeling Myself" is a song by rapper

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...

featuring

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, ...

from Minaj's third studio album, '' The Pinkprint'' (2014). It was written by Minaj,

SZA Solána Imani Rowe (born November 8, 1989), known professionally as SZA ( ), is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her diaristic lyrics and genre explorations, she has been credited as a prominent figure in influencing contemporary R& ...

, Beyoncé, and

Hit-Boy Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr. (born May 21, 1987), known professionally as Hit-Boy, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He first signed with fellow producer Polow da Don in 2007 as in-house production staff for his l ...

and produced by the latter two. "Feeling Myself" is a

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

song backed by a West Coast

synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, driving

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

and

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Background and recording

In May 2014, Minaj's manager Gee Roberson contacted her to inform her that Beyoncé wanted a remix of " Flawless" on which she would be featured. Following this, Beyoncé sent Minaj a new version of the song she wanted and told Minaj, "I want you to be you. I don't want you to hold back." Minaj agreed to do the song with her and in return Beyoncé would be featured on ''The Pinkprint''. Singer-songwriter

was enlisted to co-write parts of the song. She was called and later went to the studio to meet and work with the song's producer, Hit-Boy. During the studio session, SZA wrote the song's lyrics whilst Beyoncé and Hit-boy produced it. According to Minaj's

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

, Aubry "Big Juice" Delaine, when Minaj first heard the beat, she was "crazy" about it. The final mixing took place around November 2014, right before the album had to be handed in. Delaine recalls, "it was crunch time. Hit-Boy, on the spot, added those hard 808 drums in the middle of the song." The song was then sent over to Beyoncé and her engineer Stuart White for her full vocals, with White ending up mixing the song. Delaine said when they sent the song back, "that's when Beyoncé put her sauce on it and all of her extra vocals. We listened to that and knew that song was out of here".

Composition

The song's beat is built over a West Coast

, driving

and

along with bells and whistles incorporated into the production. The song contains rough edges, with high winding synths and intense lyrics that revolve around both Minaj and Beyoncé "

bragging Boasting or bragging is speaking with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities. Boasting tends to be an attempt to prove one's superiority by recounting accomplishments so that others will feel adm ...

" about themselves.

Music video

On May 18, 2015, the music video premiered exclusively on music streaming service Tidal. It features the two singers in various scenes at

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

and several other locations. It also features Beyoncé in a Nebraska Husker hoodie. In June 2015, ''

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 ...

'' named "Feeling Myself" video as one of the 10 best music videos of the first half of 2015. On February 3, 2015, an audio video for the song was uploaded to Minaj's official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, which as of February 2025, has surpassed 150 million views.

Reception

''Pitchfork'' named the song "Best New Track" of the day, with Molly Beauchemin commenting that "Nicki Minaj is the only woman who can get Beyoncé to do her bidding. When a woman capable of 'stopping the world' tells you to 'carry on', there's no choice but to bring it." Additionally, ''Pitchfork'' named "Feeling Myself" the 13th best music video of 2015. Despite not being sent to radio as an official single from the album, "Feeling Myself" peaked at number 39 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, staying in the top 100 for 20 weeks. As of December 2017, the song has sold 474,261 copies in the US.

Live performances

On July 24, 2015, Nicki Minaj performed "Feeling Myself" on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

''s Summer Concert Series. Minaj also performed the song during The Pinkprint Tour. On October 20, 2015, Minaj and Beyoncé performed the song at the Tidal X1020 Charity Concert at the

Barclays Center Barclays Center ( ) is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liber ...

. Beyoncé has also performed this song on the Formation and On the Run II tours as well as her 2018 Coachella performance as a mashup with " Flawless Remix".

Charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2014 songs Nicki Minaj songs Beyoncé songs Songs written by Nicki Minaj Songs written by Beyoncé Song recordings produced by Beyoncé Song recordings produced by Hit-Boy Songs written by Hit-Boy Songs written by SZA