It took a while to get “Grown Woman” on streaming services. Now we understand why: The song has finally reached the proper age to endure the tough streaming environment of little-to-no revenue, allegations of payola, and the aestheticizing of made-up genres (like, what’s glitchcore indie pop?). Or, most likely, Beyoncé was saving its release as an album anniversary gift to the Beyhive. She dropped the track digitally on December 13 to commemorate the surprise release of her self-titled album a decade ago. “Grown Woman” first appeared in a Pepsi commercial in early 2013, much to the anticipation of fans, who eagerly awaited new music from the star. Its later iteration provided the soundtrack for a minute-long video following the surprise drop in December of that year. In the visuals, we see home videos of a young Beyoncé ingeniously edited to make it seem like her younger self is singing along. The grown woman version of the artist, wearing a pink feather gown and diamond-encrusted tiara, appears between the old footage. Maybe for Renaissance’s ten-year anniversary, we’ll get some visuals.
