Beyoncé: "1 + 1"

Beyoncé is already an icon—not just an icon, but someone with staying power, with talent, who is one by one winning over those who might have dismissed her as flash-in-the-pan girl-power R&B. I was one of those, once upon a time, when she was swinging blonde hair extensions with the unfortunately named Destiny’s Child. When they released megahit “Say My Name,” it put a chink in my armor. “Crazy in Love” did further damage. By the time Beyoncé busted out an insane medley at last year’s Grammys, ending in an oddly awesome cover of “You Oughta Know,” well, I was hooked. This girl will be burning up the charts into middle age and beyond. How can I tell this? By the way she keeps growing, but never loses her mass appeal. Perhaps this is because Beyoncé’s career has reached that peak where she no longer must give us what we want; instead, she tells us what to want.

“1 + 1” is a tune that I didn’t know I wanted. It’s a slinky-intense soul ballad inspired by Sam Cooke, Prince, and a little Etta James. Something’s really, really, right with the production on this track; it’s much more organic and relaxed than previous Beyoncé material, but it maintains the drama. Her voice wraps around the notes carefully, building in urgency on that chorus, “Make love to me / when my days look low / pull me in close / and don’t let me go.” All backed by a simple guitar and shots of synth, it’s the perfect mix of hard and soft, Sasha Fierce and the homebody Mrs. Jay-Z.

A song like this, with that kind-of-cheesy refrain, risks being embarrassing. Too sexy for public consumption, like that Boyz II Men song that used to make me uncomfortable at Junior High dances. But Beyoncé makes it fun and old-fashioned enough to work. This song will be everywhere this summer, unabashed and awesome—I want to hear it blaring from the Musik Express at the county fair. I want to hear it tumbling out of car windows in hot asphalt parking lots. I want to hear it when the sun goes down and the temperature sits still at 79 degrees. The song of the summer has arrived, people. Embrace it.