"Party" is a song by Beyoncé, featuring rapper André 3000. It is the fifth track on Beyoncé's fourth studio album album 4, and was released as a single on August 30, 2011. The song samples "La Di Da Di" by Doug E. Fresh and MC Ricky D.
A remix featuring J. Cole was released on October 24, 2011.
Background
"Party" was written by Kanye West, Jeff Bhasker, Beyoncé, André Benjamin, Dexter Mills, Douglas Davis and Ricky Walters. Production was handled by Beyoncé, West, and Bhasker. "Party" was the first song on which Beyoncé worked for her-then upcoming album, 4. In May 2010, Jordan Young aka DJ Swivel started working with Beyoncé at Rock The Mic Studio in New York City. They initially recorded the beginning stages of "Party" to see what kind of a working relationship might form. The song leaked online on June 7, 2011, three weeks prior to the album's release.
Composition
An R&B-mid-tempo song, "Party" heavily exhibits elements of the late 1980s funk and soul music. Lyrically, "Party" gives ode to themes such as feminism and sexual empowerment. In his rap verses, André 3000 references milk and gets philosophical about his own career.
Music video
The music video for "Party" was directed by Beyoncé and Alan Ferguson. As reported by Rap-Up, Beyoncé filmed the clip in the Oakdale Mobile Home Park in South Brunswick Township, New Jersey, on August 2, 2011. The video shoot called for multiple flashy fashions, a red muscle car, and colorfully dressed dancers. Solange Knowles, Beyoncé's younger sister, and Kelly Rowland, former Destiny's Child member, both made cameos. Rowland elaborated a bit about her role in the video in an interview with NeonLimelight: "I'm just doing a cameo. We just had a really good time [...] While filming the video, we noticed that we were doing certain stuff that we used to do as kids. We kinda felt a little goofy for a second, so we stopped. But we just had a good time."
As the video uses the remix featuring Cole, André 3000 did not appear in the video; Cole, who replaced him, shot his cameo on October 7, 2011; Beyoncé also came to the set that day to film extra scenes with Cole. A 32-second preview of the music video was shown on BET's 106 & Park on October 24, 2011. The retro-themed visuals showed Beyoncé throwing a backyard party with her friends.
Remix
"Party" was officially remixed with vocals from rapper J. Cole, replacing André 3000. The verses of André 3000 were supplanted by those from Cole; all other elements of the remix are identical to the original. Cole's rap is much shorter than André 3000's. In his verse, Cole thanks God and Ice Cube for Friday, references Sade and Petey Pablo and name-drops the Bugatti brand. Cole revealed that he was originally supposed to appear on the album version and that Beyoncé later enlisted him to appear on the remix. The remix was released worldwide for digital download on October 24, 2011.