Savage (Megan Thee Stallion song)
"Savage" is a song by American rapper-songwriter Megan Thee Stallion. It was released on March 6, 2020, as part of her EP Suga and later sent to US contemporary hit radio on April 7, 2020, by 1501 Certified Entertainment and 300 Entertainment as the third single from the EP. The song was written by the artist with Bobby Sessions, Akeasha Boodie, and producer J. White Did It. It went viral on video-sharing app TikTok, with people performing the "Savage" dance challenge during the song's chorus.
A remix featuring Beyoncé was surprise-released on April 29, 2020, and included on Megan's debut album Good News ''. "Savage Remix" was met with widespread critical acclaim with praise for Megan and Beyoncé's chemistry and various delivery styles, as well as for fully transforming the song with new verses. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on May 26, 2020, becoming Megan Thee Stallion's first and Beyoncé's seventh number-one single on the chart.
The remix was critics' second-best song of 2020, with publications such as The New York Times, Slate, and The Ringer'' placing the song at number one on their year-end lists. The remix received two awards at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. It was also nominated for Record of the Year. The song and its remix were met with global success, reaching the top ten in UK and Australia, top twenty in Canada, Portugal, Denmark and New Zealand, top thirty in France, Singapore and Austria and top forty in Germany. The song is certified gold in Italy, France and Poland, platinum in Brazil, and quadruple platinum in the US.
Recording and production
According to engineer Eddie "eMIX" Hernandez, Megan did the song "on the spot", in under an hour. Hernandez explained the recording process: "The collaboration was going on at the same time. We were building as the song was forming. While he was laying down the snares and the kicks, she was writing to the skeleton of the beat. Once he had the production all ready and sent it over to me, she was ready to go. She had all her writing done. Her recording? She knocks them things out." White said that "it didn't take me more than 10, maybe 15 minutes tops" to produce the record. White described "Savage" as a "godsend", adding: "That song came out of the air man, it came out of the air from God... It was a gift. And straight away, I told her, 'This is going to be a number one record, watch.' When you know, you know."Composition
Candace McDuffie of Consequence of Sound noted, in the song, Megan "paints herself as 'the hood Mona Lisa' while celebrating her complexity."Megan employs huge bravado on the song, which, according to HipHopDXs Aaron McKrell, works to her advantage, as she "surgically pummels a formidable J. White Did It beat into submission, and still makes time for cool quips like \'I need a mop to clean the floor, it's too much drip, ooh\." Complex's Jessica McKinney said the beat is "reminiscent of nostalgic hip-hop music videos set on a Miami beach, and its chorus is expressive, which is perfect for dancing."
Critical reception
Consequence of Sound named "Savage" as one of the essential tracks off Suga. Complexs Jessica McKinney also named it a "stand-out track" from the EP. Vulture commented that the song was "joyfully conceited", and that previous single "B.I.T.C.H.' is a little lightweight as a first single when there's heat like 'Savage' on deck". Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote that Megan is "at her absolute peak" and "on top". Following its release, The Faders Salvatore Maicki named "Savage" one of the "10 songs you need in your life this week", saying Megan checks all of the boxes and "sounds fly as fuck while doing it". Vices Kristin Corry listed it as one of the best songs for the month of March 2020, asserting that "with a hook that acknowledges all parts of her identity, just like each of her EPs introduces a new persona, it's no wonder the world fell in love with it".TikTok challenge
The "Savage" dance challenge was created by TikTok user Keara Wilson, whose viral clip racked up 15.7 million views and 2.4 million likes by March 20, 2020. Wilson posted her video for five days continuously, until it started going viral; on March 16, Megan posted her own video, as well as videos of her fans and celebrities performing the challenge. The challenge involves people completing a "quick and energetic" choreographed dance."Savage" was the most-played song on TikTok for March 2020, accumulating more than 7.5 billion views for the month.
Music video
A Gracie Rothey-created lyric video premiered on April 7, 2020. It sees an animated Keara Wilson doing the TikTok dance she created, as the lyrics pass through on screen.Awards and nominations
Track listing
Digital download and streaming- "Savage" – 2:35
- "Savage Remix" – 4:02
- "Savage Remix" – 4:59
- "Savage" – 2:35
- "Savage" – 2:35
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
Beyoncé remix
On April 29, 2020, a remix featuring American singer-songwriter Beyoncé was released. It was later included on Megan Thee Stallion's debut album, Good News. All proceeds of the song benefit Bread of Life Houston's COVID-19 relief efforts, which includes providing over 14 tons of food and supplies to 500 families and 100 senior citizens in Houston weekly.Production and release
Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé, both natives of Houston, Texas, first met each other at a New Year's Eve party in 2019. Megan recalled when she first learned that Beyoncé would remix the song: "I got a call one day and they were like, 'Yeah… Beyoncé's gonna do a remix of 'Savage' I was like, 'Shut the f— up!' I didn't believe it." She explained she kept the surprise to herself, "respecting Beyoncé's method of working in silence." She explained the significance of the collaboration to herself, saying: "You grow up and you friggin' watch Destiny's Child, and you go to the rodeo to see them perform. You don't grow up and think you're gonna meet Be-yon-cé!"The remix was written and recorded remotely. Songwriter The-Dream said that Beyoncé "always knows what she wants to say", which depends on "how she's feeling at the moment about whatever's going on in the world, what's going on in the culture, musically where she's trying to go". Beyoncé would then delegate sections to different songwriters. The-Dream added: "Most of the times when you hear something, it's not about that particular thing. It's about where we're going next."
J. White Did It, the producer of the original "Savage", spoke about how he did not know about Beyoncé's remix until the day of release. White said:
"I heard about it an hour before it was about to come out. I was just as shocked as you. I didn't know. All she texted me was, like, 'I got fire for you.' I was like, 'what?' She said, 'I can't tell you.' She was like, 'I can't tell you yet, I can't tell you nothin.' That was tearing me up because I don't really like surprises. The first time we all heard the remix, we all heard it together... I sat there and heard the song and was literally like "WOW." Great song! This is really, really good. "Savage" has now arrived on the remix level, let's go! The song was already doing good by itself, but that remix… it took it to a whole new level."A snippet of the remix leaked online on the same day of its release, and was then quickly uploaded on Tidal.
Composition
Brooke Marine of W magazine noted "the remix itself is essentially an entirely new song, with the exception of the chorus which has remained the same." The remix finds Beyoncé rapping two full verses, as well as providing backing vocals. She raps in the flow established by Megan, while employing her "signature tongue-in-cheek lyricism to convey a message of female empowerment." Kiana Fitzgerald of Texas Monthly said Megan sounds "strikingly similar to the late Houston legend Big Moe, who was well known for his evocative singing."The remix starts off with Megan Thee Stallion's first verse, whereafter Beyoncé gives a "cheeky verse and masterful delivery", with, as noted by Insider's Callie Ahlgrim, "sharp, racy bars about women stripping on late-night Instagram livestreams, a phenomenon known as 'Demon Time', and a subscription service known for nude photos called OnlyFans." Beyoncé goes on to rap about her "famous posterior": "If you don't jump to put jeans on, baby, you don't feel my pain." She also alludes to the song's popularity on TikTok with the line "Hips tick-tock when I dance." Toward the end of the song, both artists take turns singing and rapping, with Beyoncé returning to "her usual heavenly vocals." Producer J. White Did It's beat is reworked on the remix to include minor instrumental changes, including an extended air horn in the background during Beyoncé's first verse, and a flattened soundscape during her second verse, which, as noted by Texas Monthlys Kiana Fitzgerald, gives "Bey ample space to work with". Fitzgerald further noted Megan's confidence, as she "sounds like her usual captivating self, but she sounds tighter and deeper in her pocket alongside Bey".
Critical reception
"Savage Remix" received critical acclaim. Jessica McKinney of Complex wrote that "there was no other moment in music this year that demanded the collective attention of popular culture when it dropped like the "Savage" remix did." Lindsay Zoladz of The New York Times described the song as "an all-out anthem" and Beyoncé's "coronating co-sign of Megan Thee Stallion — the defining artist of a year that seemed a never-ending showcase for her bravado, poise and finely calibrated fury". Zoladz continued: "Savage' is so much more than a meme, an Instagram caption, a TikTok dance: It is a joyous assertion of Black female personhood in a world that needed it as desperately as water". Tatiana Cirisano of Billboard agreed, noting that seeing "two Black female performers with the same hometown " collaborate on a song about self-love which then reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 "is a resonant celebration of Black womanhood". Mankaprr Conteh of Pitchfork wrote that on "Savage Remix", Megan and Beyoncé "owned their sex appeal, their smarts, and their success, inviting you to own yours, too", and concluded: "After Megan had been shot, mocked, and gaslit, the 'Savage Remix' evolved from a confident anthem to an assertion of her complex, endangered humanity."Critics praised how the remix fully transforms the song with new verses. Pitchfork named the remix "Best New Track", stating that "Beyoncé upgrades the original from a good song to a multi-dimensional one." Michael Cuby of Nylon described the song as a "made-for-the-history-books smash", stating that the remix is a throwback to when artists would completely reinvent their songs on remixes rather than simply adding a guest feature. Similarly, Craig Jenkins of Vulture described how Beyoncé and Megan "brought back the lost art of a killer remix", adding that "it's so rare in this era for a remix to feel like an event and not just a few new words plopped onto an existing song." Jon Caramanica for The New York Times described the track as "fantastic, far more involved and intricate than most blink-and-you'll-miss-it collaborations." Crack Magazines Sydney Gore said the song is "playful, whip-smart and, crucially, reminded us of the potency of a well-executed remix" and adding that "it felt like a member of Houston royalty was passing the torch to the next generation".
Critics also praised Megan and Beyoncé's chemistry and various delivery styles. Vulture wrote that they "fit together like a perfect puzzle: Megan sounds audacious and unflinching, while Beyoncé is effortlessly smooth", adding that they "make the song into a game of lyrical one-upwomanship, with each line they spit being more quotable or head-turning than the last." Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone noted Beyoncé's "angelic, whisper-y runs" and "untouchable" wordplay, and praised the duo's chemistry, writing: "Together, the pair are an unstoppable force of Houston bravado and empowerment that will boost your serotonin levels just enough to have hope for a world beyond this pandemic." Writing for GQ, Max Cea called the pairing "a natural fit" whose "styles complement each others': Beyoncé's breathy flutterings punctuate Megan's gusto; Megan's snappy choruses act as a sturdy platform for Beyoncé's various modes." Jael Goldfine from Paper declared the song "a perfect reminder that Beyoncé is a gifted rapper, whether taking control or backing Meg up with sexy little 'Okay-okays', and 'them jeans, them jeans'." Kiana Fitzgerald for Texas Monthly praised the remix as a track that "pairs Megan's insuppressible, ebullient energy with Beyoncé's perfectionist work ethic, and benefits their shared hometown of Houston", where "Megan, an upstart MC, and Beyoncé, a cemented veteran, came together as artists from south Houston to represent something greater: the fact that they're fully realized women, with lives that mirror those of their listeners despite the difference in their respective lifestyles."