"Green Light" is a song recorded by American singer

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

. The song was written by Beyoncé,

Sean Garrett Garrett Robin Hamler, known professionally as Sean Garrett, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is responsible for a series of chart-topping compositions, most notably Usher's " Yeah!" which ranks second on the ''Billboa ...

, and Pharrell for Beyoncé's second solo studio album, '' B'Day'' (2006). Produced by

the Neptunes The Neptunes are an American songwriting and production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provides additional vocals on records and appears in the duo's music videos, ...

, it was released as the fourth UK and sixth overall single on July 27, 2007 through

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. "Green Light" is an R&B-

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

song with lyrics detailing a break-up song in which the female protagonist gives her

love interest ''Gli Innamorati'' (, meaning "The Lovers") were stock characters within the theatre style known as commedia dell'arte, who appeared in 16th century Italy. In the plays, everything revolved around the Lovers in some regard. These dramatic and pos ...

the permission to move out. The song also finds Beyoncé using fairly aggressive tone. A remix of the song features American rapper

Young Buck David Darnell Brown (born March 15, 1981), best known by his stage name Young Buck, is an American rapper. He heads his own record label, Cashville, and was a member of the former hip hop group G-Unit. Early life Brown was born in Nashville, Te ...

, and was produced by Swizz Beatz. "Green Light" was well received by music critics who universally praised the beat, bass, groove, and angry tone used by Beyoncé in the song. The single performed moderately on charts, peaking at number twelve on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and at number 46 in Ireland. The

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

remix of the track peaked at number eighteen on the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 ( nl, Nederlandse Top 40) is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica ...

chart. The single's accompanying music video was directed by

Melina Matsoukas Melina Matsoukas (born January 14, 1981) is an American music video, film, commercial and television director. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner and four-time MTV Video Music Awards winner for her "We Found Love" and "Formation" music video ...

and co-directed by Beyoncé. It is inspired by Robert Palmer's 1985 music video " Addicted to Love". Beyoncé considered the video, which is her second to feature her all-female tour band called the Suga Mama, her toughest shoot. The song was a part of the set list on her world tour the Beyoncé Experience (2007).

Background and release

After filming '' Dreamgirls'' in which Beyoncé landed a major role, she went on a month-long vacation. On the break she went to the studio to start working on her second solo album, '' B'Day''. She was inspired by her role and she "had so many things bottled up, so many emotions, so many ideas". Beyoncé contacted American singer-songwriter

, who had worked with her in

Destiny's Child Destiny's Child was an American girl group whose final line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme, formed in 1990 in Houston, Texas. After years of limited ...

and on her 2006 single "

Check on It "Check on It" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé. It was written by her, Swizz Beatz, Sean Garrett, Angela Beyincé and Slim Thug, and produced by Swizz Beatz. Initially recorded solely by Beyoncé, the song was supposed to be featu ...

". Together with Pharrell, who had also previously collaborated with Beyoncé, Garrett was booked to Sony Music Studios in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, each had studio to work in. The track was co-produced by Beyoncé and

The Neptunes The Neptunes are an American songwriting and production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provides additional vocals on records and appears in the duo's music videos, ...

, along with "Kitty Kat", and was recorded by Jim Caruana and mixed by Jason Goldstein at the same studio. In June 2006, Beyoncé invited Tamara Coniff of ''

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 advertise ...

'' magazine to a New York recording studio. There she premiered several songs from the album including " Ring the Alarm" (2006) and "

Freakum Dress "Freakum Dress" is a song by American singer and songwriter Beyoncé from her second solo studio album ''B'Day'' (2006). It was written by Beyoncé, Rich Harrison, Angela Beyincé and Makeba Riddick. "Freakum Dress" received comparisons to Dest ...

" (2006), which both were cited as possible second singles, to be released in the United States only. At the same time, she revealed that "Green Light" and " Get Me Bodied" (2007), were planned to be released as the next two international/third US singles from '' B'Day'', following the release of the lead single " Déjà Vu" (2006). However, she ultimately opted for " Ring the Alarm" (2006) as the second single to be released in the United States only while " Irreplaceable" (2006) was officially serviced as the album's second international/third US single. "Green Light" was released later in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

on July 30, 2007 as the seventh overall single, following the international release " Beautiful Liar" (2007). Along with the release of the single, a digital EP featuring remixes from the English production team

, was made available on July 27, 2007 as an online digital download.

Music and lyrics

"Green Light" is an R&B-

song performed with "vivace"

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by

EMI Music Publishing EMI Music Publishing Ltd. is a British multinational music publishing company headquartered in London, owned by parent company Sony Corporation of America. In May 2018, Sony Music Publishing agreed to increase its stake in EMI to 90%, pending ...

, the song is written in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

with a moderate groove of 132 beats per minute. The chord follows the Fm-G♭ key series with an occasional shift to additional B♭m₇. Beyoncé's vocals range from the note of C₄ to F₅. The song is built on a ripping

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

and features "a more organic" beat. Green Light" features "uh-huh huh huh" vocals and uses brassy stabs which a reviewer from '' Guardian Unlimited'' found to be a "direct echo to ' Crazy in Love'." According to ''

The London Paper ''The London Paper'' (stylised as ''thelondonpaper'') was a free daily newspaper, published by NI Free Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International (who also own the companies that publish '' The Sun'' and ''The Times''). It was available fr ...

'', the "uh-oh-oh-oh-oh" vocals in "Green Light" is an "imitation of Amerie's performance" in her 2005 single "

1 Thing "1 Thing" is a song by American singer Amerie from her second studio album, ''Touch'' (2005). Written by Amerie and Rich Harrison and produced by the latter, the song is influenced by go-go rhythms and features a prominent sample of the Meters ...

". "Green Light" also displays

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

percussion as well as sampled

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

, and uses a fairly aggressive tone. Conforming to Jon Pareles of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', "Green Light" is a break-up song in which the female protagonist gives her love interest the permission to move out. This is shown in the lines of the hook: "Go! Go!" The lyrics are constructed in the traditional verse-chorus form. The song starts with an intro in which Beyoncé sings, "Give it to mama". Jaime Gill of

Yahoo! Music Yahoo! Music was a brand under which Yahoo! provided a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming. Previously, users with Yahoo! accounts could gain access to hundreds of ...

commented that "Green Light" seems to be all "slink and minimalism before a surging come-on of a

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

." It follows the verse-chorus-verse-verse-chorus pattern giving way to the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

. Beyoncé repeats the chorus, ending the song.

Critical reception

"Green Light" received highly positive reception from critics. Eb Haynes of AllHipHop referred to "Green Light" as a "classic Pharrell-Neptunes groove". Andy Kellman of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described the track as an "ambitious, fleet-footed number that continually switches tempos and sounds". Spence D. of IGN music stated, "'Green Light' brings things back down to pseudo earthiness; both with the slightly more organic sounding Neptunes beat." He felt that the "rippling bassline sounds really familiar, like it's been used in other Neptunes' produced tracks before".... Jaime Gill of

said that "Green Light" is "the best thing Pharrell and co have done in a long, long while." Roger Friedman of

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

considered "Green Light" as his second choice as the song having the greatest potential to become a massive hit after " Irreplaceable" (2006). Thomas Inskeep of

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

gave a mixed review for the song commenting that it's one of the "tired random-percussion tracks ..that goes nowhere."

Commercial performance

With the album version of the song being available digitally as soon as the album was released, "Green Light" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 152 after the video aired in early July 2007, and then rose to number seventy-eight on July 28, 2007. Because of heavy radio airplay of the Freemasons remix, as soon as it was available, the song climbed sixty places from number seventy-seven to number seventeen on August 11, 2007, and then to number twelve, giving Beyoncé her eleventh top twenty hit in the United Kingdom. "Green Light" became Beyoncé's highest charting single on downloads alone on the UK Singles Chart without a prominent featured artist. The UK commercial CD single was cancelled at the last minute, which means it did not receive a physical release. This explains why the single failed to reach a higher position. "Green Light" stayed on the chart for nine weeks. In

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the single debuted at number forty-six on August 23, 2007, and dropped off the chart a week later. The Freemasons remix of the track debuted at number thirty on the

chart on September 8, 2007. It propelled to number nineteen, and peaked at number eighteen on September 29, 2007. It remained on the chart for six weeks. On the other hand, the album version of "Green Light" peaked at number twenty on the Dutch

Mega Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Dutc ...

on September 22, 2007.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Green Light" was directed by

and co-directed by Beyoncé. Filmed in early 2007, it was one of the videos shot in two weeks for the ''

B'Day Anthology Video Album ''B'Day Anthology Video Album'' is the third DVD by American singer Beyoncé. It was released through Columbia Records, Sony Music and Music World Entertainment exclusively through Walmart stores on April 3, 2007 alongside the deluxe edition, b ...

'' (2007) and was one out of eight previously unseen clips. "Green Light" was the third video shot during the sessions. The clip was inspired mainly by Robert Palmer's 1985 music video " Addicted to Love" with its "stone-faced models pretending to play guitars". "Green Light" was considered by Beyoncé as a modern version of the video because they used the instruments as props, where she pretended as a rock star. Beyoncé also revealed that the scenes reminded her of

Vanity 6 Vanity 6 was a short lived American female vocal trio that gained popularity in the early 1980s. They were protégés of musician Prince (musician), Prince. Led by singer Vanity (singer), Vanity, they are known for their song "Nasty Girl (Vanity ...

. A short "

Kitty Kat Katharina Löwel (born 22 January 1982), better known under her stage name Kitty Kat or Kitten Ket, is a German rapper and singer. She became famous as an Aggro Berlin member, where she was signed from 2006 to 2009. Biography Katharina Löwel ...

" clip opens the "Green Light" video. Beyoncé considered "Green Light" the "toughest video" to shoot. Besides from dressing in latex rubber clothing, she and her back-up dancers had to wear ballet-pointe heels. The shoes blistered her feet and gave muscle spasms due to the 18-hour session. Beyoncé invited her all-female tour band, Suga Mama, to make their second appearance in a video after their debut performance on the music video for " Irreplaceable" (2006). The video was posted on the

MTV Overdrive MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a d ...

on March 28, 2007.

Live performances

On September 6, 2006, Beyoncé promoted the album '' B'Day'' with a performance of "Green Light" on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

''. On April 2, 2007 she also appeared on the '' Today Show'', to promote the deluxe edition of ''B'Day'', which was released the following day. Beyoncé sang the Spanglish version of "Irreplaceable" and "Green Light". The song was included as a part of her set list on The Beyoncé Experience. On August 5, 2007, Beyoncé performed the song at the

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, wearing a sparkly silver dress with a long train. For the performance, Beyoncé also brought out her squad of six female dancers. According to Shaheem Reid of

MTV News MTV News is the news production division of MTV. The service is available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network. In February 2016, MTV Networks confirmed it would refresh the MTV News brand in 2016, to compete with the likes ...

, all the women moved with the precision "of a Navy Seal strike force", slaying the crowd with their synchronized dances. Jon Pareles of ''

'' praised the performance, stating: "Beyoncé needs no distractions from her singing, which can be airy or brassy, tearful or vicious, rapid-fire with staccato syllables or sustained in curlicued melismas. But she was in constant motion, strutting in costumes ... According to Tonya Turner of ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, ...

'', the performance of "Green Light", "moved fans to screams of endearment." In Los Angeles, Beyoncé gave a full-length performance of the song, dressed in a sparkly silver dress with a long train. It was executed with several female backup dancers, and live instrumentation. "Green Light" was included as on her live album ''

The Beyoncé Experience Live ''The Beyoncé Experience Live'' is the third live album, live and fourth video album by American singer Beyoncé. It was released through Columbia Records and Music World Entertainment on November 20, 2007 in the United States. It was filmed at ...

'' (2007).

Track listings and formats

*Digital download # "Green Light" – 3:29 # "Green Light" (Freemasons Remix) – 3:19 # "Green Light" (Remix featuring

) - 4:19 *UK Freemasons Digital EP # "Green Light" (Freemasons Remix) – 3:19 # " Beautiful Liar" (Freemasons Club Remix) (featuring

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...

) – 7:31 # " Déjà Vu" (Freemasons Radio Mix) (featuring

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

) – 3:15 # " Ring the Alarm" (Freemasons Club Mix Radio Edit) – 3:26

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from ''B'Day''s

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

. *Andrew Coleman – assistant recording *Jim Caruana – recording *

–

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...

*Jason Goldstein – mixing *Rob Kinelski – assistant recording *

– writing,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

– production *Steve Tolle – assistant mixing *

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

– writing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Green Light (Beyonce Knowles song) 2006 songs 2007 singles Beyoncé songs Funk songs Music videos directed by Melina Matsoukas Song recordings produced by the Neptunes Songs written by Sean Garrett Songs written by Pharrell Williams Songs written by Beyoncé Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Beyoncé