"6 Inch" is a song 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 ...

featuring Canadian singer

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, romance, and ...

from the former's sixth studio album ''

Lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage. There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using ...

'' (2016). The song's original portions were written by the artists alongside

DannyBoyStyles Danny Schofield, known professionally as DannyBoyStyles (and previously known as Styles), is a Grammy award-winning record producer, engineer, songwriter, and composer. He produced all ten tracks on the Weeknd's album ''Kiss Land'' and won a Gram ...

, Ben Billions,

The-Dream Terius Youngdell Nash (born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His co-writing credits include songs with "Me Against the Music" (2003) for Britney Spears, " Rid ...

Belly Belly may refer to: Anatomy * The abdomen, the part of the body between the pelvis and the thorax; or the stomach ** A beer belly, an overhang of fat above the waist, presumed to be caused by regular beer drinking ** Belly dance * The fleshy, cent ...

, and

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Boot or Boots may also refer to: Businesses * Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England * Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom * The Boot, Cromer St ...

. Also credited as songwriters are

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gr ...

and

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

(for the

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of ...

of American

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 att ...

musician

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songw ...

' 1969 version of " Walk On By") and

Avey Tare David Michael Portner (born April 24, 1979), also known by his moniker Avey Tare, is a musician and songwriter who co-founded the American experimental pop band Animal Collective. He has released three solo albums, as well as three collaborative a ...

Panda Bear The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes u ...

, and

Geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

neo-psychedelic Neo-psychedelia is a diverse genre of psychedelic music that draws inspiration from the sounds of 1960s psychedelia, either updating or copying the approaches from that era. Originating in the 1970s, it has occasionally seen mainstream pop suc ...

band

Animal Collective Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (musician), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (musician), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin ( ...

(for an interpolation of their 2009 song " My Girls"). The song's music video is part of a one-hour film with the same title as its parent album, originally aired on HBO.

Background and recording

Music producer Ben "Billions" Diehl talked to ''

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 adverti ...

'' about his work with great artists and mentioned that Beyoncé already knows a song "6 Inch" since 2013. According to Diehl, he, rapper

and producer DannyBoyStyles met in October of the same year to work on music. "Originally a Belly song with participation from

French Montana Karim Kharbouch (Arabic: æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 13. ...

," Diehl said. "We got a response that Beyoncé had liked and then we decided: we should continue working together, I think they get somewhere. It turns out you do not know when that day will come." When a singer released her surprise visual album in December 2013, Diehl was quick to check out a list of songs, but "6 Inch" was not there. ''"''Everything went well," Diehl concludes. After three years, in 2016, the song finally came out on Beyoncé's sixth album, ''Lemonade'', with a guest appearance from

Commercial performance

After the release of ''

'', "6 Inch" debuted on ''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart at number 18, becoming Beyoncé's twenty-sixth top 20 on the chart. "6 Inch" also entered on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart at number ten, becoming Beyoncé's twenty-seventh top-ten single on the chart. In overseas charts, the song entered in digital charts in top five, including Greece and Sweden. As of June 2016, the song has sold 265,607 downloads in US.

Live performance

"6 Inch" was included on the set list of

The Formation World Tour The Formation World Tour was the seventh concert tour by American singer Beyoncé in support of her sixth studio album, ''Lemonade'' (2016). The all-stadium tour was announced following her guest appearance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. T ...

on the last show, on October 7, 2016, at

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

MetLife Stadium MetLife Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 5 mi (8 km) west of New York City. Opened in 2010 to replace Giants Stadium, it serves as the home for the New York Giants a ...

with the singer performing the song while suspended upside down.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2016 songs Beyoncé songs Songs written by Beyoncé Song recordings produced by Beyoncé Songs written by The-Dream Songs written by the Weeknd Songs with music by Burt Bacharach Songs with lyrics by Hal David Songs about prostitutes Songs written by Belly (rapper) Songs written by Benjamin Diehl Songs written by Boots (musician)