I’ve literally been meaning to create this post for six months.
The greatest ballad on Beyoncé‘s I Am…Sasha Fierce is not “Halo,” “Broken Hearted Girl,” or even “Ave Maria.”
It is “Smash Into You,” produced by The-Dream.
“Smash Into You” is, by all accounts, utterly epic. It’s a slow builder, chugging along at a knowing, confident pace before smashing (!) the listener into an incredibly adept chorus that only becomes that much more divine after each repetition.
But nothing on that entire album, and I repeat nothing, matches the shivers that run through after hitting the bridge 3:45 minutes into the song: “I’m ready to run, run, run, ooh, ooh, ooh!” It is the epitome of sonic climax; an aural release of religious proportion that your God-fearing great-aunt could only dream of experiencing.
Hyperbolic? Who, me? Never.
Thanks to the more-often-than-not-reliable Wikipedia, I’ve learned that the track was originally recorded by Jon McLaughlin and entitled “Smack Into You.” Mercifully, the name (and subsequent lyric) were changed for Beysus’ purposes. Still, you can hear his alternately composed, slightly less wonderful version now on YouTube, accompanied by a fuzzy still frame of his pretty face right here. I really think tweaking that “ick” into an “ish” makes all the difference in the world, don’t you? Plus, his ending blows.
There now…I feel at peace with myself.
Click below to purchase this most worthy track, as well as many others from Lady Beysus.