As Bench noted, many of these were women laughing at themselves for doing the dance so poorly: “A search for ‘Single Ladies fail’ on YouTube results in mostly female performers, who have identified their own performances as fail(ure)s, who do not possess the skill to perform either the ‘Single Ladies’ choreography or Beyoncé’s/Sasha Fierce’s diva-like femininity.” In droves, they started to post their attempts at the dance on YouTube. As scholar Harmony Bench put it, it’s “a dance that demands a response from a larger community of dancers.” It was clear when the video was released that the challenging nature of its choreography was attracting people, not turning them away. (Even Beyoncé had some trouble mastering it.) As a result, the video practically begs viewers to try the dance for themselves-not in spite of its demanding choreography, but because of it. Her spin on Fosse’s dance was striking but just difficult enough that it was tricky to replicate-at least well. Its choreography also served as the first part of Beyoncé’s strategy. This origin story is essential because, as a refashioning of an existing viral clip, the “Single Ladies” video is technically a meme. and JaQuel Knight, then spent about three months putting together an updated version of “Mexican Breakfast,” which we now know as “Single Ladies.” The clip’s original audio track had been replaced with Unk’s “Walk It Out,” and Beyoncé immediately knew what she wanted the “Single Ladies” video to look like. The story goes that Beyoncé was browsing YouTube when she came across a clip of “Mexican Breakfast,” a dance routine choreographed by Bob Fosse and performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1969. “Viral” was still very much our go-to, and months before “Single Ladies” went viral itself, it was inspired by an existing viral video. Despite being coined in the 1970s, the term “meme” was not yet part of our daily lexicon in 2008, at least not the way it is now. With “Single Ladies,” Beyoncé managed the rare and risky feat that is launching a successful meme yourself, and did so by executing a clever, two-part strategy. Last year, when Katy Perry kicked off her #BonAppetitChallenge, in which participants were meant to try and “look sexy” while pouring water on themselves, fans were quick to point out that the challenge didn’t have much to do with either the song or video. It’s much safer to let the internet run the show than it is to manufacture a meme yourself, mainly because consumers can tell when you’re trying to force something on them. In both cases, the artist(s)-Migos and Drake, respectively-profited from meme culture without having to actively participate in it. Think of all the “Raindrop, drop top” tweets, or the #InMyFeelingsChallenge. It usually happens, and arguably works best, without the artist’s involvement. These days, it’s quite common for new music to spread through memes. But while Soulja Boy’s video helped his song become a dance-floor staple first, Beyoncé’s helped hers along through more deliberate means-which, in the years since, have left the latter with more cultural lasting power. To be clear, she wasn’t the first to launch a viral dance trend through online video-sharing that would’ve been Soulja Boy, who’d beaten her to the punch with “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” the previous year. Always ahead of the curve, Beyoncé was among the first YouTube-era pop artists to market a music video with the help of memes. It was heavily referenced in an early episode of “Glee,” was parodied on “Saturday Night Live” in a skit that guest-starred the artist herself, and-perhaps most famously-was deemed “one of the best videos of all time” by Kanye West.īut one under-discussed aspect of its legacy is its early employment of what we now call meme culture. Though simple in concept, the video quickly became, and has since remained, a cultural touchstone. Directed by Jake Nava-who, as of now, has worked on ten videos with the mononymed star-the black-and-white clip features her (as her alter ego, Sasha Fierce) flanked by dancers Ashley Everett and Ebony Williams as she chides the former lover who missed his chance to tie the knot. Ten years ago this week, Beyoncé premiered her official music video for “Single Ladies” on TRL.