Beyoncé’s chart-topping surprise album, BEYONCÉ, celebrates its sixth anniversary on December 13. In a video interview from 2013, she explained how the first part of “Partition”—known as “Yoncé”—came to be and that another pop star was involved in the songwriting process.
The percussion-heavy song is co-written by Justin Timberlake, who contributed to the memorable drumming pattern by literally banging it out on a bucket.
“We were in the studio, and Justin Timberlake started beating on buckets,” she remembered. “So, when you hear the beat, it’s literally a bucket. It was really organic, and it reminded me of being in middle school during the lunch breaks, when you just start freestyling.”
Timberlake is credited as a co-producer, co-writer, and for doing background vocals on “Partition.” Beyoncé explained that the bucket drumming he did actually made it onto the studio version of the record. She added that The-Dream came up with the track’s memorable refrain.
“So we kept the buckets, and we went back and forth,” she remembered. “I was very adamant about keeping it organic, because that whole element is what is so beautiful about it. And Dream just started, ‘Yoncé on his mouth like liquor,’ and I’m like, ‘What does that mean?’ But I love it.”
The song’s freestyle quality is apparent in its swaggering vocals. On the opening verse, Beyoncé raps:
See me up in the club with fifty-eleven girls
Posted in the back, diamond fangs in my grill
Brooklyn brim with my eyes sitting low
Every boy in here with me got that smoke
“Partition” went on to critical and commercial success. It peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was eventually certified Platinum. “Yoncé” specifically has become a fan favorite, and a live rendition of it from Coachella was included on 2019’s HOMECOMING: THE LIVE ALBUM.
Read the full lyrics to “Partition” and the rest of Beyoncé’s self-titled album on Genius now.
