Partition

Partition is built in two parts. It opens with Yoncé, a half-rapped section, and a break of camera clicks and a rising car window leads into the second half. Beyoncé wrote and produced it with Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Jerome Harmon, Dwane Weir and Mike Dean, with The-Dream adding writing and Boots production. Timberlake made the original drumbeat for Yoncé by hitting a bucket, and Mike Dean added the 808 sounds, synths, claps and strings. Beyoncé said she rapped the first verse at the microphone without pen and paper. It was recorded at Jungle City and Oven Studios in New York. The spoken French passage near the end was recorded by Hajiba Fahmy, one of her dancers, from the French dub of The Big Lebowski.

Ricky Saiz directed the Yoncé video on the streets of Brooklyn, and Jake Nava directed the Partition video at the Parisian cabaret club Crazy Horse. Released to US urban radio on 25 February 2014, the single reached number 23 on the Hot 100 and number one on the US dance club chart. Spin placed it fourth on its list of the 57 best songs of 2014 so far, and Pitchfork listed it 26th on its 2014 year-end songs list. Beyoncé performed it on the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, the On the Run Tour, the Formation World Tour and the Renaissance World Tour.