Pretty Hurts

Sia wrote the song in Los Angeles with the producer Ammo, with Katy Perry in mind. After it was sent on to the managements of Beyoncé and Rihanna, Beyoncé secured it for herself. She told iTunes Radio "I have to sing this song", and she called the beauty industry the most humiliating, judgmental place a woman can be. The song opens with a snippet from a beauty pageant in which she competed, and her answer that her aspiration in life would be to be happy. Beyoncé and Ammo produced it, Sia sang background vocals, and Stuart White recorded Beyoncé's vocals and mixed it. It was recorded at Kings Landing in Bridgehampton and at Jungle City and Oven in New York.

Melina Matsoukas directed the video, shot at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, from 11 to 13 August 2013, with a cameo by Harvey Keitel. TIME.com premiered it on 24 April 2014 to mark her Time 100 cover, alongside a campaign asking fans to share on Instagram what pretty means to them. The video won Best Video with a Social Message and Best Cinematography at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. The single missed the Hot 100 but topped the US dance club chart on 30 August 2014, her 21st number one there, and the Associated Press named it the best track of 2014. She performed it on the On the Run Tour.