Mashup: Beyoncé x Diana Ross - Work It Out

Would you believe me if I told you that I actually did this mashup of Beyoncé and Diana Ross before Diana Ross crashed the Renaissance World Tour to wish Beyoncé a Happy Birthday?

Destiny’s Child had covered “Upside Down” for a VH1 special dedicated to Diana Ross, but it...was kinda terrible. Beyoncé now though?! She would Olivia Pope that bitch and handle it.

“Work It Out” didn’t exactly light the world on fire when it first released, which was a shame. I thought the song was great. Now that I think about it, it probably ranks as one of my favourite Beyoncé singles, and one of the very few that I liked off the bat. But I get why it didn’t do bigger things despite being Beyoncé’s debut before THE debut. The tempo was too slow. It wasn’t pop enough. Beyoncé’s voice was too soulful. It didn’t have enough energy. It had a very old, non-contemporary sound. All reasons why I liked the song. It was different from what was on radio at the time. But “Work It Out” has aged really fucking well.

Whilst “Crazy in Love” was in a whole different gear to “Work it Out”, Beyoncé was still channelling the funk of it. But by the time we got to B’Day, the more soul and funk inspired sound of “Work It Out” ran through much of that album. AND, Beyoncé had once again worked with The Neptunes on “Green Light” and “Kitty Kat”, who also wrote and produced “Work It Out”. And now all these years later and Beyoncé is still giving us soul, funk and 70s throwbacks on Renaissance. And “Work It Out” also has references to honey and beehives, so there is also that too. A song ‘before its time’ as the kids say.

It’s a shame “Work It Out” wasn’t included as part of the disco horse tour setlist, as it would slot into it so easily. And it would be great to hear Beyoncé sing it now, with her not only having more conviction when she sings, but also having a much deeper voice with so much more texture than it did over 20 years ago, which would make the song sound so much richer.

Beyoncé. If you wanna use this mashup for your disco horse tour, lemme know.

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💿 Beyoncé album reviews: Renaissance | The Lion King: The Gift | Lemonade | Beyoncé | 4 | I Am... Sasha Fierce | B’Day

🎛️ Renaissance mashups: Move | Alien Superstar #1 | Alien Superstar #2 | Cuff It | Break My Soul | Virgo’s Groove | America Has a Problem