If I Were A Boy

"If I were A Boy"

if i were a boy-even just for a day-i'd roll out of bed in the morning and throw on what i wanted and go-drink beer with the guys and chase after girls-i'd kick it with who i wanted and i'd never get confronted for it- cause they'd stick up for me--(Chorus)---if i were a boy, i think i could understand-how it feels to love a girl- i swear i'd be a better man-i'd listen to her, cause i know how it hurts-when you lose the one you wanted cause he's taking you for granted and everything you had got destroyed---if i were a boy, i would turn off my phone- tell everyone it's broken so they'd think that i was sleeping alone-i'd put myself first and make the rules as i go-cause i know that she'd be faithful-waiting for me to come home---CHORUS---it's a little too late for you to come back-say it's just a mistake think i'd forgive you like that-if you thought i would wait fro you- you thought wrong--you know when you act like that- i don't think you realize how it maked me look or feel--act like what- why are you so jealous, it's not like i'm sleeping with the guy--what--what-i said yo-why are you so jealous, it ain't like i'm sleeping with the girl--but you're just a boy, so you dont' understand-how it feels to love a girl-some day you wish you were a better man-you don't listen to her-you don't care how it hurts-until you lose the one you wanted cause you've taken her for granted- and everything you had got destroyed-but you're just a boy

Beyonce shows her rhetorical strategies in “If I were A Boy,” making it a great argument to show the difference between how guys and girls act in a relationship. In the beginning of the song, she starts off by stating all the things she would be able to do if she were the guy in the relationship. She would be able to just wake up in the morning and be able to wear whatever she wanted without having to spend hours worrying about what she looks like. Also, she would be able to hang out with whoever she wanted to without having to get yelled at because her friends would all stick up for her. In the chorus she continues with saying “if I were a boy” only now she’s taking it from how she feels as the girl. Her feelings are that now she knows how much it hurts to be treated like this by a guy so if she were actually the boy in the relationship she would never treat a girl like that. It’s saying that a guy will continue to take the girl for granted until everything that he really wanted gets destroyed because he pushed her too far. In the next verse she continues with if she were a boy she would just turn off her phone and tell the girl it broke so that he could go out with some other girl. She wouldn’t really care what she did because no matter what at the end of the day the girl is at home waiting for her. Towards the end of the song, there is some dialogue between the guy and the girl that makes the argument pretty strong. It even just shows the difference in the tone and word choice between a guy and girl when they’re saying the exact same thing. While she simply just says “why are you so jealous it’s not like I’m sleeping with the guy,” he uses different words like “yo” and “ain’t” which just make it sound more rude: “I said, yo why are you so jealous, it ain’t like I’m sleeping with the girl.” The song wraps up with her basically just giving up saying that he’s just a boy and he’s never going to understand what it’s like to be hurt like that.
Watching the music video for this song actually made the song more effective. When viewing it you can actually show the emotion between the two. Throughout most of the video she is the boy and it’s interesting to see how the boy reacts when the roles are reversed. This song is perfect for a rhetorical analysis because she’s got a good strategy for the argument by being the boy in the situation.