Sunday, June 21, 2026

UPDATED Beyonce Faces a Rare Failure as Her “Lion King” Song Is Shown No “Spirit” from Fans, Bombs on Charts But Lights Up YouTube

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WEDS AM UPDATE: Beyonce debuted the video for “Spirit” last night on ABC. The video already has 2 million views on YouTube. So does the original video. That’s a total of 4 million. But the single itself has moved up to number 35. It’s interesting that it took the video to ignite fan response. The song on its own was DOA. I am assured however that there are “many singles” on the new “Lion King: The Gift” album coming on Friday.

 

TUES NIGHT: Last week, it was all “Spirit” for Beyonce. She released a new song and a video from the upcoming new “Lion King.” All signs pointed to a hit because of her huge following.

But this week, there is no “Spirit” for the record, which topped out at number 3 on the iTunes chart and is now at 66.

Elsewhere, “Spirit” is invisible. It’s not on any Spotify streaming charts. On AppleMusic, “Spirit” isn’t on the USA top 50. It appears at number 92 on the Global Streaming chart for Apple Music.

Granted, “The Lion King” soundtrack is number 2 or 3 on iTunes. Fans are getting “Spirit” as part of the album.It also appears on an album Beyonce “curated” coming this Friday called “The Lion King: The Gift” coming on her Parkwood Records.

But as a single, it’s a non-starter. Fans would much rather hear Beyonce sing “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” with Donald Glover, Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner.

Why? Because like some Beyonce songs, “Spirit” isn’t a song. It has no chorus, no lyrics that anyone understands. If you look at most of Beyonce’s records, they are not singable. “Single Ladies” is one of the very few. “Crazy in Love” is constructed from the Chi Lites’ “Are You My Woman?”

But Beyonce can be happy she received 6 Emmy nominations today for her homemade documentary, “Homecoming.”  That’s quite an accomplishment itself.

 

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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