FUSE TV - The Week in Tidal: Beyoncé & Nicki Win Everything, Jay Bodies Spotify

Welcome back to the Week in Tidal, a feature we're running as long as Jay Z's potentially exciting, intensely maligned streaming service keeps making #waves. Last time we looked at Prince's Tidal-affiliated Dance Rally 4 Peace in Baltimore, the constant stream of celebrity comments, and whether Ziggy Stardust sounded any better on the service that prides itself on its audio quality.

Three stars dominated Tidal and all Tidal-oriented commentary and bloggery this week: Nicki Minaj, her new best friend, Beyoncé, and her new best friend’s husband, renowned Tidal-peddler Jay Z. The Jay stuff is great—his B-sides shows went down in New York City, and we’ll break that down, thoroughly, shortly. There’s just no way to bury the Tidal lede this week, which was, is, and always will be “FEELING MYSELF,” capitals added for non-negotiable emphasis.

The video, for one of the standout cuts on Nicki’s December LP The Pinkprint, debuted exclusively on Tidal and became readily available, internet-wide, through illicit channels…like the second people knew it had premiered. It’s getting kind of embarrassing for Tidal, not because they’re failing to protect their exclusive content—that's just not possible, and never has been—but because Tidal's been maligned as a wannabe luxury brand and there's a Robin Hood–ish vibe behind the nonsclusives going wide every time. But it is a bummer, because the Tidal that Tidal envisions for itself could be a cool place full of fan-club-style content for the fans that care enough to have ponied up a not-insane monthly fee to join the club. Maybe they’ll figure this out in time. Maybe not.

Before Cash Money started sending takedown requests, we spent an enchanting day watching and rewatching "FEELING MYSELF," where Bey and Onika eat burgers, shoot squirt guns and just have the best time ever. Fortunately we got a bunch of dazzling screenshots to keep in our special-things box: