"No Angel" (stylized as "Angel") is a song by American singer Beyoncé from her fifth studio album, Beyoncé (2013). It was written by James Fauntleroy, Caroline Polachek, and Beyoncé while the latter two and Boots also served as its producers. Polachek worked on several songs for the singer's album with her bandmate from Chairlift, Patrick Wimberly, before "No Angel" was included on the record.
A chillwave midtempo song with elements of R&B, hip hop and trap music, "No Angel" features a minimalistic production and instrumentation consisting mostly of bass. Beyoncé uses a high vocal register, singing in falsetto with breathy vocals. Lyrically, the song features the protagonist declaring that neither she nor her love interest are perfect. "No Angel" received generally favorable reviews from contemporary music critics who praised its composition and the singer's vocal performance; however some of them criticized its placement on the album.
A music video for the song was directed by @lilinternet and filmed in Houston, Texas as a tribute to the singer's hometown. It features various landscape shots of the city as well as close-ups of numerous people, including ten Houston-based rappers; Beyoncé also appears, dressed in white outside a dilapidated house in Melbourne, Australia. The clip received positive reviews from critics who praised the fact that it accurately captured Houston. At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, Beyoncé performed "No Angel" live during a medley of songs from her fifth studio album.
Background
Beyoncé met with Polachek's bandmate of Chairlift, Patrick Wimberly, who collaborated with her sister Solange Knowles at that time and went with her on tour. During the tour, Beyoncé expressed her admiration of Wimberly, adding that she would "love to get in the studio some time". Wimberly later contacted Beyoncé's management, and Polachek and himself were later invited to a studio in Manhattan to work on Beyoncé's self-titled fifth studio album. They stayed in the studio for a week and when the duo was asked to submit the tracks to Beyoncé's team, Polachek added one song with complete production and a missing verse she had written while being on tour in the United Kingdom and learning how to use Ableton Live. At that time, she felt that the song "could be a good album track for Chairlift, but it would be incredibly sexy if Beyoncé did it".
Regarding the song structure, Polachek stated: "I rewrote the verse lyrics and sent it to her. It had this minute-and-a-half-long instrumental in the middle of it, and I was like 'I'm sure they're gonna cut that out, and replace it with something else. There's no way she's gonna let a minute and a half long instrumental fly.' They kept it. [...] She took this rap that James Fauntleroy wrote for another song, and put it right in the middle of the song. And then reprised the verse from earlier in the song, and then brought the chorus earlier. She reshaped all of these pieces from other places to keep this instrumental intact. And used that production exactly as I gave it. She didn't remove anything." Polachek further elaborated about the differences between her version of "No Angel" and Beyoncé's rendition, saying, "Her groove was different—my vocals were jumpier, and hers were more like panting. And in my version the synths detuned really quickly for a second; she did the same thing but with her voice. It sounds like the whole song melts." Polachek also revealed that she sent Beyoncé a note via Beyonce's A&R about how to perform the song, recommending her to drop down the octave in the first chorus and the second verse before shooting back up the octave in the second chorus; Beyoncé took the note and did the octave jump, breaking her firm "no notes" rule.
"No Angel" was written by James Fauntleroy, Caroline Polachek and Beyoncé and produced by the latter two. Beyoncé handled the track's vocal production. The song was recorded with guidance from Polachek and Stuart White at Russel's of Clapton in London, Fetalmaus Studio, Jungle City Studios and Oven Studios, all in New York City. Polachek also handled the synths and drum programming and Andrew Scheps finished the track's audio mixing. "No Angel" was mastered by Tom Coyne and Aya Merrill at Sterling Sound, New York City.
Composition
"No Angel" is a slowtempo chillwave song. Influences of stripped down hip hop music were noted in its beat, with critics also noting elements of midtempo trap and "languid" R&B. The groove was noted to be minimalistic and progressive. Its instrumentation consists of mostly heavy bass, a counterpoint bassline and multiple finger snaps, in addition to chiming and refracted 1980s soft rock synths and percussive thump. Boogie, a distortion musical effect was also implemented in the song. Idolator's Mike Wass found a minimal R&B grind in "No Angel" and felt that its multi-layered sound provided a rich electronic background. Throughout the song, Beyoncé adopts breathy and emotional vocals. She sings with a falsetto vocal register, with Andrew Hampp and Erika Ramirez of Billboard calling it a return of the falsetto from the singer's own song, "Halo" (2008). Writing for The New York Times, Jody Rosen stated that the singer's vocal performance was an "imitation" of the falsetto by musician Prince. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune opined that Beyoncé employed her highest possible range, with her voice "threatening to fray". Complex writer Tim Finney described the singer's vocal performance as an "intoxicating-asthmatic rasp".
Admitting she is not perfect, Beyoncé sings the lines "Would you rather I be a machine who doesn't notice when you late or when you lyin'?" and "No I'm not an angel, but at least I'm trying". In "No Angel", Beyoncé declares that her partner is "no angel either", remarking that he is not perfect. However, despite his imperfections, the protagonist admits she still loves him. Beyoncé sings the lines "[u]nderneath the pretty face is something complicated / I come with a side of trouble / But I know that's why you're staying" in the song aimed to inform her "roguish" male lover. The lines of the chorus are sung by Beyoncé with pronouncing one word at a time in longer intervals. A short interlude about "mov[ing] things to the bedroom" is interpolated in the song. Beyoncé forgoes lyrical subtlety during that part, singing explicit lines such as "Tell me do you wanna ride?" and "First both of my legs go back on your head, and whatever you want, yeah baby, I'm bad". Fuse's Mark Sundstrom interpreted the song's message as talking about the singer's husband Jay-Z and added "She loves him more because she knows him entirely, accepting he's not perfect or without a past". Complex editor Claire Lobenfeld considered its lyrical content to be about how a "couple's respective internal messiness can bring them closer together".
Describing the song as "gorgeous", Anupa Mistry of Spin magazine noted influences by Solange Knowles and added that "she's cool with being pitchy and imperfect". Ludovic Hunter-Tilney from the Financial Times called its sound "indie-R&B of a downtown variety" that Solange Knowles would record. The Verge Trent Wolbe concluded that "No Angel" was reminiscent of Solange Knowles' work on the extended play True (2012). Bradley Stern from the website MuuMuse called the song one of the album's more "left-leaning productions" saying that it would sound suitable for Solange Knowles' work with Dev Hynes. Philip Shelburne of Spin magazine found a "distinctly Burial-like quality" in the song. Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune noted it was "[a]s discursive as 'Blow' is insistent". Mesfin Fekadu of the Associated Press wrote that the singer "declares she's a freak" in the falsetto-heavy song.
Critical reception "No Angel" has received generally favorable reviews from most music critics. Writing for BET, Latifah Muhammad deemed "No Angel" "unapologetic and overflowing with the kind of candor that makes it a standout". She further added, "Since love isn't always black and white, this song deals with the gray area". Entertainment Weekly Nick Catucci felt that the song "treat[s] relationships with the same raw instinct that suffuses her sex songs" on the album. Caitlin White from the website The 405 felt that, "In 'No Angel' her partner is 'no angel either,' the second thought in a comparison that begins with her own ability to transgress standards of purity or celestial perfection". Chris Kelly of Fact noted that the singer managed to put theory to practice with the track, with an "imperfect but touching performance". In a review for The Quietus, Mof Gimmers described "No Angel" as a "pure foreplay".
Writers of Billboard deemed the song a throwback track and praised the singer's falsetto. Ryan B. Patrick of Exclaim! noted that songs on the album, such as "No Angel", effectively display genre diversity, Beyoncé's vocal range and "a penchant of musical experimentation". Tris McCall of The Star-Ledger dubbed the song as one of the "experiments in mood". Michael Cragg of The Guardian opined that the song's "icy mechanics... recasts the slow jam as something otherworldly" and called it a "Pitchfork-friendly" collaboration. Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called the slow track "more groove than an actual song" and praised Beyoncé's vocals "flipping sensuously between breathy falsetto and deep come-on". Jody Rosen from Vulture considered the song a "very pretty showcase" of the singer's falsetto and wrote that its production was "admirably barely there". Complex editor Claire Lobenfeld called "No Angel" part of the darker material on the record and described the singer's vocal performance as "an apparition singing over a lost Bowie-Prince collaboration". Kitty Empire of The Observer noted in her review how "No Angel" was "pretty much as described: a winningly stark baroque'n'B track". Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone described the song as the "[p]rettiest slinky Eighties electro-soul jammy". Idolator's Mike Wass described "No Angel" as a "sonic adventure" which "experiments wildly" with synths and beats. He noted, "This pretty gem needs a few listens to be properly consumed but its ultimately one of the album's most fulfilling moments."
Cosmopolitan journalist Alex Rees noted how it was normal for the singer to sound "breathy" and "breathless" following four songs in a row on the album discussing sex. Nicole James of Fuse called the song a "sexed-up midtempo banger". Jem Aswad of the same publication noted the presence of a "wild, jazzy, Joni-ish melody that flies all over the scale". Jordan Runtagh from the website VH1 called "No Angel" a "classic fake-out love song" and connected to the singer's real-life relationship with husband Jay-Z. A more mixed review came from Ryan E.C. Hamm from Under the Radar who noted that the experimentalistic songs on Beyoncé which do not work well, managed to look better only because of the record itself; he exemplified this with "No Angel", criticizing it as "a little boring". Both Christopher R. Weingarten of Spin and Tom Breihan of Stereogum called the song "boring"; the latter added it would be that way for listeners "until that subtle digital bassline finds its way into your head". Breihan, however, praised the singer's falsetto vocals as "a thing to behold". Melissa Locker of Time magazine stated that the singer sang "slightly obnoxiously" in "No Angel". Una Mullally from The Irish Times questioned how "No Angel" was included in the track listing of Beyoncé, before adding "but it did and we're just going to have to deal with it". However, she concluded that the song should be listened several more times to be understood.
Music video Background