Nine months after the unannounced release of her fifth studio album, Beyoncé again surprised fans with a remix of “Flawless,” and the world was still not prepared. The night of her single’s release, she dropped the track by posting it on her official website. The Internet erupted after hearing the remix, which included one of Nicki Minaj’s best verses to date and a reference to the incident in which Jay-Z was accosted in an elevator by Beyoncé’s sister, Solange Knowles.

“Flawless (Remix)” included one of the greatest collaborations that the music industry has seen in a long time. The song brought together two females who dominate their respective genres. Beyoncé and Minaj are two of the greatest performers in the world, and because these women are so successful, they make the song feel powerful. As Minaj says in her verse, “The queen of rap, slayin’ with queen Bey/If you ain’t on the team you playin’ for team D/’Cause we A-listers, we paid sisters.”

Beyoncé and Minaj are ultimately encouraging women to feel good about themselves. Often, women are called derogatory names when they are openly confident, but this song tells females that it is commendable to express courage. The lyric “I woke up like this/We flawless, ladies tell ‘em,” is Beyoncé’s way of urging females to have shameless love for themselves.

The collaboration of Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj on this remix showed the world that female stars do not always create fake rivalries and engage in Twitter fights. The pop stars proved with this musical masterpiece that women are most powerful when they stand together. If the public reaction to the song is any indication, “Flawless (Remix)” will live on as a feminist anthem.

Email Janelle Pitts at [email protected].