Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 10/07/2011 at 8:57 AM Videos

The Popdust Files: beyonce, countdown, music video, Premiere

A song as energetic, jubilant, and almost distractingly frenetic as Beyoncé‘s “Countdown” certainly deserves a video to match, and luckily for both her and us, that’s exactly what she delivered. Adria Petty, who had previously directed Beyoncé’s “Sweet Dreams” clip, features Queen B in about a half-dozen different historical pop culture getups—Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, Jennifer Beals in Flashdance, Tina Turner in her concert dress—which she rapidly toggles between, also presenting the video in sped-up motion, sectioned in film strips or Brady Bunch-style squares, and cut in rapid-fire montage. If it sounds exhausting, that’s because it is, but since the song was hardly a still life itself, it actually works quite brilliantly. We hope MTV and the general public agrees, because this deserves to be as overplayed as “Single Ladies” and “Crazy in Love” were in their day.

Oh, and you can tell Beyoncé’s pregnant in a bunch of parts of it, which is exciting. And she still looks hotter than you’ve ever met in real life. But please, don’t take it from us:

For lots more pics, videos and up-to-the-second dish on Beyoncé, be sure to check out her Popdust Artist Page.