Beyoncé An (Un)Happy Homemaker In New Video

“Why don’t you love me?” cries Beyoncé in her new video, which has a retro-Bettie-Page-pin-up look and involves the singer doing “domestic” chores like laundry, floor-scrubbing and baking. Oh wait, It’s not Beyoncé. She’s playing the part of “BB Homemaker.”

At times, in the video, Beyoncé acts victimized and distraught; she weeps on the phone while sipping a martini. But other moments and scenes are accompanied with a knowing wink; she dusts her Grammys and wiggles her ass and doesn’t seem concerned in the least that some unseen love interest isn’t sharing his affections.

While using a retro concept for the clip could be just a style choice, it does force you to think about a different era, one less about “all the ladies who are independent, throw your hands up at me” and more about disenfranchised, frustrated and lonely housewives, a la Betty Draper.

Framing a woman trying so hard — cooking, cleaning, wearing lingerie and still not feeling loved — with all the props of a bygone era is fun. But it also acknowledges the struggles women have overcome (and the battles still waged). And maybe even suggests that the concept of thinking this way — “why don’t you love me?” — is old fashioned.

More than anything, the song — and the video — gets better when BB sings “there’s nothing not to love about me,” as more of a statement, instead of a plea.

And, of course, there’s that girl-power kicker (this one’s for the ladies, after all), in which BB sings,