Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Azealia Banks Collaborating on 'Ratchet' Single?

The Associated Press, Thursday, January 3, 2013, 12:31pm (PST)

Billboard -- After Beyoncé posted two photos of her hoop earrings -- engraved with the word "Ratchet" -- on Instagram at the end of December, rumors of an upcoming single started swirling.

On Dec. 30, Bey posted a photo in which she rocks "Ratchet" bamboo earrings and a Houston Rockets fitted, repping her hometown. A camera, which hints at a video set, is just barely visible to her left in the photo. The day before (Dec. 29), Bey posted a photo of the earrings alongside a pair of purple printed flats.

Will "Ratchet" be the title of the first single off her forthcoming fifth studio album? Or, even better, will it be a collaboration with Lady Gaga and Azealia Banks?

Gaga, who rocked her own "Ratchet" hoops on Instagram in November, revealed in an October web chat that she had finished a song of the same name, featuring Azealia Banks. Either that song or another track, "Tea," will likely be released in January as the lead single from Gaga's upcoming album, "ARTPOP," the singer revealed on her fansite, LittleMonsters.com.

Banks told Brazil's Mix TV in September, "I worked with Lady Gaga, but I worked with Lady Gaga from afar. We worked via email and via Internet. We have a song called 'Red Flame' and a song called 'Ratchet,' but I don't know what she's doing with it. She's going to release it when she wants to release it."

In October, Gaga also told a fan via Twitter that there will be a sequel to "Telephone." The question now is, will it be on Bey's album or Gaga's?

If true, this will be the third time that Gaga and Beyonce have worked together. The ladies collaborated on "Telephone," for Gaga's 2009 album "The Fame Monster," and on Bey's "I Am...Sasha Fierce" song, the "Video Phone" extended remix.

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