Music Friday: Beyonce Tells Her Old Flame, 'If You Liked It Then You Should Have Put a Ring on It'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you superb songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or the lyrics. Today we have Beyonce's 2008 blockbuster hit, "Single Ladies," an exuberant anthem of female empowerment. The song is a social commentary on men's unwillingness to commit and was reportedly inspired by Beyonce's secret marriage to Jay-Z.

In the song, Beyonce is in a club celebrating the end of a poor relationship. Her former beau is at the same club and looking to rekindle the romance. But Beyonce has already moved on. She tells him in the popular refrain, "If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it."

Peaking at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100, "Single Ladies" is one of the best-selling singles of all time with more than 7.6 million digital downloads worldwide.

In 2009, the song’s music video was nominated for nine MTV Video Music Awards, breaking the record for most nominations for a single music video. It won in three categories, including Video of the Year.

We hope you enjoy the video at the end of this post. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing (and dance) along...

"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
Written by Terius Nash, Thaddis Harrell and Beyonce Knowles. Performed by Beyonce Knowles.

All the single ladies, all the single ladies
All the single ladies, all the single ladies
All the single ladies, all the single ladies
All the single ladies

Now put your hands up
Up in the club, we just broke up
I'm doing my own little thing
Decided to dip and now you wanna trip
Cause another brother noticed me

I'm up on him, he up on me
Don't pay him any attention
Just cried my tears, for three good years
Ya can't be mad at me

Cause if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Don't be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Oh, oh, oh

If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Don't be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it

I got gloss on my lips, a man on my hips
Got me tighter in my Dereon jeans
Acting up, drink in my cup
I can care less what you think

I need no permission, did I mention
Don't pay him any attention
Cause you had your turn and now you gonna learn
What it really feels like to miss me

Cause if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Don't be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Oh, oh, oh

If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Don't be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Oh, oh, oh

Don't treat me to the things of the world
I'm not that kind of girl
Your love is what I prefer, what I deserve

Here's a man that makes me then takes me
And delivers me to a destiny, to infinity and beyond
Pull me into your arms, say I'm the one you own
If you don't, you'll be alone
And like a ghost Ill be gone

All the single ladies, all the single ladies
All the single ladies, all the single ladies
All the single ladies, all the single ladies
All the single ladies
Now put your hands up, oh, oh, oh

Cause if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Don't be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Oh, oh, oh

If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Don't be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it

Oh, oh, oh

Avril Lavigne Presents a Close-Up Look at Her Stunning 14-Carat Engagement Ring; Yes, That's Carat With a 'C'

Rocker Avril Lavigne took to Instagram on Tuesday to treat her fans to a rare close-up view of her magnificent 14-carat engagement ring. Yes, that’s carat with a “c.”

In August of 2012, we learned that Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger proposed to Lavigne with a vintage-style platinum engagement ring, featuring a 10-carat pear-shaped center stone accented on each side with specially cut half-moon-shaped diamonds totaling an additional 4 carats.

At the time, jewelry expert Michael O'Connor estimated the ring’s value at $350,000. Sadly, the photos released in August were taken at a distance and failed to reveal the ring’s finer details.

All that changed on Tuesday, when Lavigne and her fiancé appeared on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show to talk about Lavigne’s new single, the couple’s wedding plans, Kroeger’s romantic proposal and the fabulous ring that still has the bride-to-be swooning.

Lavigne, whose new single is titled "Here's to Never Growing Up," said that her relationship with Kroeger started as a simple song-writing collaboration, but quickly turned into something much bigger.

"We met in the studio, wrote a bunch of songs together, became really good friends, and now we have a wedding coming up soon," she told Seacrest.

The couple had been dating for only a month when Kroeger popped the question in early August. Lavigne revealed for the first time how Kroeger delivered his sweet and romantic proposal — at a recording studio.

According Lavigne, she had been making a scrapbook filled with cute stickers and Polaroid photos recounting her time in the studio. On one special day, she walked into the facility and caught Kroeger adding a photo to the book.

“He had taken a photo of himself holding a ring box,” said Lavigne. “He put the Polaroid in my scrapbook along with a sticker that said, ‘Will you marry me.’ It was really romantic.”

The couple did not announce a wedding date, but did confirm that plans are in the works.

German Ingenuity: Edible Spray Paint Gives Foods the Midas Touch

In what seems to be the perfect union between fine jewelry and fabulous food, a German company has invented an edible spray paint that gives delicacies the appearance of being dipped in precious metal. Imagine serving a family feast of gilded goodies that are both decadent and delicious.

Called “Ess Lack” in German and “Food Finish” in English, the new product is safe to consume, has no taste and is simple to apply.
How about turning those blueberries into gold berries? Or that red lobster into a gilded crustacean? Or, perhaps, a salty pretzel into a sensational silver snack? It’s simple with Food Finish.

"Just spray it on whatever you wish to decorate, give it some time to dry, and there you go," said Arne Taegen of The Deli Garage, the company behind Food Finish. The product is available in four colors: gold, silver, red and blue. The gold metallic variety is the biggest seller, according to Taegen.
As with real paint, it's best to apply several thin layers for a perfect finish, according to the maker.
Taegen said the product was inspired by the centuries-old fable about the goose who laid the golden eggs.

The Deli Garage developed Food Finish with the assistance of a small German food manufacturer that provides high-quality food coloring to upmarket pastry and cake shops.
For now, Food Finish is only available in Europe. The U.S. has restrictions regarding the import of canned products that are packaged under pressure. "Our manufacturer is working on the needed documents to be able to ship it overseas,” Taegen told NPR.

Zac Posen Designs 24-Karat Dress to Mark the U.S. Debut of the Magnum Gold?! Ice Cream Bar

Dripping with 10,000 solid gold sequins that mimic “the liquid and sensuous quality of how ice cream melts,” fashion designer Zac Posen’s fabulous couture gown commemorates the U.S. debut of the Magnum Gold?! ice cream bar. The dazzling dress is valued at $1.5 million and, yes, the ice cream has unusual punctuation in its name.

While the new Magnum Gold?! bar is made of vanilla bean ice cream with a swirl of sea-salt caramel and a gold-colored Belgian chocolate shell, the Posen gown is made from tiny paillettes hand cut from genuine 24-karat gold sheets. It took Posen’s design team two weeks to hand-embroider the sequins into place.

The Magnum brand already generates more than $1 billion in sales in 45 countries, and the company’s parent, Unilever, decided to go all-in when it came to the U.S. introduction of the Magnum Gold?! line.

The "Project Runway" judge told an online publication: "Creating my first-ever 24-karat gold dress was a truly priceless experience. I'm naturally drawn to luxury and love to push my creativity, so the design process of creating a couture dress made of gold was thrilling."

"I pulled inspiration from Magnum Gold?! for the dress design," he said. "The train reminds me of melting ice cream. The dress is so decadent."

Brazilian model and actress Caroline Correa will be first wear the $1.5 million gown when she walks down a specially prepared gold-colored carpet at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18.

During the festival, the dress will make an appearance in a short film called As Good as Gold, starring Correa and Magic Mike actor Joe Manganiello.

Manganiello plays a gold thief who falls for the beautiful, but dangerous, Correa as she wears Posen's gilded dress. In the film, he finds out the hard way that all bets are off when it comes to women who pursue "pleasures that are as good as gold."

The first TV commercial for the Magnum Gold?! bars is set to air nationally during the MTV Movie Awards on April 14.

Recreational Prospector Celebrating Her 30th Birthday Finds 2.10-Carat Diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park

A recreational prospector celebrating her 30th birthday at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas scooped up one of the biggest discoveries of the year, so far — a 2.10-carat iced-tea brown diamond. The park is the only diamond-producing site in the world where the public can mine for diamonds and keep what they find.

Park officials reported that Andrea Murphy of Gentry, Ark., was prospecting for about two hours on Friday with eight family members when she spied the glistening stone and plucked it right off the ground. The search area at the park is a 37 1/2-acre plowed field, which is actually the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic crater.

At first, she wasn’t sure if the stone was valuable, but park officials confirmed that it was, in fact, a diamond. Murphy has since named the stone the “Andrea Birthday Diamond.”

“Because of their dark color, brown diamonds are the most difficult to find,” said Park Interpreter Margi Jenks. “However, this is the second large brown diamond found at the park in the last two weeks. A beautiful 1.61-carat brown diamond was found by a park visitor from St. Louis, Mo., on March 28.”

Jenks explained that the conditions at the park on Friday were perfect for a diamond to be found on the surface. “The park received a number of washing rainstorms in March, and then yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day. A good, hard rain will wash dirt away that may be covering the diamonds. So, when diamonds are on the surface of the field, they sparkle, and can be seen easily,” she said.

In the early years of the mine, between 1907 and 1932, the equipment that sifted the soil used screens with mesh larger than 1/16 inch. Due to this large dimension, thousands of smaller diamonds were allowed to pass through. In recent decades, these smaller diamonds have tantalized recreational diamond diggers.

Since 1972, more than three million park visitors have tried their luck. Over that same time, the field has yielded more than 30,000 diamonds, and 900 of those weighed more than 1 carat.

The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed here in 1924 during an early mining operation. Named the Uncle Sam, this white diamond with a pink cast weighed 40.23 carats. Other large notable finds from the Crater include the Star of Murfreesboro (34.25 carats) and the Star of Arkansas (15.33 carats).

The park staff provides free identification and registration of diamonds. Park interpretive programs and exhibits explain the site’s geology and history, and offer tips on recognizing diamonds in the rough. Cost of admission is just $7 ($4 for children).

The three most common diamond colors found at the Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro are white, brown and yellow.  Other gems and minerals found in the park's search area include amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite and quartz.