Facts about Beyonce's "If I Were A Boy"

It's the second single, and a huge hit, from Beyonce's latest album, "I Am ... Sasha Fierce," but is there a backstory to "If I Were a Boy?" Why, yes. Here are seven facts about the tune:

1. It's been viewed more than 29 million times on YouTube since the clip went up in October. (Embedding is disabled, but you can watch it here.)
   
   
2. It's reached the top 10 on 25 different singles charts around the world, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Japan, Turkey and the U.S.
   
   
3. The song has already gone gold with sales of more than 500,000 units, according to the RIAA, and is rapidly closing in on platinum status with just shy of 1 million units sold.
   
   
4. It's not actually Beyonce's song. It was written by 21-year-old aspiring singer and songwriter BC Jean (pictured above) and producer Toby Gad. Jean moved to Los Angeles at 17 with her parents' blessing, and financial support. But the open line of credit had run out and Jean was looking for a day job when she learned Beyonce was covering the song. "I was going to have to either move home or get a 9-to-5 job, and that leaves no time for music," Jean told me this week. "So it was a really stressful time, and then this happened."
   
5. Despite a claim by Fox News that Beyonce had "stolen" the song, Jean was aware the singer was recording it, and receives appropriate credit -- which translates to payment. And if you're getting paid, it's not stolen. Writing songs for other people "was not my initial intention," Jean says. "But it's opened so many doors, it's amazing." Indeed, she signed a record deal with a subsidiary of Sony BMG right before Christmas
   
6. The origin of the song lies in an offhand remark Jean made while walking through Times Square with Gad and trying to resist the enticing smell of pizza. "I said, 'That pizza smells really good, and I'm trying not to eat carbs and I wish I were a boy so I didn't care!' Jean says. "That's how the song started, and [Gad] was like, 'What else would you do if you were a boy?' And I was going through a really hard breakup with my first real love, so I said, 'I'd be a better man than my ex-boyfriend!'"
   
   
7. Various remixes of the song include this one by R. Kelly, who turns the tune into a conversation about trust. No irony there.

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