When Beyoncé was released on December 13, 2013, Billboard reported that "Blow" would be released as a contemporary hit radio single both in the US and worldwide, and "Drunk in Love" was reported to be sent to urban radio in the US only; "XO" was reportedly scheduled to be released as the second worldwide contemporary hit radio single in 2014. However, the US release of "Blow" was cancelled, reportedly due to the song's racy lyrics, and "XO" was issued to radio in that country instead. Composition "Blow" is a five-minute and nine-second disco-influenced, R&B, funk, retro-soul song with an electro-funk groove and a jazz-influenced opening. Critics also found elements of "chilly" neo-disco in the groove with Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield further noting that it created an "air of melancholy". Instrumentally it is complete with a heavy bass, sparse piano chords and guitars altogether creating a blipping, marching and parping beat. Kevin Fallon from The Daily Beast described the song's production as "so bouncy it's almost coyish and flirty" and added that it was a counterbalance to the "raunchy" lyrics. An ode to oral sex, "Blow" stands in line with the explicit theme of the album about frank female sexuality and eroticism. Lyrically, it refers to cunnilingus through heavy innuendos omitting subtlety; the lines "Can you lick my Skittles, it's the sweetest in the middle/ Pink is the flavor, solve the riddle" are sung "flirtatiously" by Beyoncé. It opens with a breathy atmosphere and Beyoncé singing the lines, "I kiss you and you lick your lips/ You like it wet and so do I/ I know you never waste a drip/ I wonder how it feels sometimes". The chorus lines are "pleaded" by the singer as stated by Fallon: "Keep me coming, keep me going, keep me humming, keep me moaning". The second half of the song contains a tempo change with a funkier beat and the singer singing verse-chorus-verse trajectories. Chris Richards of The Washington Post compared this type of songcraft with Maxwell, Erykah Badu and Frank Ocean's work. It starts with Beyoncé declaring "I'm about to get into this girls. This for all my grown women out there". During this part, Timbaland's vocals can be heard in the background as part of a call and response. It follows with Beyoncé singing the lines "I can't wait 'til I get home so you can turn that cherry out" to