 " Jealous " was initially conceived when Boots first saw it and the song consisted of " some drums and that synth " . He added a " high " melody containing the lines " If you 're keeping your promise I 'm keeping mine " as he felt it seemed " like a shame something more melodic didn 't happen in the song " . When Beyoncé 's creative team was widely searching for the concept of the song 's music video , the singer sent a clip of a song called " Roach Cock " by Hanni El Khatib to Boots . Inspired by its feel , she requested from him to bring elements of that track to " Jealous " . He added a " gnarly fuzz guitar ripping in the background " to the song also present in its final version . Beyoncé explained the meaning of " Jealous " on her iTunes Radio channel , " [ It 's ] a song about being human . We all get jealous . It doesn 't matter who you are . At some point , it 's just inevitable . " 
