Next Week: Catch Beyoncé’s Fever in Union Square

Get excited, guys.

On February 2nd, New Yorkers will catch the fever as Beyoncé turns up the heat in Union Square. To celebrate the launch of her debut fragrance, Beyoncé Heat, the visionary artist is illuminating the central destination with fiery red light and smoky fog, infusing the winter landscape with a steamy, sexy aura that embodies Beyoncé's unique appeal…

The unprecedented, spectacular display will vividly capture the spirit of Beyoncé Heat, creating a dramatic play of light that promises to turn heads and pique curiosity. The radiant spotlights transforming Union Square will serve as a luminous backdrop to the Beyoncé Heat launch party, where luminaries from the worlds of music, film, and media will gather to toast Beyoncé's latest venture. (via pr newswire)

You heard right. Thanks to an obviously crack PR team at Coty, Union Square will become the steamy red-light district it was clearly meant to be… Honestly, I have only high hopes for B’s temporary light-up (from 6 pm to midnight), not only because it will provide a relieving distraction from Union Square’s established steaming visual display, but also because I’m so taken with the idea of a perfume launch slamming its drama into the faces of several hundred thousand freezing New Yorkers while at the same time providing an extremely private venue for all of the luminaries who are dying to know before anyone else what in the world “red vanilla orchid” and “giant sequoia milkwood” smell like.

I don’t have a lot of love for celebrity fragrances for essentially the same reasons that – of all people – John Mayer recently pointed out. But all cynicism aside, I suppose I shouldn’t deny the possibility that Heat will in fact smell good. If Hilary Duff and Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy are good enough for Chandler Burr, who am I to write off Heat as sensationally marketed junk?

In the meantime, have a look at the official commercial, shot by “Single Ladies” video director Jake Nava:

Girl! If you are so hot that you’re streaking your walls with cinder and melting the floor, perhaps you should leave the house in search of a stiff breeze. I sympathize, believe me. Sometimes, after tucking into some devilish pad kee mao, for example, I look exactly like that (minus the silk robe and writhing).