 "Single Ladies" is an upbeat dance-pop and R & B song with dancehall, disco and bounce influences. It is set in common time, and makes use of staccato bounce-based hand claps, Morse code beeps, an ascending whistle in the background, and a punchy organic beat. The instrumentation includes a bass drum, a keyboard and spaced out synthesizers that occasionally zoom in and out; one commentator, Sarah Liss of CBC News, noted that their arrangement surprisingly comes as light, instead of dense. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony / ATV Music Publishing, "Single Ladies" is written in the key of E major and played in a moderate groove of 96 beats per minute. Beyoncé's vocals range from the note of F ♯ 3 to D5. It has a chord progression of E in the verses, and Bdim – C – Bdim – Am in the chorus. J. Freedom du Lac of The Washington Post noted the song features "playground vocals".
