Say Heyyyy Ms. Carter!
Beyoncé has come into the spotlight once again with her newly-released documentary, Homecoming, giving an in-depth look of her jaw-dropping and iconic 2018 Coachella performance. The documentary, which can be seen on Netflix, features multiple clips of Beyoncé’s preparation for Coachella, that includes her pregnancy journey, cameos of Jay-Z, her sister Solange, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, along with various videos of HBCU performances which inspired BEYCHELLA, and many more. If you haven’t seen the documentary yet, here’s a little rundown of how amazing it is.
Image courtesy of Beyonce’s Instagram
Two words, BLACK POWER!
There’s no doubt that this performance was a tribute to HBCU pride along with Black Culture. Throughout the documentary are many elements of HBCU life. Even some choreography derived from HBCU drumlines and routines from the past.
During the documentary, Bey describes how much she wished to attend an HBCU, but due to her fame at such a young age, that wish was somewhat stripped from her. So, being that she couldn’t attend an HBCU, she created her own, thus living her lifelong wish and making it a reality through BEYCHELLA.
Queen Bey does a great job implementing HBCU vibes in her performance and trying to add a lot of black culture to a predominately white festival. The first few minutes of her show include her singing the song “Freedom” then transitioning to “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, or known as the “Black National Anthem” to others. During Bey’s performance there is a small clip of musician Nina Simone saying, “To me, we are the most beautiful creatures in the world, black people”.
You can tell that Bey put a lot of time and effort into this performance. The whole process taking up to 8 months to get everything together. The production included steppers, a drumline, an all-black orchestra, all embodying the 9 black fraternities and sororities so precious to black people all around known as “The Divine 9”. And of course, because Bey wanted to get the whole HBCU vibe down to the tee, she included one very known HBCU anthem “Swag Surf” mixed with her original “Drunk In Love”, and may I tell you it was a MASTERPIECE.
Image courtesy of GIPHY
Empowering BLACK women
I think it’s fair to say that our Queen Bey is not one to sit back and relax when it comes to talking about women, especially BLACK WOMEN. In the middle of her performance she goes, “Thank you for allowing me to be the first black woman to headline Coachella……ain’t that ’bout a b*tch.” Whewwwww the tea is hot! Yes, our unapologetic black queen sure did call Coachella out at their own event. I mean like who is she, honestly??? BEYONCÉ, that’s who duhhhhh!!!
During Bey’s “Flawless”, a short clip from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk is played, saying, “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls ‘You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful; otherwise, you will threaten the man.” Beyoncé took her Coachella platform and ran with it literally. She didn’t shy away when it came to empowering women through her music.
During her performance of “Sorry”, she pitches these questions to the women in the audience, “Ladies, are we smart? Are we strong?” Then gathers her female dancers and gives a representation of women being above men for once, telling them to “SUCK ON MY BALLS”, just one of the many iconic moments in the performance. That being said, there were more factors as to the whole idea of empowering women throughout this documentary.
Image courtesy of GIPHY
Let’s not forget that our Queen did become pregnant with twins unexpectedly which were the reason for her not performing at the 2017 Coachella Festival. Bey talks about how the pregnancy of her twins wasn’t easy, “I had high blood pressure. I developed toxemia, preeclampsia, and in the womb, one of my babies’ heartbeat paused a few times, so I had to get an emergency C-section,” Once the twins were born she then began to struggle post-pregnancy. She talks about how she was insecure about her body and about how she didn’t feel like herself at times. (I know right, even Queen Bey has those days where she’s just not feeling it….CRAZY) Just look at it this way, it’s a testament to all women, that no matter what you are going through, you can and WILL overcome adversity, regain your CONFIDENCE and go out and be the bad chick Queen Bey taught you to be!
She is THE Queen
Name another artist who will work tirelessly, diet, and put in soo much effort for a 2-hour performance as much as Beyoncé did…..you can’t. She has proven to be such a determined woman who deserves all of the respect out there. From the HBCU culture to women empowerment, you can tell that Bey wanted this to be perfect and she absolutely gave us something memorable and will definitely be talked about for a long time. And just when you think the Queen has given us literally EVERYTHING that she could, there’s still more…..AN ALBUM! Bey dropped a “HOMECOMING: THE LIVE ALBUM” on Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, etc. This album includes a 40-song compilation of her performance and may I tell you it literally is BOMB!
After watching this documentary, there is simply no way someone can not respect Beyoncé. She truly has proven why she is who she is today and whether you are part of the BeyHive or not, you cannot come at this woman for anything. She truly has used her platform in a way that was so powerful and only she could do something like that. Go check out her album and the Homecoming Documentary on Netflix because they are both AMAZING. Just know you’ll be seeing a lot more of Queen Bey because she’s nowhere near done.
You know I give you life. ;)
Image courtesy of GIPHY