This seems like a pretty obvious statement, but as SNL’s recent skit “The Day Beyoncé Turned Black” points out, it is a new idea for some ‘Yonce fans. The skit follows Beyonce’s music video and Super Bowl performance of "Formation," which is said to have an anti-cop and Black Lives Matter message attached. In the skit, whites run around in an apocalyptic manner after hearing "Formation" and not being able to relate to its content, which is a contrast to the usual reaction to Beyoncé's music.
While SNL’s skit shows the reaction in a humorously dramatized manner, it does raise the question of why the reaction is so strong for this Beyoncé song and video. It’s not as if the artist was the only person who took a platform during the halftime show—as many have stated, Coldplay’s colorful performance was a salute to the gay rights movement. And then there is the backlash over the outfits that the pop star and her dancers wore.
While everyone points out that Beyoncé and her dancers’ were wearing leather and gold outfits that alluded to the Black Panther movement, no one has had the same criticism for Bruno Mars and his dancers who coordinated with them. In fact, without the berets, their outfits would have looked like any other Beyoncé costume and would have probably been ignored.
If we are going to make the statement that “Beyoncé is black,” then we also have to make the statement that “Beyoncé is a woman." She has openly portrayed her feminist stand in many of her videos, including popular hits like "Who Run the World (Girls)" and "Single Ladies." In 2013, when she was the artist for the halftime show during the Super Bowl, no one mentioned the fact that there was no inclusion of male collaboration anywhere throughout the show—the musicians were women, the background dancers were women and the guest artists were women.
In that case, you would also have to make the statement that “Beyoncé was in Pageants” as her song and video for "Pretty Hurts" demonstrates the destructive nature of pageantry and the effects that it can have on a women’s idea of beauty. She also addresses the double standard that many beauty Industries have when it comes to the idea of “beauty."
The reality is that society has placed Beyoncé in a sexy, bootylicious category in which she only produces music to keep our parties live and our workout routines jumpin’. We have failed to allow her the same courtesy that we provide other artists who use their music as a platform for the things they believe in. Music is art and therefore should not be censored because it communicates a message that society has decided to sweep under the rug. The message that was being made at the Super Bowl this year was “Believe in Love,” but it seems like it got translated into “Bey-lieve in Love”—hopefully, the message still got across.
