After 2013, Beyoncé fans became familiar with the way she surprises the world with music. On December 13th, the singer released "Beyoncé" and sent the internet into a frenzy. She kept with a silent 2015, and just when the media and her fanbase least expected it, last night she released the single and music video "Formation" just before a highly anticipated Superbowl game. Now, is this a message for what is to come for her performance, or for the year? Is this "Formation" to be taken literally as progress, evolution, and development?
Let's dig into these lyrics and find some answers:
"I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros."
It's incredibly beautiful to embrace natural features. The singer touches on all the rumors that had previously risen from seeing photo's of Blue Ivy's natural hair, so now let's all agree that shaming a child for who she is, naturally, is disgusting... and Beyonce doesn't condone it.
"Earned all this money but they'll never take the country out me."
"They'll"= money, the industry, fans... basically everyone. Don't let money erase the memory of who you are. Born and raised from a long line of queens, money can never hide or cover that truth.
"I dream it, I work hard, I grind 'til I own it."
This line is everything that ambitious and working people need to know: it's not yours until it's yours. Many of us are getting paid minimum wage from a company who makes millions off of the work we do for them.
"You just might be a black Bill Gates in the making...I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making."
The line just before it, "I might get your song played on the radio station" made me think about that quote, "what if the cure for cancer is trapped in the mind of someone who can't afford an education?" Having a vision for someone means being the extra hand to push them to do great in life. Everyone can be great. Basically, f*ck a hierarchy.
The lyrics are deep, but not as deep as what is shown in the video. This is a message that can be grasped correctly only when watching the music video.
The video is clearly heavy with hurricane (Katrina) references. Queen B is lying on the roof of a New Orleans police car at the start of the music video. The video shows the transformations of southern developed styles for women. The singer constantly refers to her southern life, calling herself a "Texas Bamma", having one parent from Alabama and the other from Lousiana, but being raised until her adulthood in Texas. This is evidently a reference to how strong and prominent southern cultures are, and the appropriation of these cultures as they move from southern and northern blacks to become transformed by northern whites.
The artist puts the women in a position of authority, creating a sense of power and unity amongst black women. Women play a major role in this music video, each of them at one point wearing afros like Blue in an effort to normalize the natural. But despite women being of the utmost importance, she includes "hands up, don't shoot" forcing viewers to recognize that black lives actually do matter.
Beyoncé's silence was broken only to push fans to recognize what is happening in the world today. Real artists want viewers and listeners to feel something, they want to evoke an emotion, to make fans want to do something.
