By Brianna Holcomb – Arts and Entertainment Editor
As everyone patiently waited for Super Bowl 50 to happen last weekend, Beyoncé once again seized the opportunity to release new music. On Saturday night Beyonce released her newest single “Formation.”
As expected, people went crazy on social media over the release of “Formation” and its music video. The video not only made a major impact on the Beyhive (Beyoncé’s fans) but also on Black empowerment movements such as “Black Girl Magic” and “Black Lives Matter.”
Timelines were filled with screenshots from the video that featured Blue Ivy, Beyoncé’s four-year-old daughter, and the backdrop to the video that captured what many New Orleans’ neighborhoods looked like after Hurricane Katrina.
As the video made its way around the Internet many people debated whether or not the song was truly an instance of activism or just another pointless, catchy tune made by Beyoncé. Why can’t it be both?
After listening to the lyrics of “Formation,” it is clear that Beyoncé has taken the time to address the many “issues” that people have chosen to comment on about her life.
The very opening line of the song is, “Y’all haters corny with that illuminati mess.” She is commenting on the numerous accusations that she and her husband, Jay-Z, rose to stardom at the hands of a secret society called the Illuminati.
The song also addresses other complaints such as the size of her husband’s nose, her southern heritage and Blue Ivy’s nappy hair. In classic Beyoncé fashion, she takes the time to speak to her haters not using a spokesperson, but her own lyrics.
As for the Black empowerment aspect of the song, the lyrics do not cover this at all. However, the music video speaks volumes to this.
Throughout the video Beyoncé incorporates a multitude of images that speak to police brutality and the standard of beauty found in the United States.
The images found in the backdrop of the music video speak to her political stance and her personal views. Throughout the video, images such as a police car submerged in water or a wall with graffiti reading “don’t shoot us” shows that Beyoncé is supportive of the Black empowerment movement.
My favorite image in the video features Beyoncé and her dancers in an empty pool. Every dancer is not only an African-American woman but they are all wearing afros.
Many have said that her persistent use of women of color as her dancers is a jab at other female artists who are thought to appropriate the culture of people of color by incorporating their clothing or dances without attributing it to women of color.
“Formation” is definitely not a video with hidden messages. If anything, the theme is jumping off of the screen at the viewer. The lyrics, although pointless and repetitive, do let the public know exactly how Beyoncé feels about everyone’s opinions on her life.
Whether or not you think the song is a form of activism or just a catchy tune, one thing is for sure: The song makes me appreciate my “baby hairs and afro.”