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In the first few minutes after her shut down Super Bowl 50 performance, the buzz was all about her. Pop queen Beyoncé and her new Formation hit got a standing ovation. Besides, how would you describe such a ground-breaking performance that made Coldplay and Bruno Mars look like ‘others’ among significant equals? Beyoncelicious!
But then, even before her fans were done with the celebrations, critics were poking holes into the performance that will no doubt go into history books as one of the most bold political activism moves any artiste has made in our generation. Internationally, the story has gotten its own life. Backlashing critics, or is it the conservatives, think Beyoncé has gone racial.
Beyoncé was clad in a black leotard, her black jacket embellished with gold. It was a look made to nod the late king of pop, Michael Jackson. It was a bandolier of bullets that brought back the memories of Michael Jackson’s 1993 world tour.
She had female dancers, who too went all black. They had afros and black berets. This look was also symbolic; it was in reference to the Black Panther Party movement of the 1960s. Besides, her new song Formation, which she was performing in public for the first time, gives significance to Black Lives Matter (BLM). BLM is an international activist movement, originating in the African-American community, which campaigns against violence towards black people.
The video shows the pop star standing on top of a sinking police car and graffiti paintings inscribed with the words “Stop Shooting Us”. There is a white boy dancing in front of police officers in riot gear.
“The halftime show I thought was ridiculous anyway. I don’t know what the heck it was. A bunch of people bouncing around and all strange things. It was terrible,” Giuliani said.
“This is football, not Hollywood,” he said, “and I thought it was really outrageous that she used it as a platform to attack police officers who are the people who protect her and protect us, and keep us alive.”
Members of the National Sheriff’s Association watching the game during an annual meeting turned off the halftime show, The Washington Examiner reported.
The group’s president said they did so because they were offended by the video. However, in Beyoncé’s support, Black Lives Matter activist Deray McKesson, who is running for mayor in Baltimore, hailed the star’s performance, tweeting: “At its core, she is reminding us that economic justice is a key component to liberation work.”
What is wrong with Beyoncé going political? In the past, music has been used to stir up revolutions. This could. The lyrics address the social issues affecting the American society. It brings out facts on the way people see things with flashbacks on past injustices such as slavery and oppression.
The statements made by the Formation lyrics, even though some sound cocky, are bold in addressing social and insecurity issues that make the theme of the song. She employs the use of current affairs themes such as social media; Messy Myra, a YouTube sensation who was mysteriously gunned down in 2010 after his controversial videos that addressed social injustices became popular.
For the first time, she goes ahead to addressed the devil-worshiping, and illuminati rumours, a possible secret society that plans to take over the world with money, and technology, and some even believe them to be devil worshipers who gain success because of Lucifer himself. She goes ahead to give reference to church, painting it as the ideal place for empowering people.
She insinuates that she is not interested in being ‘white’ spanning a racial debate that has been top in the pop culture were accent, dialect, skin colour and origin have post an hindrance to many talented singer’s breakthrough.
“I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils. Earned all this money but they never take the country out me got hot sauce in my bag, swag...” she declares.
-Additional information from the Internet
