Beyoncé dropped a bomb at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, and she doesn’t even care. During her performance, Beyoncé debuted her new single “Formation.” With a group of afro wearing women, she dominated the show and Twitter and has now globally caused a stir.
As a young woman from Brooklyn who can be categorized as Afro-latina, there is nothing more inspiring than seeing a woman of color embracing everything that society says is wrong about her.
This is an anthem.
Get into formation as you catwalk to class because being in a college that’s primarily white can cause a culture shock that can leave you feeling a little weak.
Both the music video and song convey a message so clear it confuses people. What could she possibly mean when she says she loves her blackness?
This song is a semantic drive-by to almost every slur ever used against a black person. The video contains so much imagery from Beyoncé lying on top of a flooded cop car to her vintage, southern apparel that represents her childhood in Texas. Beyoncé touches on topics such as Hurricane Katrina, police brutality, black beauty and black feminism.
It has been nearly three weeks since the initial drop of “Formation.” In that time, the song has left many people contemplating life or at least asking what the song is even about.
“You know you are that bitch when you cause all this conversation,” Beyoncé sings.
Music has always been an outlet for people to express themselves. Today, we are facing a musical uprising with more and more artists using their audience and fame to shine a light on issues of the disenfranchised.
Musicians like Beyoncé, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, among others, are using their massive fan base to support organizations Black Lives Matters and other organizations. On the day “Formation” was released, Tidal, a music streaming website, donated $1.5 million to Black Lives Matter and other similar organizations.
This isn’t the first time Beyoncé has used her stardom for good. Her previous album, “Beyoncé,” released in 2013, brought awareness to the latest feminist movement. She’s come back three years later with a single that is forcing people to become more socially conscious, playing into the fairly new black activist movement that has taken over this country the last two years. Beyoncé’s voice is the most influential push for the Black Lives Matters movement currently.
Beyoncé simply chooses to love her black culture and herself as a black woman. She uses phrases of relatability and praise to showcase her love for her culture. Some great things that have come out of the whirlwind of civil rights activism are the movements telling people to embrace who they are and encouraging them to not let racist individuals spoil their lives.
Because you slay and Beyoncé slays, all she really wants is for us to slay together.
To me, “Formation” is a love letter to all cultures who have been criticized for their beliefs that says, “I’m here, and I’m in love with who I am.”
She has hot sauce in her purse, she loves her baby’s afro, her nose and her blackness.
No matter how many times black body features have been bashed in the past and how they are being appropriated in the present, this song chooses to say, “I know I am beautiful, and you can never take that away from me.”
So, let the conversation begin.
Email Sadie Cruz at sadie.cruz@cardinalpointsonline.com
