Can we all take a moment to STAN for the human and half that is Beyonce Knowles-Carter?
Ladies if you haven’t seen Bey’s documentary, you should. Why? 5 reasons. But before we go all gangster on you though, a brief background on Coachella.
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival also known as Coachella or the Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festivalheld at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire’s Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. It was co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen in 1999, and is organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Live.[ The event features musical artists from many genres of music, including rock, pop, hip hop, and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures.
Huffpost puts it rather aptly “Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is considered one of the music industry’s premier festivals, connecting the dots between musical generations and genres with a diverse lineup that attracts fans from around the globe.”
Beyoncé is the first African-American to headline Coachella. One interesting thing about Bey’s appearance at Coachella is: she didn’t identify as a woman of color, she identified as BLACK! Meaning, Bey was here for REPRESENTATION and boy did she do representation right!
“It was more important that I brought our culture to Coachella. It was important that I represent people that had never seen themselves represented. I wanted every person that has ever being dismissed because of their look feel like they were on that stage.”
Here are five things we learnt from Beyoncé’s Homecoming.
- Representation
In Bey’s documentary, we could see a true celebration of black culture. HBCU’s were FULLY represented. Bey acknowledged that being black is hard especially as a woman and to be given the honor of headlining a music festival as a black woman gave her the platform to see a people, a generation, a race, which hitherto had been marginalized and boxed, represented fully.
According to her “I wanted us not only to be proud of the show, but the process. Proud of the struggle. Thankful for the beauty that comes with a painful history and rejoice in the pain…We were able to create a free safe space where none of us were marginalized.”
2. The term “Hardwork” is not a myth, to achieve that success you desire, you must be willing to put in all the work!
Post Partum, Beyonce was a whooping 218 pounds. Not only did she lose all the baby fat through badass HARDWORK, she killed it. Bey snapped back with a bang. Through Homecoming she demystified the myth that all celebrities go under the knife to get their hot bods. Not all go under the knife, some commit to not eating “starch” and “diary” products for a while like Beyonce did, some others commit to not just having a diet flip they go for a complete lifestyle change.
Weight aside though, can we talk about the tenacity and hardwork that went into rehearsals and achieving an overall flawless performance?
Yawl, bey rehearsed 14 hours EVERYDAY for 8 months for a 2 hour performance? She handpicked EVERY SINGLE dancer and singer. She was specific about the costumes- colors, sequins, tailoring and what they represented, the stage- the height, the shape, the steps….
“I am particular about details, I handpicked every dancer, went through the motion on every single thing.”
Quite frankly that much attention to details couldn’t be about one performance, it really had to be about a culture…naah scratch that, a SPIRIT of excellence.
3. Sisterhood
Beyonce brought Destiny’s Child with her on this one and she kept telling the audience, “these are my best friends”, cheering the crowd to hail them, to celebrate them. She reinforced what sisterhood truly means. Question is how many women would share such an historic moment with friends? Many are held back by insecure thoughts like “she will steal my show”
Quite crazy but sadly very true. Bey truly represented what it means to be secure and confident in the belief that “opening doors for other women doesn’t reduce another’s essence/worth in anyway” Her bringing Destiny’s Child up on that stage was a practical representation of women supporting women and female empowerment in all entirety.
And just when we thought she had schooled us on Sisterhood, Bey took it a notch higher by bringing her baby sister, Solange up on the stage and their performance? Totally cool
You really should see Homecoming.
Seriously though, Beyonce would not be Beyonce without her girls and she definitely doesn’t shy away from that.
4. Celebration of Culture
For Beyonce, the stage is her home, always has been since she was a kid. When Bey brought culture- African Culture into Lemonade, some of us thought it was brilliant marketing idea. Well, with Coachella, Bey came on full force with the #Black-AfricanCulture thrashing preconceived notions and scoring several “power” points while at it. Yawl, she handpicked ALL her dancers, and was specific about each dancer representing a culture that speaks to more people other than herself. If you have watched the docu, you would notice that there was a Nigerian girl (Edidiong Ema) on that stage and she nailed those dance moves.
5. Being Feminist doesn’t mean you have to dislike Men.
Being feminist doesn’t mean you have to dislike men!
We had to repeat that line so you can marinate on it. It is possible to be pro-woman but not anti man. Beyonce loved up on JayZ in Homecoming, she let him share her light, her world, this historic moment with her. The part she had everyone chorus “hey Mrs Carter” was everything!
She also allowed her male dancers shine. The men had room on stage to showcase their beautiful steps and moves.
Yawl, Homecoming is more than a documentary. It is an experience!
We STAN??????
