Commentary On Bonce's Breakdown By Beyonce

Beyoncé Knowles’s Lemonade video album brings the words of Beyoncé into a visual media and shows the viewer a deeper meaning behind the album. After this video came out many articles came forward analyzing Lemonade. One article, in particular, that was intriguing is Bell Hooks “Moving Beyond Pain.” Hooks starts her article saying that the Lemonade video was created as a money-making, business strategy, but as the text continues the reader can conclude that “Moving Beyond Pain” is actually about African American women, and women in general, standing up for themselves.

Beyoncé Knowles, a well-known singer, songwriter uses two of her songs: “Freedom” and “Formation” to tell the story of herself. “Freedom” is the beginning of her story where she is searching for freedom and equality showing that there is still much inequality and injustice for African Americans in America today. The song slowly transitions to a more positive tone when she seems to have made something beneficial out of her difficult situation. “Formation,” however, has a completely different tone. While she does address negative situations from the past at the beginning of the song, she quickly transitions to a more positive tone full of pride in where she came from, who she has become, and what she has overcome. Together, the two songs

One of the most prominent visuals in Lemonade is the setting of New Orleans, Louisiana. In current times, New Orleans is most closely associated with the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2004, in which a strong hurricane devastated the city and left many killed, injured, or homeless. There was national criticism of the government’s handling of Katrina, stating that the government took too long to respond to the crisis due to the city being mostly populated by blacks. However, this is not the only aspect of New Orleans that is central to Lemonade’s narrative. The video also shows staples of the old American South during the time of slavery, such as plantation homes and slave quarters. In this setting, Beyoncé indulges a fantasy of an all-black utopia dominated by women, who dress up, take photographs, and

All, of the dancers in this music video are African-American, and it is very clear. None of their hair is straightened, they are all in Black Panther-esque outfits, and they are “unapologetically black.” The concept of this video is head-on addressing systemic racism. An obvious example is the dancers but there are also many more. For one, the opening scene, as referenced earlier, includes Beyoncé herself standing on a police car flooded in water while a clip saying “What happened in the New Orleans?” plays in the background. This artist is using her platform to bring attention to the hurricane in New Orleans and how there was little to nothing done by police there. She is calling out the system in this video.

For nearly twenty years, Beyoncé has lived her life in the public eye yet she has always kept her cool, been submissive, and rather quiet when it came to her personal endeavors however after releasing the film “Lemonade”, we are able to see her in a vulnerable light. In Jeremy Helliger’s article: “Dear Beyhive: Stop Whining. Beyoncé Still Hasn’t Earned Her Album Of The Year Grammy” he addresses the idea that although Beyoncé was able to encourage black women to be proud and free, she also she missed the mark by adding raunchy, over the top content to her vulnerability.

Beyoncé recently released her music video on Saturday February 6, 2016. Beyoncé 's "Formation" video forms messages in text and visuals that fits today 's social issues. They call attention to the audience mainly for women and Black America. This piece of rhetoric creates meaning in society by giving us events and visuals to help the

It also happened to be a guidance for that particular group of women on how to get over situations and heartbreaks. As for the video, it was another one of her forms for getting in touch with women’s feelings, being that it showed her resilience. By Beyoncé displaying resilience to women, they had hope in getting better and getting over their hardships. Being able to see how another woman handles situations that the audience has been through allows listeners to be able to learn from their experiences and possibly follow their

“One of the reasons I connect to the Super Bowl is that I approach my shows like an athlete” (Beyoncé, 2016). On Sunday, February 7th, 2016 the NFL Super Bowl 50 was hosted where the Panthers played against the Broncos. The halftime show was headlined by Coldplay, with special guest performers Beyonce and Bruno Mars. Beyonce took over the stage and with her performance the female singer was trying to make a serious political statement. At the halftime show, Beyoncé sang her most recent song called “Formation”, and it captured everyone's attention with her performance and was called out racist. Also the music video made a political issue that is now being charged.

Beyonce is an African American female artist making incorporating empowering messages for women around the world. She is creating work that speaks to an audience that might not receive authentic mainstream. Beyonce ultimate goal is to visually and sonically entice wisdom through her music. Recently in a shocking video release, Beyonce debuted a new song “Formation” as well as a politically charged music video. This song was an uproar in the music industry worldwide. Millions of people around the world negatively viewed this song as a controversy. The music video and song caused many people to debate and cause a worldwide conflict.

On February 6, 2016 Knowles released a song and video known as “Formation”, endorsing the #BlackLivesMovement and embracing her own blackness. “Formation” is an unapologetic message that identified the roots and history of black power, as Black History Month approached.This music video also gives her audience an insight that includes, imagery of the affects of Hurricane Katrina and the evolution of black culture and femininity. This allowed her viewers to visually understand the cruelty and immorality of police brutality; however, Knowles demonstrates the

The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.” Malcolm X speech is very powerful because it makes the point that being a black woman is the most oppressed the one that suffers most. This is why then throughout the film only African American woman are show and they are also shown as powerful woman because usually they are seen as less. Beyonce did do a great job of demonstrating the real African American women as women who deserve being respected by making them look warriors because throughout their lives they had to work extra hard when the rest of the people are

She uses this song to satirize racism. Moreover, the black hip hop group Public Enemy emphasizes that all people are the same in their song. They want to show white people are not superior and black people are not inferior. They encourage people to fight the power and against

Beyoncé’s choice of lyrics in the song “Formation” reflect a cultural reclamation and celebration of being multiple things: an African-American of any sex, a woman of any race, and specifically a black woman. These multiple messages are allowed for by lyrical content that ultimately asks members of all these marginalized groups to “get into formation” in singing an anthem for empowerment. “Formation” begins with a few words from Messy Mya, a YouTube personality who was murdered in 2010 and was known for his overt satire regarding violence against the black community in New Orleans. This sets the stage for the political message the following lyrics portray. “The intersection between hip-hop and politics has empowered a generation of youth to believe that they not only have rights but maybe even an obligation to make a difference in their world” (Alalman, p. 42, 2011). Expressing self-feelings, thoughts or views through music can make a change in the world, which is what Beyoncé does through her music. The actions in the song is further reinforced in the music video, through African American women fighting for respect on the streets, creating a sense of devotion in the audience. Moreover, the artist openly addresses the culture of open social hate towards black features “I like my baby hair with baby hair afro, I like my negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils”, to which she responds by accepting them as special traits to be cherished and not ashamed of. By embracing all these pejorative

It is hard to imagine someone who does not at least appreciate Beyoncé for what she is, a fierce woman who gives hope and life to not only little girls dreams but also boys and anyone else who is willing listen. She creates an atmosphere where anything is possible and people feed off of that. Countless times I have seen and heard people praising Queen B. This is what brings up the question, “whether the singer is a bona fide feminist or just a pop star cashing in on ‘girl power’”(Weiner). I would say it is the latter. It is great to have a woman such as Beyoncé be a ‘roles model’ for women and girls, young and old. But one must ask what is she tell the youth of today with her music. One might say she is telling females you can be powerful which I support a hundred percent. Another could say she is tell women to get what they want by using their body’s as sex symbols, which ok as well. I just do not think that being sexy is the right thing to teach young girl, to live up to. It is not

While on her previous albums, Beyoncé was trying to empower all women, on Lemonade, Beyoncé speaks directly to black women. “As Jacqui Germain astutely noted on feministing.com, ‘Beyonce using the specific cultural marker of ‘Becky,’ [a social trope for white womanhood] in Lemonade is less a question of who’s excluding whom and why, and more so just us watching Beyonce be the ... multi-layered Black woman’” (Thompson, C., 2016). It was through this album that Beyoncé changed how the public thought of her. She was no longer afraid to not fully share what she wanted to say about current culture, and finally talked straight to black women to raise them up. It was also through this album that Beyoncé changed her image. Before her sixth album, Beyoncé definitely had feminist songs, but with Lemonade, she used rage to share her message, a message telling women that even after getting married, a man may not always be right for