

Beyoncé shocked the world earlier this year by dropping a surprise song called “Formation” on Youtube and Tidal, her newest song since about two years ago. She picked a great time to release this as it was before she was due to perform in the halftime show at the Super Bowl 50 (NY Times). Beyoncé had social media in a frenzy over her song. Her lyrics were plastered over pictures and used as captions. Dance videos were being made with her song. People genuinely enjoyed “Formation”, but where there is love, there is also hate. Lots of mixed feelings were being spread across social media. Controversial conversations sparked across forums, messages and comment sections alike. Although Beyoncé’s video is visually pleasing with the different shots, angles and characters, one might find that her video is somehow appropriating and exploiting the black community. Shots of a post- Hurricane Katrina neighborhood and a small Black Lives Matter platform in her video did not sit well with some people and they accuse her of using these well-known subjects to simply promote herself. On the other hand, people found that it was not exploitation, and that in fact, Beyoncé was using these different sensitive topics to uplift black people and show that she is still a part of the black community. Those strong and negative accusations greatly overshadow the supposed good that came out of this video. Beyoncé used the “Formation” video as a platform to bring her back into the spotlight and to remind people of who she is, not to uplift the black community.

In the beginning, the voice of the late and popular New Orleans bounce rapper and comedian Messy Mya is heard bringing in the song. Many say this is a tribute to Messy Mya because in some way, Beyoncé is highlighting his unfortunate death back in 2010. Although it is great to acknowledge the people who were taken away too soon and were very popular amongst many, no recognition is actually given in the song. There is no clear statement about who this person was or what happened. So how is this acknowledgment real when no explanation is given? Another popular bounce rapper is given a line in Beyoncé’s song, Big Freedia. Again, no recognition whatsoever, and because Beyoncé included both of them in her song, some kind of distinction between the voices would have been great because both individuals sound very similar, almost too similar to tell apart for someone who isn’t familiar with them. 

Beyoncé on top of the police car in the beginning of her video and several times throughout her video left a sour taste in some mouths since Hurricane Katrina is still sort of a touchy subject to speak on. The scene with Beyoncé being submerged under water with the car is seen as very distasteful and is not as supportive as she may have thought it was. To a Katrina survivor, that scene alone could trigger a horrific flashback of seeing a loved one or even just a random body engorged with water floating by. No one wants to be reminded of tragedies, especially not by a celebrity in a music video. That is too harsh for a music video; she is reminding people about something that changed their lives forever. Of course, that event is never going to leave their minds, but it is better to keep it tucked away that have it be brought forward. To some, it would seem as she is showing New Orleans lots of love and attention but instead, she is just “exacerbating a trauma” (Lewis).

Beyoncé’s video looks like it is in support of black people and the black community, but some of her lyrics and visuals suggest something different. In the first part of her song, she sings the lyrics, “My daddy Alabama, mama Louisiana. You mix that Negro with that Creole, make a Texas bama.” To an outsider, this is just a woman embracing her roots. This line shows a woman who is proud of who she is and is not afraid to let the world know, but to someone who does know, this line is embracing but for the wrong reasons. For years in New Orleans, there have been problems between people who claim to be Creole and Negros. Creoles were distinctive from blacks because they had a mixed culture. Being Creole in New Orleans put you in a better light, meaning that if one happened to be Creole, one would get treated better. They had “educational, occupational, social and political opportunities” (Blay) that non-Creole people could not have access to. This is a separation of the black community and Beyoncé is celebrating the fact that she is a part of it. 

To add insult to injury, Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy makes a couple of appearances in her video. Blue Ivy is first seen with two other little girls running around inside of a living room. They look like they are having genuine fun playing with each other but the next time they are seen, they have stopped running and are standing side by side next to each other. They all have on similar, long, ivory colored dresses except Blue Ivy’s dress is more child-like with spaghetti straps and a pretty veil attached behind her head. Her companions on the other hand, both have on dresses that look more grown up. Their dresses look more like they are going to church and not playing with friends. One of them has on a hat which adds on to the fact that they look more like little adults. The two girls are dressed like “old women afraid of the sun” (Blay) while Blue looks like a regular child. It is not hard to see that Blue is a different complexion which brings on the main question. Why is Blue, a lighter skinned little girl dressed differently than her darker skinned friends? The two darker girls have no smile on their faces; they look unhappy. They have their hands at their sides and folded in front of them like they are in their old age while Blue is smiling and happy with her hands on her hips. This scene looks innocent as it involves children, but it is very questionable and has hidden meanings that would not be noticed in general. The separation of these three little girls represent the separation of the African-Americans in New Orleans with the Negros and Creoles. 

Beyoncé’s entire video is not about supporting black people, it is more about using things that are important to black people and using it to promote herself while hurting them as well. Most people say this is the new black people anthem, but nowhere in the lyrics does Beyoncé say anything that would boost or inspire black people. If someone was to actually pay attention to her lyrics after watching the video, they would see that they have almost nothing to do with the video. If anything, her lyrics are just catchy phrases. In the beginning of her song she talks about her origins and how that makes her who she is, but the rest is just nonsense. “Formation” is not a power anthem nor is it helpful to black people. It is a “Beyoncé anthem” because all it talks about is her. She used catchy lyrics and a somewhat pro-black video to lure in viewers to watch her and add extra hype to her upcoming Super Bowl performance. She uses this background of “blackness” to put herself back in the limelight as she had not had a new song since 2014.
