The Beyoncé “Formation” video and Super Bowl Halftime Show are drawing fire from some pretty heavy hitters. Rudy Giuliani, former NYC mayor, is livid, according to New York Daily News, seeing the video as an attack on police officers. Fox News celebrities chimed in, as well. NewsDay reports Long Island Congressman Peter King is also furious that Beyoncé used her Super Bowl appearance to promote her political agenda. But politicians aren’t the only ones stirred up by Beyoncé’s act.
The Beyoncé “Formation” video and Super Bowl Halftime Show has everyone either defending Bey, or letting her have it with both barrels. All over the internet and especially on YouTube, everyone is sounding off. One thing is certain: Beyoncé made a statement that not everyone agrees with, but they all want to talk about it.
The Beyoncé “Formation” lyrics mention Red Lobster, and that company could not be happier. CNN Money reports Red Lobster sales have increased by 33 percent since the video was released. They could not have produced a better commercial. Most interesting of all, Red Lobster trended for the first time in company history.
The Beyoncé “Formation” Video and Super Bowl Halftime Show has certainly ruffled feathers on all sides. The most controversial elements of her Super Bowl performance were the black panther berets worn by Bey’s dancers. Beyoncé’s own apparently real rifle bullet bandoleros also raised some eyebrows, as well as the explicit song lyrics and her giving a raised fist, a black power symbol. The video was even more controversial. Some felt the presentation of New Orleans Katrina video, 10 years later, was exploitive and in poor taste. Others saw the “stop shooting us” grafitti an accusation toward police. There were also references to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Some felt that these were exploitive. Others felt her portrayal of southern blacks was too much, especially the lyrical content.
Beyoncé though remains true to her original intent to create a powerful statement and rallying cry for Black Lives Matter, an organization that she strongly supports. The controversial performance and video have started a dialogue. Not everyone is comfortable with that dialogue, but it is one that Bey apparently wants to have.
The Root has an excellent article explaining the artistry of the video, and what Beyoncé is trying to put forth.
“Artists grow into themselves. We watch them develop. She doesn’t have to play it pop-safe anymore, and this show hasn’t been PG-13 since ‘Drunk in Love’ dropped. Beyoncé is grown. She wants to have grown conversations with her audience. You can’t get much more grown than talking about police brutality and gender studies. So let’s reciprocate and meet the Queen Bey on her level. Let’s get all that ‘conversation’ going that she alludes to in ‘Formation.’… Blackness is complex. In this video she points out all those complexities and how they exist in her, in all of us.”
The Beyoncé “Formation” Video and Super Bowl Halftime Show are an artistic expression of Bey’s own creation, or at least that’s how The Root explains it. It is also an anthology of images, having little in common except that these are all her expression of self as a black woman. It is at her discretion as an artist the form of self expression she chooses.
The Beyonce “Formation” Video and Super Bowl Half Time Show are probably the most controversial musical statements in many years.
[Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]
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