What Is Beyonce's Song 'Formation'

Although the critically acclaimed album titled Lemonade received positive feedback for the way its visuals captured the struggles of black Americans, specifically black women, there is one song off the album that obviously emphasizes the adversities they are facing. In the beginning of the first verse of Freedom (featuring Kendrick Lamar), she uses the imagery of storm to reference her struggle towards being free. This is a reoccurring theme throughout the song, she continues to use words that are synonymous to disaster and generally negative.

While most of the lyrics in Beyoncé’s “Formation” music video are bold statements and used to represent social issues amongst Black America, it can be vividly seen the video uses several rhetorical approaches and signs to present the answer to the initial question: “What happened after New Orleans?” This scene also has Beyoncé standing on top of a New Orleans Police Department vehicle while surrounded by flooding water, which we’re led to believe is part of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Logos is established when Beyoncé addresses the rumors that she’s a part of the illuminate. This is the first time we’ve heard the starlet mention it since there have been hundreds of accusations linking her, Jay Z, Chris Brown and other black celebrities to the possible secret society. By her recognizing the rumor and attempting to dissolve it to present a great issue, she demonstrates great use of logos because she’s able argue her reasoning and persuade the targeted audience.

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.

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

Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade gives a more personal view of her upbringing and how it influences the person she is today. One song in particular, “Formation,” explains how she was raised and how hard she worked to earn everything she owns. As a black woman, Beyoncé worked especially hard to overcome prejudice to become the iconic artist she is today. Beyoncé’s intention behind “Formation” is to empower all black people, but especially black women. Malcolm X’s speech “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself” delves into the racism that African Americans have always faced in America. In this speech, he questions why African Americans feel the need to separate themselves from their own race. In her article, “Beyoncé and #BlackLivesMatter,”Anna

After the Super Bowl, controversy surrounded Beyonce and her new song “Formation”. I personally never heard the song, but decided to look into the lyrics and see how they hold up to the definition of beauty defined by God and to better understand what people were upset about. Cameron McAllister states, “God’s purpose of beauty unites, is selfless, and

On February 6, 2016 ‘Formation’ was released. Besides the controversy surrounding ‘XO’ ‘Formation has to be the most controversial song and music video she has ever released. Featuring lyrics like “I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils // When he f*** me good I take his a** to Red Lobster cause I slay.” Her music video featured her sitting on top of a New Orleans Police Department patrol car surrounded by a flood, a sign that says “Stop Shooting Us” and audio of Big Freedia What caused the true backlash of ‘Formation’ happened the next day on February 7. On, Super Bowl Sunday during halftime Beyonce performed ‘Formation’ live on national television. Beyonce and her backup dancers were dressed in Black Panther-esque costumes. Leading critics to say that her performance was racist and promoting anti-police sediment and has lead to police attempting protests the Super Bowl performance. Beyonce, herself has spoken out about the controversy. “I’m an artist and I think the most powerful art is usually misunderstood,” she said. “But anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken. I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of the officers who sacrifice themselves to keeps us safe. But let’s be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate

Over the past few years, racial tensions in America have heightened. During this period, Black America undergo the daily struggle of witnessing the killing of unarmed black men and women. Victims of these endless killings and police brutality, turned into one of many hashtags, which led to the formations of the Black Lives Matter movement. Solange Knowles, younger sister of Beyoncé, soul singer and songwriter was viewed as the angry black woman. Solange used her platform to speak up. She became the most outspoken black artist for black activism in recent years. She embodies the image of a carefree black girl who is willing to let the world know that she is proud of her blackness.

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.

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

“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.

“Baptize me… now that reconciliation is possible. If we’re gonna heal, let it be glorious” (Beyoncé, Lemonade). In Beyoncé’s latest visual album, Lemonade, she includes multiple visuals and poetry that help facilitate discussion about Black Lives Matter and black empowerment. The quote references the tension between whites and blacks in the United States. Black Lives Matter is a movement that works to strengthen the black community in the United States following acts of police brutality throughout the past years.

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

This song has a lot of emotion behind it. I believe that when Beyoncé sings this song, she is sending off a message to the families of those who lost their lives during 9/11. She is singing from the victim’s point of view saying to remember me for the positive impact I have made in the world and how I strived to make the world a better place. She is singing to tell us that no matter how rich, successful, or famous you may be, always live your life to the fullest because you never know when it

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