No, Beyoncé is not bashing the police: Here's what her new song 'Formation' is really saying

No, Beyoncé is not bashing the police: Here's what her new song 'Formation' is really saying

  

(Screenshot via Beyonce/Parkwood Entertainment) An image of Beyonce in the "Formation" music video. 

The pinnacle of any music artist's evolution probably looks a lot like this.

You release a new song online, without any previous announcement, and in just an hour or two, virtually all of the internet — and pretty much the world — is talking about you and your work.

Do it the day before you're set to perform at the most important American sporting event of the year, and your personal stock shoots through the stratosphere.

That's a place an artist like Beyoncé is very familiar with.

The music video for her newest song, "Formation," has become the most political message she's ever shared, evoking powerful images of black cultural pride, oppression, wealth, tragedy, and resilience.

It's not just a video about the police, as some who apparently wanted to boycott Beyoncé's halftime performance appear to believe.

The video makes two implicit references to law enforcement, and here they are:

Hurricane Katrina

The music video's opening frames show Beyoncé, a 20-time Grammy Award winner, standing on top of a New Orleans police car that is partially submerged in water. It's a visceral look that harks back to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 storm that killed hundreds and left thousands homeless and without food or clean water for days. It was one of the biggest failures in US domestic policy of a generation.

In her video, Beyoncé rests on top of the New Orleans police car as she, and the cruiser, sink beneath the surface.

Police shootings

Another scene that seems to have caused a lot of conversation is one in which a young boy, dressed in all black and wearing a hoodie, jigs to the track's bass-heavy beat. Quickly, we see he's dancing in front of a row of police officers who are dressed in riot gear.

Suddenly, he stops and lifts his hands. The officers respond in kind, lifting their hands, as the camera cuts to a wall that shows the words, "stop shooting us" spray-painted on it.

 

This scene is a tacit statement on police brutality and use of force — which has been a leading topic of discussion in the US for the past several years as black men, women, and children have been killed by the police in controversial circumstances.

"Formation" also declares the importance of owning one's identity. In the lyrics, Beyoncé asserts her love of the fact that she is genuinely, unapologetically black:

"My daddy Alabama || Momma Louisiana || You mix that Negro with that Creole, make a Texas Bama || I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros || I like my Negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils ..."

And it goes on. The point is, Beyoncé is proud of being black and unafraid to say it.

 

The video also amplifies the artist's personal and professional success, which quickly becomes a bold, ethno-feminist statement when Beyoncé says: "I might just be a black Bill Gates in the making." To date, she remains one of the wealthiest women in the music business.

Jenna Wortham summed it up best in The New York Times:

"'Formation' isn't just about police brutality — it's about the entirety of the black experience in America in 2016, which includes standards of beauty, (dis)empowerment, culture and the shared parts of our history."