On April 17, 2019 Beyoncé partnered with Netflix and released a documentary called “Homecoming”. The documentary highlighted her two week performance at Coachella, a music festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
Beyoncé is more than just an artist, she is a visionary.
Beyoncé performed April of 2018 as the first Black female to headline the festival which first started in October 1999.
Artists come together every April for two weekends and perform for roughly around a quarter of a million die hard music lovers.
In an article published by TIME, she shares what it meant for her to be the first Black female headliner: “As a black woman, I used to feel like the world wanted me to stay in my little box. Black women often feel underestimated. I wanted us to be proud of not only the show, but proud of the process. Proud of the struggle. Thankful for the beauty that comes with a painful history and rejoice in the pain, rejoice in the imperfections and the wrongs that are so damn right. I wanted everyone to feel grateful for their curves, their sass, and their honesty. Thankful for their freedom.”
Beyoncé’s performance was one of the best anyone has ever seen, whether or not you like her music. She gave everything in herself to make this performance a memorable one.
The documentary shows what her life looked like leading up to the performance. She practiced every single day for hours.
Beyoncé was influenced by a HBCU Experience, which is short for a Historically Black College and University. She paid tribute to the HBCU Experience by featuring a full marching band, majorette dances, and a step show.
In the documentary, they show how she was supposed to perform in 2017; but, due to getting pregnant and having twins, she promised the fans she would headline in 2018. She had multiple health complications, but at the end of the day she is overall Beyoncé, so nothing is impossible for her.
Paige Scholl, a Communications major, was in awe of the documentary: “The movie was life changing. I cannot stop listening to the Live Album. She is a Queen.”
I have to agree, it was something no one could ever recreate, nor imagine what it took for this to happen.
The live album can now be streamed on all music platforms, such as Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal- which her and her husband Jay Z bought for $56 million in 2015.
TIME Magazine also released a list of what one would learn from the documentary. One would learn the following; she wanted to go to college but unfortunately could not because of her music career. Her performance needed to be more than just flower crowns and glitter. “I studied my history, I studied my past, and I put every mistake, all of my triumphs, my 22-year career into my two-hour Homecoming performance,” said Beyoncé.
It has only been a few weeks since it has been released and it already has gotten great reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it scored a 97 percent; on Metacritic 92 percent; and on IMDb 7.6/10.
Just recently the actress Sandra Oh gave a shout out to Beyoncé in her TIME 100 Gala Speech. She praised the work that went into the documentary and how she encourages empathy, advance culture and one day achieve equality.
This documentary is very inspiring. Especially for me being a black female, and looking at how she was able to overcome all her hardships- this just proves once you are motivated and determined, nothing is impossible. She is named the Queen for a reason.
If you have not seen or listened to the album already, it is something everyone should do when they get the chance. She takes the old school music and puts her flare to it so all walks of life can enjoy it.