It only took two hours and 17 minutes for Beyoncé to prove that she is, indeed, the Queen Bey.
Netflix’s “Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé” is a concert film that goes in-depth about Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival performance. While the film talks about her performance and the representation behind it, it also touches on her domestic life with children and a husband and how she juggled it all with limited time.
Beyoncé’s performance speaks highly of African-American culture. A lot of the designs, dances and performances that were showcased at Coachella, like the drumlines and stepping routines, are from Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs).
Beyoncé, who is the first African-American woman to headline Coachella, said that she has always wanted to go to a HBCU, but since she became a star at such a young age, traveling the world and performing for thousands of people became her form of education or college. For her, it was world experiences that taught her a lot about what she knows today.
This shows just one of the many things that Beyoncé had to sacrifice to be the artist she is today. She put her dream of going to a HBCU aside in order to be in Destiny’s Child. If she did put college in front of her career, who knows where she would be today.
But despite having not gone to a HBCU, Beyoncé does a fantastic job of paying homage to the culture and bringing that recognition and atmosphere to a festival stage.
Beyoncé also talked about her life as a mother and wife. She explained that she was supposed to perform Coachella in 2017, but she got pregnant with twins unexpectedly, which hindered her from performing.
In the film, Beyoncé tells viewers the complications that occurred while being pregnant with the now almost 2-year-old twins.
With toxemia, preeclampsia and other problems, Beyoncé had to rebuild her mind and body to perform at the high caliber that she does.
The concert film reveals how artists, including Beyoncé, are willing to sacrifice their time to put on an excellent performance for audiences.
Instead of working countless hours rehearsing for the festival, Beyoncé could have been spending time with her husband, rapper Jay-Z, her daughter, Blue Ivy, and her newborns.
However, many people are oblivious to the amount of time that artists spend creating their shows. Many concert-goers are just there for the one or two-hour experience and leave without giving a second thought to the experiences that the artist forfeited to put on the show. Concert-goers should be more aware of the time and effort put into performances.
There are Beyoncé critics that say that she is overrated and that she is like any other singer and songwriter out there.
However, watching this film just shows that Beyoncé is on her own level of excellence. For just a festival, she endured months of rehearsals, time away from her family and hours of practice every day, making her production unlike any other.
This concert film is unlike any other. These films allow people are able to see the devotion that performers have in order to bring their entertainment to a platform. It is refreshing to see such high talent work not only on stage, but behind the scenes as well.
Beyoncé deserves the title of “Queen Bey” and her fans are excited to see what she will do next.
The two-hour film was also accompanied with a 40-song live album that has been released on music streaming devices and “Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé” is available for streaming now on Netflix.
By Cammie Dutchess, Staff Writer
jonesdca17@bonaventure.edu
