Beyoncé Makes Black History and Pop Culture History Again
Christmas is now Bey-Mas from here on out.
Anytime a Beyonce announcement is released to the public, the world stops. It’s become a rarity to see her live outside of a tour because of her mystery and privacy she’s established for over a decade now. The last televised performance Beyonce has done was back in 2022 in a pre-recorded performance of “Be Alive” from the film King Richard at the Oscars as the song was nominated for Best Original Song that year. So when Netflix announced that she was set to perform the halftime show during the Baltimore Ravens vs Houston Texans game in Houston on Christmas Day, the masses flocked to prepare. People were booking flights to Houston, others were renewing their Netflix subscriptions, even going as far as ordering her merch to dress appropriately for the occasion (whether in person or at home).
For any Beyonce performance, there really isn’t a way to set expectations because she will always go above it. But what we watched Wednesday night was more than a halftime show performance. This was a celebration of Black American culture and it’s contributions to not only the country genre but to history as well.
Platforming The Next Generation
Cowboy Carter was many people’s introduction to the country genre but especially to the many Black country artists that have be grinding for years in an industry that has been historically racist. Tierra Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Brittany Spencer, and Tanner Adell were together with Beyonce to sing Blackbird off the album in the pre-recorded section of the performance. We then saw Shaboozey appear to sing his verse on Sweet Honey Buckin during the live performance. This was a OMG moment after he was snubbed at the recent CMA awards.
We’ve seen how organizations like the CMA’s and CMT as well as country mainstays reacted to Beyonce, a Black-American woman from Houston, Texas, entering this country era. Beyonce sees what people say and knows she doesn’t have to prove that she belongs. And she knows that other Black country artists don’t have to prove their right to be here. She took this moment and had the young artists featured on the album showcase their talent on an national stage and on an international platform that is Netflix. These artists are the future of music and the future of country music.
Education Through Imagery
When it comes to performances, Beyonce is going to be both a storyteller and messenger. To the simple viewer, you see her dressed in white walking around a warehouse but it’s more than that. The color white has historic and spiritual significance in the Black diaspora but especially in Black American culture. The color often wore at funerals to celebrate life lived, at HBCU commencements to celebrate the future of the next generation, at generation crossing events to celebrate the present. She’s riding the horse the same as a rodeo queen and being led by a Black cowboy dressed in white as well. The floral carriages were an ode to Juneteenth pageants but specifically to the pageants in Houston in the 3rd Ward. The marching band giving a full drumline across the field marching with her as she sang. Black American history on full display in front of the eyes of millions who try to deny or erase it from the books that repeatedly hide it from the youth that would continue the oral history of their ancestors.
Amplifying The Culture Definers
There were many questions of who the people we saw on screen during the show were. Many of us didn’t have the knowledge of the importance of every individual to not just the performance but cowboy culture and Black culture. The Compton Cowboys are represented at the end of 16 Carriages, Ja’Dayia Kursh, the first Black rodeo queen in Arkansas, riding in a car during Jolene. The band that performed with her was The Ocean of Soul Band of HBCU Texas Southern University located in Houston. These individuals are a part of Black history in their own right and talent and were introduced to the world to new unfamiliar eyes. The rest of the world knows who they are and are now cemented in visually history in this performance.
Displaying Unapologetic Black Girlhood
We truly felt like aunties when we saw Beyonce’s daughter, Blue Ivy, dancing with her mother. Blue has been performing with her mother on stage for a few years now and we remember her performing in the latter half of the Renaissance tour last year. We’ve seen Blue grow up and be raised by her mother to not only love herself but to express herself as a young Black girl in whatever she pursued. This month alone was monumental for Blue as she made her film debut as Kiara in Mufasa: The Lion King that premiered just last week. She now has made her 2nd TV appearance (The first being at the 2022 Oscars with her mother). You can tell Beyonce was not at work with her daughter, she was embracing Black joy with her child through their love of music. That “Run me to the left and spin me to the middle Blue” during Texas Hold ‘Em was her dancing with her baby.
We can expect for more artists to perform this Christmas Day halftime but the bar has truly been set to the sky after that performance. Beyonce, once again, defined history in the pop culture zeitgeist but also re-introduced Black history to a mainstream audience front and center.
Thank you for this write up! I was looking for analysis on who was in the performance and on the artistry of the show and I’m happy I came across this.