The song titled Formation is a black power trap anthem sang by songstress Beyoncé Knowles. This song opens up the soul and speaks to us on numerous levels. Its main aim is to clearly bring out the oppression and liberation of the black population in the United States of America (Scribner 5). This is due to the fact that both the visuals as well as the textual lyrics in the song aim at embracing the black race. Beyoncé in the song struggles to shun the stereotyping of the black population. She advocates for the liberation of their suppressed voices instead. This is seen in her meticulous choice of words. Throughout the entire song, Beyoncé has aimed to use bold statement. These bold statements seem to shine light and present strength both in her as well as in the black population. Most of the textual lyrics in the song ‘formation’ seem to seek to address various social issues in the society today.
For instance, Beyoncé first introduces a formation at the very beginning of her song. First, she hints at family references when she insinuates that her dad was raised in Alabama and her mom in Louisiana. These two she claims came together and brought her and later, she brought on her daughter. Aside from these, Beyoncé further insists on formation when she brings along women to dance to her tune in a uniformed sequence. This goes to show the need for unity amongst one another especially during tough times. Beyoncé then progresses further in her quest for unity when she subjects us to a scene in which she is sitting on the roof of a New Orleans Police. The car itself is submerged in flooded waters. This is where the singer goes on to set her stage. This makes one wonder what could have possibly happened in New Orleans to warrant such a scene.
Secondly, we then hear a voice at the background asking that we construe ‘what happened in New Orleans’. A close examination of the voice leads us to uncover that the voice belongs to Messy Mya, a controversial African American who was gunned down in the streets of New Orleans in 2010 (Bucher 79). Messy Mya was a popular YouTube sensation. This was due to the fact that he was known for popularly posting informative videos about the State of New Orleans. That he was gruesomely murdered could well be attributed to the fact that he bore a boisterous as well as truthful way of spreading controversial news articles to the public. Although the perpetrator of the crime was later arrested, it seemed so unfair to many that he served a very short sentence on the ground that he had bipolar disorder. To many, it seemed Mya’s death was in vain as the perpetrator was freed. However, Beyoncé seemed to have purposefully chosen to sit on top of the police car in order to entail the element of unity in the video. It is pretty clear that she is actively protesting the gruesome murder, but in a way so polite.
As the video ‘formation’ progresses, Beyoncé then lets us in on parts of a clip from the Sundance Documentary. The Sundance documentary is a documentary which featured the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the State of New Orleans (Bucher 79). In reviewing the harsh reality of the effects of the hurricane, Beyoncé tries to point out to the fact that what happened to Messy Mya in New Orleans was just as real as the hurricane that wrecked the State of New Orleans. When one loses their life in the hands of another, it shatters their world. It also brings immense pain to their families. Such pain only grows worse when no justice prevails after such gruesome acts. It was a sad re-counter indeed, and seemed to resonate with everyone who heard the song. Further into the song, Beyoncé in her lyrics points us to the fact that she loves her black self. In the song, Beyoncé aims to portray her immense strength despite countless insecurities as well as repetitive rumours.
For instance, it has constantly been rumoured that Beyoncé as well as her husband Jay Z are avid members of a secret society known as the Illuminati. The Illuminati is believed to be a cult whose members practice Satanism. In exchange of worshiping Satan, members of the Illuminati are then granted unequalled influence and money. Although Beyoncé has constantly been bullied and presumed to belong to this cult, this is seemingly the first time she has publicly addressed this claim. It is the first time Beyoncé has addressed these claims. In the video, she rants at those who associate people with the Illuminati based on their wealth and flamboyant lifestyle. She amounts their actions to bullying (Beyoncé 1). She goes ahead to demand that people learn to appreciate and love themselves for who they God created them to be, regardless of popular opinion.
Aside from these, Beyoncé further addresses the element of bullying by the white population against the black minority. This is seen when she states how much she likes her baby’s afro hair. This is a very powerful statement. This is due to the fact that it aims at expressing one’s love for self regardless of popular opinion. It comes after an incident when she was viciously attacked by the public for failing to comb her baby’s black hair. Also in the video, Beyoncé praises her love for Michael Jacksons ‘negro nose’ (Beyoncé 1). Although she doesn’t insinuate that people change that they are, going by her statement she seeks to undermine the popular culture of open social hate and bullying of black people as they try to pride themselves. She in the video is hopeful that the world could stop judging and hating and instead, love and appreciate their fellow men for who they choose to be.
At the heart of the video, Beyoncé brings up the history of the United States of America. This we see when a man is briefly brought onto the screen while holding up a newspaper. At the cover of the newspaper is the image of Martin Luther King Jr. Right below the picture, the words ‘more than a dreamer’ are engraved. In doing so, she aims to portray how history is living with us at present.
As the video nears its conclusion, we are led into a very powerful scene. In this scene, we see a little boy breakdancing in a black hood. As he keeps up with his breakdance, we see a formation of police in riot gear ready to strike right behind him. Upon realizing this, the little boy momentarily stops dancing and raises both of his hands up into the air. The formation of riot police behind him then quickly responds by raising their arms into the air as well. They seem ready to strike him down. A clip of graffiti is then flashed across the screen as these events slowly unfold. On it is written ‘stop shooting us’.
In the very last scenes of the video, we see Beyoncé donning an outfit which looked very similar to an outfit once worn by Michael Jackson. This outfit was worn by the pop singer when he performed his song titled We Are the World in 1993 at the super bowl (Alexis 3). In so doing, she seeks to pay tribute to the fallen pop star that graced various audiences with his meticulous talent. At the same time, Beyoncé chose to use the super bowl as her audience. This was due to the fact that she needed to announce the beginning of the world tour for the song formation. Although many believe that her intentions were noble in the writing and singing of ‘formation’ some people still tend to think that her main objective was to incite the coloured minority against popular opinions.S
Works cited
Alexis, Nadeska. "Beyoncé To Perform At Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show." MTV News. Viacom. Retrieved October 24 (2012).
Beyoncé 1 retrieved from http://www.beyonce.com/formation/
Bucher, Michael. "Where They At? Bounce and Class in Treme." After the Storm: The Cultural Politics of Hurricane Katrina 10 (2015): 79.
Scribner, Morgan Ashleigh. Perceptions of the Black Woman: Deconstructing and
Reclaiming Societal Myths. Diss. Wesleyan University, 2016.
