On February 6, 2016, Beyonce dropped a song called “Formation,” praising the culture of African Americans. She dropped the song the day after Trayvon Martin’s 21st birthday and the day before Sandra Bland’s 29th birthday. The song addresses her love for her “baby heir with baby hair and afros,” a line that references her daughter Blue Ivy and how she likes her daughter’s hair just the way it is. She also states that she “likes her negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils.” Beauty standards haven’t always been kind to African American features, but this song uplifts African American beauty.

The music video included references to Hurricane Katrina, police shootings, and African Americans dealing with oppression.

Not even 48 hours after Beyonce dropped “Formation,” she was performing it at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show along with Bruno Mars and Coldplay. The halftime show started out with Coldplay performing “Viva La Vida,” “Paradise,” and then “Adventure of a Lifetime.” Bruno Mars came out and performed “Uptown Funk” and then Beyonce came out and performed her new song. Her dancers included all shades of melanin and during the performance she and the dancers made an X. Many believe that this was a reference to Malcolm X. People also believe that the dancers were dressed in all black to represent the Black Panthers, but Bruno Mars and his dancers were in black and nobody said anything about that.

There has been criticism from Fox News. Two anchors for Fox News and Rudy Giuliani discussed her performance.  Here are just a few quotes that got under my skin:

“I thought it was really outrageous that she used it as her platform to attack police officers. Who are the people who protect her and protect us and keep us alive and what we should be doing in the African American community and all communities is build up respect for police officers.” Beyonce was not degrading the police officers and not once did the song or she herself talk bad about police.

“…he [Chris Martin] got help from Bruno Mars, who was fantastic, and Beyonce was in there, too.” Beyonce was not just there, sir. She was the show.

“And the song, the lyrics, which I couldn’t make out a syllable, were basically telling cops to stop shooting blacks.” WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT? The way Mr.Giuliani said “stop shooting blacks” made my skin burn. 

Beyonce is not the first person to use a large platform to speak out on an issue or to write a song with political undertones.

There is also praise for the song from Ms. Jessica Williams from The Daily Show. Williams said, “She calls out police brutality and the constant fear black people have of the police. She even threw back to Hurricane Katrina,” as quoted in The Daily Beast.

Bob Jones student C. Audrey Harper said, “As a non-black person, the show/song really highlighted the beauty of black culture… and also evaluated the way we think of black people- especially in relation to beauty standards and police violence. To me, the criticism (mostly coming from white people), is a sign that this song is making a difference.”

Beyonce said it best with the final line of the song: “the best revenge is your paper.”  Red Lobster’s sales went up 33% since the song dropped, and Beyonce is probably making bank off all the publicity.