The message of Beyoncé’s Formation song and music video was one of Black triumph and the struggles with in black love, including infidelity in her parents’ relationship and eluding to it in her own. This song being the opener for her new album and era was a strong portrayal of Issues with a Black focus, adding nuance to the conversation. In addition, she made sure to pay tribute to her family’s Louisiana heritage and the struggles of Black people in the state in the music video. The details that were mentioned in the article were not all my initial perception of the song. I instantly picked up on the message of black empowerment and woman empowerment, being from Louisiana myself I picked up on the environmental and location details that were added in. I was though unaware of some of the other messages throughout. In order to bring Beyoncé’s vision for the video to life, Matsouka thoroughly researched and referenced Black influences and creatives before her. Taking time to “Blackify” the plantation style home the video was set in, the details in everything brought the vision to life and made all the difference. Two examples of language that were used were sarcasm in the line “. Y’all haters so corny with that Illuminati mess” another was euphemism in the line “ I got hot sauce in my bag”. The song and video could definitely be seen as controversial because without knowing the actual meaning of the two there is a a lot left for interpretation. As mentioned in the article, Beyoncé seen on a sinking cop car could be taken as anti-police as well as others thinking she was exploiting the black community’s struggles for monetary gain. The video itself can be seen as interpretive, leaving the audience to jump to many different conclusions.
