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= Beyoncé's 2018 Coachella Performance    =

American singer, songwriter, and actress Beyoncé Giselle Knowles Carter was the first African American female to headline the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2018. Beyoncé centered her performance around a Historically Black University style Homecoming with a full marching band, majorette dancers, Divine Nine Greek style dancers, violinists, and contortionists. As a result, Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella performance included themes of black culture and several messages that stressed the importance of the black female narrative in society today.

Beyoncé utilized various outlets that promoted black culture and empowered black women. To start off her performance, Beyoncé wore a costume that symbolized strong women within the black race by replicating the image of Egyptian Royal Queen Nefertiti. With her performance also centered around a Historically Black University style Homecoming, Beyoncé replicated Black Greek-lettered organizations in her performance which also symbolize the unity of black people and the rise of black culture on college campuses to overcome discrimination and hardships.

Beyoncé’s performance also had strong themes of black feminism and liberated the black community by including snippets of powerful speeches and messages about the black female narrative as transitions between her songs. Beyoncé incorporated the black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,”. , into her performance. Beyoncé also sampled individuals such as Malcolm X, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Nina Simone, all individuals notable for touching on the topic of feminism within the black race.

Lastly, Beyoncé received a great amount of feedback and critique form various social media and news outlets regarding her themes of black culture and black feminism.

Setlist
1. “Crazy in Love”

2. “Freedom”

* Interlude with “Lift Every Voice and Sing”*

3. “Formation”

4. “Sorry” & “Me, Myself, & I”

5. “Bow Down” & “I Been On”

6. “Drunk in Love”

7. “Diva”

8. “Flawless” / “Feeling Myself” / “Top Off”

9. “7/11″

10. “Don’t Hurt Yourself”

11. “I Care”

12. “Partition/Yonce”

13. “Mi Gente”

14. “Baby Boy" & “You Don’t Love Me”

15. “Hold Up” & “Countdown”

16. “Check On It”

17. “Deja Vu” with Jay Z

18. “Run the World”

19. “Lose My Breath” with appearances by Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams (Destiny’s Child)

20. “Say My Name” with appearances by Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams (Destiny’s Child)

21. “Soldier” with appearances by Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams (Destiny’s Child)

22. “Get Me Bodied” with a dance break by Beyoncé and Solange Knowles

23. “Single Ladies”

24. “Love on Top”

Symbolism Through Costuming
The first costume Beyoncé wore during her performance directly resembled that of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. As a queen from Egypt, Nefertiti represents the strength of black women through her legacy of black beauty and power. Beyoncé kicked off the theme of black culture and feminism during her Coachella performance through this outfit that resembled Queen Nefertiti and the uplifting image this queen as a black leader gives black women. The second outfit Beyoncé wore during her performance incorporated a hooded sweatshirt that had embroiled greek letters on it that represented a female Greek-lettered organization in the Divine Nine. Beyoncé wearing these letters symbolizes the female empowerment and strength historically black lettered organizations provide collegiate women with.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Beyoncé's Coachella performance in its entirety was centered around a Historical Black College or University (HBCU) style homecoming. For many, an HBCU Homecoming is a time to encourage the unity of students, faculty, and other members of the community to celebrate black culture and traditions of historically black institutions. Notably, Beyoncé's Coachella performance incorporated a full band, drumline, majorette, dancers and historically black Greek-lettered organizations, all key aspects of a HBCU style homecoming.

Band & Drumline

Beyoncé promoted Black culture within her performance by including several HBCU anthems commonly played by a full band and danced to by majorette dancers at HBCU Homecomings, such as the song Swag Surfing by the hip-hop group Fast Life Yungstaz. In addition, Beyoncé also incorporated themes of black feminism through her band from the start of her performance through the HBCU Homecoming theme. For example, Beyoncé’s set began with a female drum major initiating the performance. Notably, the role of the drum major in marching bands is a highly held position because the drum major is in charge of directing the entire band. Nevertheless, the role of the drum major in marching bands has also been dominated by men throughout history. Thus, Beyoncé’s ability to incorporate a woman into this predominately male role made a clear political statement for the advancement of black women even within their own race.

Greek Life

Beyoncé also incorporated a skit that represented The Divine Nine: nine historically black Greek-lettered sororities and fraternities. Through her incorporation of these organizations, she told the message of female and male equality within the black community.

One of the skits included Beyoncé ordering, in a lighthearted way, male Greek pledges alongside women who represented her “sorority sisters”. During this skit, Beyoncé asked her "fellow sorority sisters” and women in the audience the following questions after addressing the black male Greek pledges on stage: "Ladies, are we smart? Are we strong? Have we had enough?" Through these questions, Beyoncé not only vocalized the black female voice but empowered women to speak up about their issues. After the crowd exploded with yes responses, Beyoncé and the women on stage began stepping and repeating the words “Suck On My B*lls” with the men on stage representing fraternity pledges joining in after. Thus, this entire call and response skit not only vocalized struggles within the black female narrative but also represented black women being able to demand respect and equality in the black community.

Beyoncé expanded on her dedication to the Historically Black College and University experience after her performance when it was revealed that she would donate $100,000 to four HBCUs for the upcoming academic school year through her BeyGood initiative.

Transitions, Covers, Snippets, and Samples
In addition to all of Beyoncé’s own songs, she also utilized several other sources as transitions between songs and sampled/covered other songs that added to her message of black empowerment and black feminism.

Lift Every Voice and Sing

Commonly known as the Black National Anthem, Beyoncé covered the song Lift Every Voice and Sing (1900) during her performance and followed by stating that she is the first black woman to headline the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The song Lift Every Voice and Sing is historically known to uplift the black community by vocalizing the struggles of black people and the equal rights African American people in the United States deserve. As the first black woman to perform a set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival while utilizing anthems that hold significance for the black community in her performance, Beyoncé addressed both of her intersecting identities of race and gender.

Malcolm X

During her performance, Beyoncé sampled African American civil rights activist Malcolm X's speech Who Taught You to Hate Yourself given in 1962 Specifically, Malcolm X's voice was projected stating “The most disrespected woman in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.” Beyoncé utilizing Malcolm X's speech about black women in the context of her Coachella performance brought awareness to the issues black women continue to face in society within their own race that may not have changed since the Civil Rights movement during Malcolm X's time. These words projected during her performance also put into context that black women, like Beyoncé, still face struggles in society today because of their race and gender.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Between songs, Beyoncé also sampled a TedTalk given by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in 2012 that is also referenced in her song Flawless. At a point in Beyoncé's performance, Chimamanda's voice was projected starting the following: “We teach girls to shrink themselves. To make themselves smaller. We say to girls "You can have ambition but not too much. You should aim to be successful but not too successful.” Chimamanda's projected voice recording during the performance continues with her defining the following: “Feminist: the person who believes in the social political, and economic equality of the sexes." . According to notable feminists of color such as author Brittney C. Cooper and writer Samhita Mukhopadhyay, Adichie statements shed light on the black female narrative, reflect on the pressures given to black women in our communities from their own perspective, and encouraged woman of color to embrace their sexuality. Beyoncé's incorporation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's thoughts on feminism in her performance continues the trend of her Coachella performance focusing on equality for all races and genders in regards to black women.

Nina Simone

Throughout her performance, Beyoncé also paid tribute to Nina Simone, a singer, songwriter, and activist during the Civil Rights movement. During Beyoncé's Coachella Performance, there was a romantic dance duet on stage to Nina Simone's covers of Lilac Wine (1966) and Strange Fruit (1965). Both Lilac Wine and Strange Fruit are songs that bring to the for front the black struggle in the United States by shedding light on the horrors of lynching in America. Specifically, both of these songs incorporate messages that remind society that the loving unification of people from different backgrounds is what will overcome the hate in the world. Beyoncé's incorporation of these two songs recognizes the significance of the horrors within black history in the United States while also showing the message that black people are worthy of equal rights in the United States despite the color of their skin.

Responses and Recognition
Beyoncé's Coachella performance received a great amount of attention from various social media and news outlets.

Social Media

The hashtag #Beychella was trending on Twitter during and after Beyoncé's Coachella performance. Additionally, Beyoncé’s performance live stream received 458,000 viewers from around the globe.

News Outlets

Several news outlets also touched on how Beyoncé's Coachella performance was not only entertaining but marked an important historical moment for black culture and feminism. Notably, Elle referenced Beyoncé Coachella Performance as a place for black women to flourish if they had the resources to follow their dreams. The New York Times called the performance “rich with history, potently political and visually grand.” Established news outlets such as CNN, NBC, and The Washington Post also referenced Beyoncé's Coachella performance a historic moment in society.

Potential Articles include the following:

 * 1) Lemonade (Beyonce's Album)
 * 2) Improve on the feminist message throughout the album and the black female narrative in society Beyonce tells through her own experiences.
 * 3) Beyoncé 2018 Coachella performance
 * 4) Improve on the way Beyonce empowered black women through her performance and how she emphasized the black female narrative throughout history.

Finalize your topic / Find your sources
Topic: Beyonce’s 2018 Coachella Performance.

I plan to add more of a neutral stance to this article while still relaying the importance of Beyonce’s ability to tell black female narratives in different settings and circumstances. I also plan to elaborate on the affect her performance had on liberating specifically black woman and feminists in the audience.

Sources/Bibliography:
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “We Should All Be Feminists.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_we_should_all_be_feminists/discussion?c=178370.

Exposito, Suzy (April 15, 2018). "#Beychella: Beyonce Schools Festival Goers in Her Triumphant Return". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 19 April 2018.

Izadi, Elahe (2018-04-15). "Perspective | Beyoncé's Coachella performance wasn't just pure entertainment. It was a historic cultural moment". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-04-19.

“Lift Every Voice and Sing.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/black-authors-spoken-word-poetry/lift-every-voice-and-sing/.

Improving Existing Article
Ways to improve on the existing Beyonce 2018 Coachella Performance article would be to use more reliable sources. Currently the article is filled with responses by sources that could be biased such as The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Cosmopolitan. I also would like to elaborate on section on Black Feminism since the black female narrative was such a significant part of her performance.