Beyonce’s Homecoming premiered on Netflix very early this morning. That’s why the Beyhive peeps have a tired-but-happy look today – because they woke up hella early to watch Queen Beyonce’s documentary/concert film. Homecoming shows her performance at the 2018 Coachella Music Festival, and there’s behind-the-scenes stuff too. I actually have not watched it yet, but I’ll see it eventually. There’s just too much happening this week!
Anyway, Netflix and Beyonce released these new images from Homecoming, and all of the trade papers are lavishing praise on the doc. Variety calls the doc “euphoric” and points out that Beyonce wants us to “think about about the insane level of work, discipline, control-freakiness and probably torture that went into making something this massive this seamless.” CNN’s headline: “Beyoncé’s ‘Homecoming’ is as black as it can be.” Billboard did a breakdown of just what a massive thing it was for Beyonce to headline Coachella and to deliver this kind of performance.
In addition to dropping the Beyflix doc (Beycoming), she also surprised everyone by releasing The Homecoming Live Album. It’s 40 tracks, mostly of her live Beychella performances (including a live “Mi Gente”), but she also gave fans some new covers and music: she covers “Before I Let Go” and she gives fans a new version of “I Been On.” We are truly living in the Beyonce Century.
Here are the new images from Beycoming:
Photos courtesy of Parkwood Entertainment.
I came here for this.
At 44, I might become the oldest member of the Beyhive…lol
Nope! I’m 46! I must admit that I didn’t really get on board until Formation, which was such a shift. One I admire and appreciate.
For me it was the album 4. That was when she fired her father and took control. The tide was always there.
I’m a 60 year old white dude, and I love me some Bey, not so much for her recordings, but her live shows are spectacular. One of the best live performers ever
I’m 57 and been there since the Destiny Child’s day. I remember when she went on tour with Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott.
Already downloaded the album and was listening to it on my way to work. Best way to start the day.
I am ready.
Watching it right now, and the BTS stuff is making me tear up. She truly went through hell preparing for this, and I appreciate her showing how lost and vulnerable she felt at times, especially in the early days of rehearsals and workouts after giving birth and recovering from surgery. There was a moment when Jay massages her belly when she’s on the floor with cramps after an intense workout, and he’s just looking at her with such love and concern.
No lie,
I cried when it was over. I smiled the entire time I watched it.
I never heard the last album… it was only available on their dumb streaming service at first and by the time it was more widely available I’d forgotten slash lost interest. At least this one’s on Spotify!
Same. Kudos to them to sticking to their platform, but I can’t help but think it costs them in the long run…? Jay doesn’t even get mentioned in a lot of “best rapper/favorite lyricist” etc discussions anymore, despite arguably deserving at least a mention, and I believe it’s because his music just isn’t as widely available. We forget how good his stuff actually is, IMO.
Doing a viewing party with my friend tomorrow night. I watched it live last year (on YouTube I mean) and it was iconic.
The album is downloaded and will get me through the work day until I can go home and watch. I needed this today.
Can’t wait to finish my shift and see it! She’s so inspiring.
Say what you want about Bey, but she works so hard on her content. I cannot think of anyone in her field, man or women, who is so dedicated to getting every detail perfect. It’s really awe-inspiring.
I cannot wait to watch this. I’m travelling but I’ll be watching it on my phone tonight!!
That trailer tho… holy sh!t i’m excited for this.
i can’t wait to watch this!!
Just glad I don’t have to subscribe to Tidal to watch lol
As a black woman, I love her force, her power, her magnetism, her imagery, her domination, her success. I love that she gave Coachella a show that felt like homage to my fave Spike Lee film, School Daze.
But i feel so alone because I don’t like her music – not her songs, not her songwriting, not her voice. There’s like two or three songs (Sweet Dreams, Ego, and maybe Irreplaceable can sqeak by as tolerable) of hers i think are decent, but I find the rest to be unlistenable.
But I am also a singer/songwriter myself who has never gotten popstars in general. Music to me is very intimate, not a huge production.
I agree. I love what she’s been doing now for a few years- but her music makes my ears bleed sometimes.
Single Ladies makes my head explode.
Formation was a nice switch for me-
Freedom with Kendrick is my fave.
i agree. Not a fan of her music, but after watching the documentary and previous lives on youtoube, she knows how to make a show and she knows how to sing live.
School Daze! That was my immediate thought, too, when I watched the Coachella performance. And it really bothered me that many (non-Black) people thought that imagery was 100% Beyonce original. (Not that Spike came up with it; Black folks have been doing the sorority / frat / step / performance thing for…ever.) I also don’t like how some people (including some gossip columnists — not this one — ahem) almost fetishize Beyonce. And it bothers me more that they spend all this money buying fake “Beyonce sorority” merch, when they could actually buy the real thing from one of the many Black organizations, which often goes to better causes than Jay and Bey’s bank account.
I stan for Bey. I have been to seven of her shows and have memorized every documentary.
But…. She literally phoned this in. Her voiceover sounds like she’s on speaker phone and there is no live to camera. I expected this to be about the why behind the show, not the actual show, which I can find on YouTube. It was 20 mins before it was clear that there was going to be anything other than concert footage. If has lots of tidbits and very welcome shots of the kids, but do I actually know more about the culture Coachella celebrated? Why this costume choice? What does that song represent? She says she designed everything down to the wood on the pyramid, but why that particular concept?
A couple of times Bey talks about the visuals not capturing the energy she wants to see, or how important the sounds of the stomps and claps are. Petty me thinks she didn’t like the version that Coachella broadcast, so she decided to produce her own.
So grateful I can say this here. I think if I said it outloud to the Hive, I’d be flayed alive rn.
I watched it today and I’ll agree I was hoping for a bit more from the “documentary” portion. It mostly felt like a recorded concert with a few behind the scenes blurbs. And I didn’t understand the artistic choice to have all the footage look like archival footage from the 60’s or why the voiceovers sounded like they came off my parents answering machine from the 80’s.
I also had to frown at the 3-4 minutes we spent hearing about Beyoncé’s weight after baby, and losing the weight, and fitting into old clothes and how she didn’t feel right until she did. I was down for all of it, except that.
Overall though, she’s a queen, and I appreciate any morsels she designs to give us.
A film by Beyoncé
About Beyoncé
Featuring Beyoncé
Written, produced, film by Beyoncé
Me, me, me… 🙄
Stop treating her like she’s the second coming of Christ.
Clearly you didn’t watch it. She showcased all of her band and dancers and gave shine to so many people other than herself. Just say you can’t stand Beyonce and move on.
It’s so important to say this @BaeBae, so much of what Beyoncé reveals in Homecoming is about ‘intentionality’ and the attention to detail that she gives all aspects of the production…all of that is so that the experience is rich and rewarding for her audience. Honestly, Homecoming and Lemonade are testaments to a creator working at the peak of her powers…like what the hell can she do next -I’m shook just imagining it!
My husband is super excited about this.
Guys Lemonade is coming on Spotify on April 23rd. And I concur with some in the comment section, I would have liked more documentary and less concert.