Whether you’ve seen the music videos, the MTV Music Awards performance, the HBO special, or the endless stream of flawless pictures on her Instagram, Beyoncé has dominated everyone’s attention since Day One. Here are four things that Yoncé has always taught us:
Bey Yourself
Other than her gemstone-clad jumpsuits, Beyoncé almost always chooses a less elaborate approach to her performances. Sticking to solid choreography, she allowed her showmanship to shine through like a true performer. There’s no need for too much flash, she just sticks to what makes her, well, her. At some point we are all faced with a choice of following our basic gut feeling or caving to the social pressures that are ‘expected.’ As a young woman, explainations are optional and, at the end of the day, your happiness and well-being should come first. Just remember to embrace who you are and never be sorry about it.
Bey Passionate
As a pop artist, Beyoncé is widely known for amazing work ethic. Her professionalism, dedication and hard work would be nothing, though, if she didn’t love what she does. In her MTV Music Awards performance, she danced and sung nonstop, while staying ***Flawless, for about 15 minutes! If she wasn’t passionate, it would’ve been difficult to maintain composure all that while. There’s a reason she’s known as Queen Bey. She has come so far from her Crazy in Love days but her dedication and determination that have not ceased since.
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Bey a Feminist
In a bold move and using a snippet of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s voice from the Ted Talk, “We should all be feminists”, she invited the MTV Music Awards audience to take part with the visuals of said words in bold on the screen behind her: “We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are. 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, otherwise you will threaten the man.'” Feminism was defined as “A person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.” This affirmation through her work was a chance to educate her fans on a movement she feels adamantly about.
Most importantly she let us know that it’s okay to call yourself a feminst. Most of the time, people will hear this word and quickly judge or reject it because of certain aspects of this concept they may not be so clear about. As young women, we are not defined or limited by our gender. We are complex individuals composed of many factors which entail our identity. So by all means, wanting demanding to be equally respected doesn’t sound like a dificult thing at all.
Bey Grateful
Beyoncé closes a lot of her medleys with her ballads, most notably the song “XO” or “Halo”, which she specifically dedicates to all her fans, in addition to acknowledging that she would not be where she was today without them. It is truly admirable to be able to grant merit where it’s due because no one should ever forget who helped them become the person they are.
Watch the amazing MTV Music Awards performance video here!
*Photos/Media courtesy of www.Beyonce.com, www.tumblr.com, www.mtv.com and www.tedxtalks.ted.com