Formation (song)
| formation | |
|---|---|
| Beyoncé | |
| publication | February 6, 2016 |
| length | 3:26 |
| Genre (s) | Hip-Hop , Contemporary R&B , Trap |
| Author (s) | Asheton Hogan , Beyoncé, Swae Lee , Mike Will Made It |
| Producer (s) | Mike Will Made It , Beyoncé |
| Label | Columbia Records |
| album | Lemonade |
Formation is a song by the US singer and songwriter Beyoncé from 2016. The first single from her sixth studio album Lemonade was written by Asheton Hogan , Beyoncé, Swae Lee and Mike Will Made It and produced by the latter together with the artist.
Music and lyrics
Formation is a contemporary R&B song strongly influenced by the hip-hop genre . Beyoncé alternates between raped and monotonously sung passages; her voice oscillates between scratchy-whispering and powerful-determined and can often be heard doubled. At the beginning of the song only two single tones with reverb effects can be heard alternately , then Beyoncés starts chanting, which ends in a harmony after a dramatic increase in tension before the beat begins to play. This may the most of trap are assigned genre of and is used by 808 - bass drums , hi-hats and claps dominated; also be sporadic marching drums used. During the chorus, wind instruments , reminiscent of a marching band , play the melody played by the singer.
In the song, the singer shows her pride in having made it so far in life as an African-American woman from the southern states . In its function as the conclusion of the concept album, which deals intensively with the personal setbacks and social complications that this identity brings with it, it is at the same time a hopeful happy ending that shows that all these difficulties can be overcome.
The title begins with swipes against conspiracy theorists , paparazzi and her husband Jay-Z , to whom she has already dedicated songs from the album with Hold Up and Sandcastles . Then she openly describes her ethnicity and origin as well as that of her family . She also describes how her skills and hard work as a musician brought her immense wealth and influence, and repeatedly counters doubts about the legitimacy of her status with the words “I slay” (something like “I'm crazy”). She describes herself as the black version of Bill Gates and calls on women among the audience to form as a unit. At the end of the song she calls the money that one has earned as the greatest revenge on any haters .
Music video
The music video also serves as the finale of the film Lemonade , which visualizes the songs from the album of the same name . Various highly symbolic scenes are shown, which are mainly associated with police brutality , racism , the southern states and Hurricane Katrina . A male voice, alluding to the poor preparation for the natural disaster, rhetorically asks the viewer what happened in New Orleans before the music started. From then on, a series of scenes and plot fragments are repeatedly faded in parallel to one another:
- In a barely recognizable housing estate flooded by water masses, Beyoncé is lying on a half-sunken police car , which sinks completely with her towards the end of the video.
- Beyoncé dances in a luxurious anteroom surrounded by Afro-American women; Furniture and costumes are uniformly red. The walls are decorated with antique-looking paintings of black women.
- Three African American children are playing or standing in a row with smiling faces in a bright room.
- Beyoncé is sitting with a serious look on a chair, dressed in white, holding a parasol and stroking her body.
- Beyoncé is circling a car in a parking lot and hangs her head out the window , her noticeably long hair almost touching the asphalt . Later she dances in the same place with a group of African American women.
- Beyoncé is standing in front of a villa , her face partially covered by a large black hat and wearing a splendid necklace , while she is surrounded by completely calm, black men in suits . She is shown once headbanging , in other scenes she plays with her pigtail or raises both middle fingers . Towards the end of the video, she pulls up her hat and her face becomes recognizable as she does the gesture for money with her hands .
- In a gymnasium, a group of African American women, including the singer herself, practices a choreography .
- A group of white-clad African-American women sit in a group, waving fans at each other.
Before the first chorus, the song breaks off abruptly and starts again after a short, spoken comment from the off. Scattered across the video, several individual clips show various Afro-American people pursuing different activities in various settings; some of them are similar to home videos . Towards the end of the music video can be seen as a black boy in front of a series of safety helmets dances carrying policemen. When he finishes his performance, the police raise their hands. Immediately after this shot there is a cut on a wall on which the words “Stop shooting us” (something like “stop shooting us”) have been sprayed with graffiti .
criticism
The song received mostly extremely positive reviews from the press and was praised as a powerful statement and expression of black pride in the times of the Black Lives Matter movement. It received a lot of popularity, especially in connection with the accompanying music video as an audiovisual project. The Rolling Stone magazine named the song the best song of the year 2016, and the 38th best song of the 21st century . Also Musikexpress , Entertainment Weekly , the Time Magazine and Complex joined in the judgment and chose it in their respective annual reviews on the top position.
However, there were also isolated voices who perceived the music video as negative publicity against the police, although the artist denied this intention.
success
Formation was only crowned with moderate commercial success in European countries. In Germany it reached number 74, but it could not prove itself in the Austrian and Swiss charts. However, the song was much more successful in the USA , where it placed at number 10 on the hit parade and was awarded platinum.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Album credits. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Lyrics. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ music video. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ^ The Guardian Review. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ^ Pitchfork Review. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ^ The New York Times Review. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ^ Rolling Stone Review. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ^ Spiegel Review. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Rolling Stone Annual Review 2016. Accessed March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century - So Far. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Musikexpress Annual Review 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Entertainment Weekly Annual Review 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Time Magazine Annual Review 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Complex Annual Review 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Independent article. Accessed April 11, 2019 .
- ^ Billboard interview. Accessed April 11, 2019 .
- ↑ Charts. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ US charts. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .