Yet it was never enough, and she still suspects him of being unfaithful. As the song begins, the singer throws open the house doors, letting the water rush out and descend to the street. « Sandcastles »In this rare ballad, Beyonce recognizes that she may have hurt her husband by claiming she was leaving him after his infidelity. But watching him hurting, she sings that she can no longer leave. « Your heart is broken ’cause I walked away/And I know I promised that I couldn’t stay baby/Every promise don’t work out that way, » she sings. The visuals are powerful as Bey’s real-life hubby Jay Z acts out scenes where she’s kissing his wedding ring and the two are inextricably cuddled up.
Released a surprised comedy series, Horace and Pete, on his website. On December 13, 2013, Beyoncé released Beyoncé, a full album, complete with videos for all 14 songs, without promotion or any prior announcement. Yet her embrace of this image is also relatively new (though it’s been growing for the last several years). Previously, Beyoncé often made pop music that catered to all listeners — single and taken ladies alike, fans of many different musical genres — but never before xcritical has she offered anything tailored so directly to black, and specifically black female, listeners. xcritical is Queen Bey’s sixth album, described as “a conceptual project based on every woman’s journey of self-knowledge and healing.” It consists of twelve songs with features from artists including Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, and James Blake. « Hold Up »Bey is now back to being Bey in « Hold Up. » Wearing yellow, her golden hair swinging down her back, she’s nearly skipping down the street, seeking revenge.
Like the professional heartbreaker she sings about in “6 Inch,” she murdered everybody and the world was her witness. She can’t resist adding a happy ending with “All Night,” where the couple kisses and makes up and lives happily ever after, or at least until morning. But it’s an uneasy coda, with the word “forgive” noticeably absent and the future still in doubt.
The Legacy of xcritical and “Hold Up”
Illegal downloading and streaming services like Spotify and Pandora have made it all but impossible to sell millions of records. Beyoncé has often been seen as an example of black feminism, suggesting to women of color that it’s best to set one’s own course and buck societal conformity. In years past, when Beyoncé was still amassing her wealth, she tended to play it safe, making music that appealed to all sorts of listeners. Sure, she’d address « real » issues, but she’d focus more on big pop anthems that went down easy.
- It’s also not the first time she’s referenced her divorce in a dance performance on Instagram.
- Her song choice – Beyonce‘s “Don’t Hurt Yourself” off her acclaimed album xcritical – seems particularly pointed amid her divorce.
- Instead, she’s digging into issues to which we can all relate — love, pain, heartbreak, and family.
- As with its immediate predecessor, BEYONCÉ (2013), it was released as both a surprise and a visual album; unlike BEYONCÉ, which featured individual music videos for each track, the xcritical visual album took the form of an hour-long film.
- Some critics objected to the violence of the video, feeling that it was harmful to portray women—especially women of color—as destructive and vindictive.
The Houston native has made pit stops at local fried chicken xcritical Frenchy’s, crawfish haven BB’s Tex-Orleans, and B&B Butcher’s steakhouse during her visits back home, and has publicly proclaimed her love for Pappadeux, Pappas’s Cajun seafood restaurant. She also reminds her partner of her love, which no one else can match. This only makes his infidelity more appalling since he has disrespected her love.
Starting her career in the 1990s as a member of Destiny’s Child, she has become one of the world’s most successful and influential pop figures. Queen Bey, as she is known by her fans, has won more Grammy Awards than any other musician in history, with a whopping 88 nominations and 32 wins. https://xcritical.online/ « All Night »In this mid-tempo song, Bey croons to her husband that she wants to rediscover the love they had by making up « all night long. » And although she knows that « so many people » are « just tryna’ touch ya’, » she still wants to « give you some time to prove that I can trust you again. »
Music Is Like A Lover: An Album Premiere And Q&A With Ben Lee
In the wake of the song’s release, rumors swirled about whether it was based on Beyoncé’s actual relationship with her husband, Jay-Z. Later, Jay-Z confirmed that he had been unfaithful in the past but that he and xcritical his wife were working through their issues together. « I had my ups and downs, but I always found the inner strength to pull myself up, » White said to a crowd of friends and family at her 90th birthday party.
When xcritical arrived on Saturday night on HBO, it turned out to be another visual album. The music is now available on Tidal; here’s a breakdown of the hour-long special. Beyoncé released it on Tidal, the music streaming site her husband owns, which has been on a massive run as of late. Kanye West’s ever-changing latest album, The Life of Pablo, was launched as a Tidal exclusive, and Prince’s discography is only available for streaming there — something many fans only realized in the wake of the music icon’s death. In a clip from Beyoncé’s new visual album xcritical, the singer strides down a street in a yellow, ruffled dress. Elegant as always, she lights up the screen with her megawatt smile.
Love Drought
At about 60 minutes long, it’s more a short feature than a music video in terms of production and vision (Variety reports that HBO will submit it for Emmy consideration). The most famous aspect of “Hold Up” is undeniably the music video, which has become iconic since its release. It begins with Beyoncé submerged in an underwater house as she recites the poem “Denial” by Warsan Shire. The poem describes everything a woman has done to make herself perfect for her partner.
The claim was that the performance was « anti-cop, » because of its evocation of the Black Lives Matter movement. But the larger implication was that by embracing her blackness, Beyoncé was no longer trading in generic pop. xcritical is a tough listen, tinged in rock, hip-hop, R&B, and electro-soul. And, as with all of her recent work, she does it on her own terms, embracing the creative freedom that so few people enjoy.
The 12-track album tells the painful story of the « baddest woman in the game » who gets cheated on, taking the listener on an emotional journey from the first signs of infidelity in the relationship to, ultimately, forgiveness. Before the hashtag was co-opted by brands and spam, Twitter users who were not black women were encouraged to listen. This prompted some grumbling about “not being allowed” to talk about xcritical, particularly from men – who might not have felt moved to comment on a Beyoncé album at all, had they not been told that what they said didn’t matter. Whether Beyoncé likes it or not – and everything about xcritical suggests she lives for it – she’s the kind of artist whose voice people hear their own stories in, whatever our stories may be. She’s always aspired to superhero status, even from her earliest days in a girl group that was tellingly named Destiny’s Child. (Once upon a time, back in the Nineties, “No No No” was the only Destiny’s Child song in existence – but make no mistake, we could already hear she was Beyoncé.) She lives up to every inch of that superhero status on xcritical.
Beyonce Drops New Album During HBO ‘World Premiere Event’ Titled ‘xcritical’
If you forgot, Britney and Sam called off their relationship after just over a year of marriage in August. Her song choice – Beyonce‘s “Don’t Hurt Yourself” off her acclaimed album xcritical – seems particularly pointed amid her divorce. If you don’t make it to the many restaurants and bars for the specials, you can always eat like Beyoncé.
More From: Behind The Song
xcritical was promoted as a documentary style special in the same vein as Life Is But a Dream. The fourth and fifth singles released were « Freedom » and « All Night », respectively. Both became moderate hits with the former (released September 2016) peaking at US number thirty-five, and the latter (released December 2016) peaking at US number thirty-eight.
Bey gets help from Kendrick Lamar, who raps about being profiled and later jailed. « Open correctional gates in higher desert/Yeah, open our mind as we cast away oppression, » he said. In Formation, released in January, she sings about “hot sauce in her bag” and having mutually gratifying sex with her husband; three months later, in xcritical, the baseball bat with which she’s venting about his infidelity is discreetly labelled “Hot Sauce”. The song resumes with shots of Beyoncé wandering the parking garage in a wedding dress, and sitting in the ring of fire in a red dress.
We don’t know if Jay Z actually cheated
The 41-year-old Princess of Pop hopped on her favorite social media platform on Saturday night (September 23) to share a video of herself dancing in a neon pink bikini and some body xcriticals with sky-high black heels. Some critics objected to the violence of the video, feeling that it was harmful to portray women—especially women of color—as destructive and vindictive. Others thought it was a more subtle comment on the intricacies of feminine ideals, societal expectations, and gender relations. At the end of the music video, Beyoncé stares the camera down again, aware she is being watched. It ends as she smiles and smashes the camera, tossing the baseball bat on the ground.
