5 Things You May Have Missed from Beyoncé's Inspiring Film Homecoming
Beyoncé just released her new documentary, Homecoming, on Netflix.
In it, she explains why she honored Historically Black College and Universities and offered behind the scenes looks into more than eight months of rehearsals.
She also revealed the struggles of preparing for the show after having an emergency C-Section for her twins, Rumi and Sir, while also balancing being a wife and mom to 7-year-old Blue Ivy.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Beyoncé Homecoming 2018!"
Beyoncé’s highly-anticipated new Netflix documentary Homecoming kicked off with these words, exactly where her history-making performance as the first Black headliner at Coachella began last year. And then the singer proceeded to deliver a two hour and 17 minute film that is, in many ways, the concert video most fans hoped it would be, with all of the historic moments playing, in order, cutting together the performances from both weekends into one.
But this being a Beyoncé documentary, it also included personal, behind the scenes moments of exactly how the Grammy-winning artist managed to put together such an artful, unapologetic ode to Black culture, including influences from the marching bands of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Black Greek organizations, and a goosebump-raising rendition of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Over the first glimpses of the 37-year-old's rehearsal footage in the documentary, we hear a voice over from a Nina Simone interview that explains why she didn’t just “pull out her flower crown” and instead worked hard for something more meaningful.: “I think what you’re trying to ask is why am I so insistent upon…giving out to them that Black-ness, that Black power, that Black, pushing them to identify with black culture; I think that’s what you’re asking,” Simone can be heard saying. “I have no choice over it in the first place, to me we are the most beautiful people in the whole world, Black people.”
It’s that inspiration that seemed to drive both Beyoncé’s 2018 performance and now, her new documentary ode to the two weekends, which she says she put her entire “22-year career” into. The result is a gorgeous film that looks to uplift Black America-and anyone who has ever felt “other,” as Beyoncé says in the doc.
“I want every person who has ever been dismissed for how they look to feel like they are on that stage killing it,” she says. Mission accomplished.
A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Apr 17, 2019 at 12:33am PDT
The film ends after an adorable clip of Blue Ivy singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" before a moving voiceover from Maya Angelou with the words "Tell the truth. To yourself first. And to the children. Live in the present. Don't deny the past. Live in the present and know that the charge on you is to make this country more than it is today." Then, we see Beyoncé's final performance of "Love on Top," before the end credits roll with Beyoncé’s never-before-heard cover of Frankie Beverly and Maze’s classic “Before I Let Go” over personal footage of her family and rehearsals.
You can watch the film on Netflix now. If you didn't catch the documentary yet, here are five major moments from Homecoming.
She revealed that she always dreamed of going to an HBCU.
“Instead of me pulling out my flower crown, it was more important to bring power culture to our culture,” Bey says in the doc. Growing up, she often rehearsed at Texas State University and going to Battle of the Bands, and hoped to go to an Historically Black College one day. But, she says, her college was her time as part of the girl group Destiny’s Child and traveling around the world-“life was my teacher.” But that early respect and admiration for HBCU was why she chose to make her headlining performance as the first Black woman headlining Coachella. She adds that she wanted Black band instrumentation because members of the schools marching bands “have so much damn swag, it makes me proud.”
She later adds that it was important for her to include women of all body types in her show. “I want everyone to feel grateful for their curves, their sass, their honesty, thankful for their freedom.
She opened up about her “surprise” and “extremely difficult pregnancy” with twins Rumi and Sir.
Fans might remember that Beyoncé was actually supposed to perform at Coachella back in 2017-and then ended up pregnant. “It ended up being twins, which was even more of a surprise,” she reveals in the documentary. As she shows personal footage of her baby bump, she can be heard saying: “My body went through even more than I knew it could. I was 218 pounds the day I gave birth...I had an extremely difficult pregnancy...one of my babies’ heartbeat paused a few times, so I had to get an emergency C-section.” The singer also shows footage from her first rehearsal post-pregnancy-or “back home on the stage”-including a hard-to-watch but touching moment when she is on the floor in pain and her husband Jay-Z rubs her cramping belly.
Beyoncé gave up sugar, carbs, dairy and more to prepare herself physically for Coachella.
The singer revealed that her and her team did four months of rehearsals with her band to get the orchestral instrumentation just right-the “heart and soul” of her performance-before doing another four months of just dance rehearsals. During this time, the singer says she didn’t eat any carbs, sugar, meat, dairy, or alcohol to prepare her body-all while trying to balance being a mother of Blue Ivy, who was six years old at the time, and infant twins. She added that it wasn’t like before when she could rehearse for 15 hours straight.
“I learned a very valuable lesson-I will never push myself that par again.” The singer shares a pure moment when she realizes she could fit into an old tour costume-and Facetimes her husband Jay-Z in excitement. He supportively cries over the phone “All right!”
Her Coachella performance costumes required many meetings with Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing.
The documentary shows footage of Bey conferring with Rousteing, who designed the looks for all 200 people on stage, costumes that were meant to be practical for dancing but also pay homage to Black culture with nods like Greek crests and inspiration from Egyptian queen Nefertiti. The singer says she had meetings with the designer so he could understand why certain colors and silhouettes were important. “ How do we look united and how do we have these different characters that stand out?” she recalls asking him. “We did things that were very unconventional for a festival show.”
We get further confirmation that Beyoncé works around the clock-even on her wedding anniversary.
The singer does not hold back in her documentaries when showing the amount of work that goes into putting on a Beyoncé experience, and Homecoming was no exception. In it, she opens up about her role as director and producer of the Coachella shows, often sitting in the audience of rehearsals to watch the show and imagining herself on stage. She also admits that everyone involved was pushed to their limit. “There are notes every time,” she says of her critiques, “and I really have to have dedicated people that are down for the cause.” During one moment, Jay-Z looks on at she gives some tough feedback to her team-and then ends with “it’s my anniversary!” The two laugh as they walk away, and it’s a reminder that in Bey’s world, there are no excuses.
She wanted the vibe at Coachella to feel like family.
After showing footage of her dance team and band as they bond (one even jokes that he feels like he joined a sorority,) Beyoncé shows footage from backstage before and after the show as she mingles with other entertainers including Cardi B, SZA, Octavia Spencer, and reggaeton artist J. Balvin. She also talks about wanting to create a family vibe for everyone involved in her show as viewers watch personal moments, like her nephew Juelz-son to her sister Solange, who is also seen rocking one of her twins.
“It’s a day that they will never relive, that’s what I want. If you know me, you know my family is my biggest priority in my life. It was important that we all felt like family. I’m so grateful that I was able to come home.”
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