Beyoncé's new visual album, Black is King, is now streaming on Disney+. It's also in the torrents to download. It's the companion to 2019's The Lion King: The Gift.

In concept, it's very much what she did with BEYONCÉ and Lemonade. The visuals are just as stunning, the music is very non-typical-Beyoncé, although it seems she's found a new approach to her music. I devoured BEYONCÉ, because it was an antithesis to anything she'd done before (eg: acapella vocals over a soleless beat or 70's sample). Frankly, it's been very cool because while shit like "Single Ladies" or "Crazy In Love" was cute for a minute, it was becoming repetitive as fuck.

"Always" is on YouTube. Throughout the visual album, there are audio excerpts from Lion King (CGI) peppered in. It's about 85 minutes long. I'm sure a CD/DVD set is soon to follow, and if not on Tidal first.

BEYONCÉ just stopped giving any fucks. That continued, and I kinda dig it.

Anyone who digs B watched it yet? Standout tracks? Visuals?

[Edited 7/31/20 14:01pm]

TrivialPursuit said:

Beyoncé's new visual album, Black is King, is now streaming on Disney+. It's also in the torrents to download. It's the companion to 2019's The Lion King: The Gift.

In concept, it's very much what she did with BEYONCÉ and Lemonade. The visuals are just as stunning, the music is very non-typical-Beyoncé, although it seems she's found a new approach to her music. I devoured BEYONCÉ, because it was an antithesis to anything she'd done before (eg: acapella vocals over a soleless beat or 70's sample). Frankly, it's been very cool because while shit like "Single Ladies" or "Crazy In Love" was cute for a minute, it was becoming repetitive as fuck.

"Always" is on YouTube. Throughout the visual album, there are audio excerpts from Lion King (CGI) peppered in. It's about 85 minutes long. I'm sure a CD/DVD set is soon to follow, and if not on Tidal first.

BEYONCÉ just stopped giving any fucks. That continued, and I kinda dig it.

Anyone who digs B watched it yet? Standout tracks? Visuals?

[Edited 7/31/20 14:01pm]

The Gift album was amazing - looks like this deluxe album just adds a track or two (and gets rid of the annoying movie clips). Hopefully, it will get more attention now, was really underrated.

MendesCity said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Beyoncé's new visual album, Black is King, is now streaming on Disney+. It's also in the torrents to download. It's the companion to 2019's The Lion King: The Gift.

In concept, it's very much what she did with BEYONCÉ and Lemonade. The visuals are just as stunning, the music is very non-typical-Beyoncé, although it seems she's found a new approach to her music. I devoured BEYONCÉ, because it was an antithesis to anything she'd done before (eg: acapella vocals over a soleless beat or 70's sample). Frankly, it's been very cool because while shit like "Single Ladies" or "Crazy In Love" was cute for a minute, it was becoming repetitive as fuck.

"Always" is on YouTube. Throughout the visual album, there are audio excerpts from Lion King (CGI) peppered in. It's about 85 minutes long. I'm sure a CD/DVD set is soon to follow, and if not on Tidal first.

BEYONCÉ just stopped giving any fucks. That continued, and I kinda dig it.

Anyone who digs B watched it yet? Standout tracks? Visuals?

[Edited 7/31/20 14:01pm]

The Gift album was amazing - looks like this deluxe album just adds a track or two (and gets rid of the annoying movie clips). Hopefully, it will get more attention now, was really underrated.

It's really a very good album, but I don't get why she releases a deluxe edition with no much to offer really, it's the same album with a remix and a new song, where is Nile extended version?

71cf60341f said:

[Spambot spam - ]

where is Solange

Beyonce, I was never a 'fan' I like some songs. I've even defended her, but I just don't get it with her now. I watched that Netflix piece she has, or should say I watched then turned off, and watched a few week later, and turned off, and I haven't finished it, but it felt like what sex with a robot might be like... There are few other 'concerts/performances' I've watched that gave me the same reaction.

I was going to cancel my Disney membership, then when I saw her, i went through with it.

OldFriends4Sale said:

where is Solange

Beyonce, I was never a 'fan' I like some songs. I've even defended her, but I just don't get it with her now. I watched that Netflix piece she has, or should say I watched then turned off, and watched a few week later, and turned off, and I haven't finished it, but it felt like what sex with a robot might be like... There are few other 'concerts/performances' I've watched that gave me the same reaction.

I was going to cancel my Disney membership, then when I saw her, i went through with it.

Its funny you say this because to me, conceptually, Solange is all over this thing.

Its as if she said. "Here's what you do sis, just shave off all the quirks and there you go.

71cf60341f said:

[Spambot spam - ]

What are you talking about? Black is King just came out on July 31. Disney didn't make it, Beyonce did. She has a film deal with Disney.

And are you saying you didn't know Disney made The Lion King movie(s)?

Do you know Prince recorded Purple Rain? Just getting a baseline here.

Rapper Noname Criticizes Beyoncé – Says She 'Exploited African Culture' for 'Black is King'

Published

2 days ago on August 2, 2020

By Fisher Jack

Rapper Noname went on Twitter amidst the praise from fans and critics alike to claim Beyoncé exploited African culture for the visual album "Black is King."Although the visual album for "Black is King" correlates with the story of Disney's "The Lion King," Noname said in a tweet that Beyoncé's ode to the film was "an African aesthetic draped in capitalism" due to the lavish outfits and environments presented in the film.

"We love an african aesthetic draped in capitalism. hope we remember the blk folks on the continent whose daily lives are impacted by u.s imperialism. if we can uplift the imagery i hope we can uplift those who will never be able to access it. black liberation is a global struggle," she said

...

https://mobile.eurweb.com...k-is-king/

I follow alot of Sudanese creatives on IG, and they either look skeptical of her intentions (re: "we're glad she's working with African creatives and giving them the credit") or mirror the same sentiments as the rapper from the article above.

The embarrassing thing about this (not her) but how Westerners are still accusing her for "devil worshipping" when she was paying a homage to the godess Hathor, and those horns have nothing to do with satanism.

I love her music, but those outfits, and all that abstract imagery, I'm getting tired abut all of it. It's too much, why don't make a more straighforward storylines, more down to earth. Those outfits have to go now.

slyjackson said:

Hamad said:

alphastreet said:

onlyforaminute said:

onlyforaminute said:

CynicKill said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

where is Solange

Beyonce, I was never a 'fan' I like some songs. I've even defended her, but I just don't get it with her now. I watched that Netflix piece she has, or should say I watched then turned off, and watched a few week later, and turned off, and I haven't finished it, but it felt like what sex with a robot might be like... There are few other 'concerts/performances' I've watched that gave me the same reaction.

I was going to cancel my Disney membership, then when I saw her, i went through with it.

Its funny you say this because to me, conceptually, Solange is all over this thing.

Its as if she said. "Here's what you do sis, just shave off all the quirks and there you go.

Yes, it feel like Solange more than Beyonce, which it probably is.
That formation video was snatched from Erykah Badu

Hamad said:

onlyforaminute said:

Anything not mainstream = pagan = satanic. Per christianish institutional beliefs. Individual beliefs within that structure may vary from one extreme to the other.

I didn’t wanna go there but yes, Christian dogmatic paranoia.

Yes but more specifically African Americans are particular about some of that stuff.

She plays with a lot of imagery, borrowed from places, I don't think most of it she should toy with.

She is part Creole and there is so much to pull from Creole French and Black culture. But she borrows

I don't know if she still is but she has cited being Christian so I guess that following would question things.

OldFriends4Sale said:

alphastreet said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Yes but more specifically African Americans are particular about some of that stuff.

She plays with a lot of imagery, borrowed from places, I don't think most of it she should toy with.

She is part Creole and there is so much to pull from Creole French and Black culture. But she borrows

I don't know if she still is but she has cited being Christian so I guess that following would question things.

I think she was always good at taking different influences and reinterpreting it in her art. She used to borrow from pop culture over the decades a lot and has expanded her horizons. It would be nice of her to pay homage to her creole culture too one day though she briefly spoke the language in the song Blow [Edited 8/4/20 18:20pm]

I don't usually care for a lot of religious intermixing unless it's the persons own connection (Prince / Madonna) both did it well. The latter sorta owned it.

.

Yes, she brings it up in Formation(?)

And I think one of her earlier albums focused on it more, and the French Creole influence
Their clothing line the House of Dereon' was coming from their families Creole heritage and bloodline

OldFriends4Sale said:

Hamad said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Yes but more specifically African Americans are particular about some of that stuff.

She plays with a lot of imagery, borrowed from places, I don't think most of it she should toy with.

She is part Creole and there is so much to pull from Creole French and Black culture. But she borrows

I don't know if she still is but she has cited being Christian so I guess that following would question things.

Interesting, where to draw the line though when it comes to black American artists though? There are many who embraced pan-Africanism to bridge Africa with African Americans, moreso from a cultural standpoint than a national one when it came to mainstream music. Earth wind & fire made a whole career out of Egyptian symbolism and so did Sun-Ra, they were embraced for it. Why not her? Would it be easier if she came out and denounced Christianity as a religion? I’m just trying to understand

I don't know really. I'm thinking out loud myself.

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But Africans have cited having problems with Americans of African descent 'appropriating'.

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A lot of people don't realize that 'African Americans' outside of America are seen as Americans first in most places, even in Ghana :Many African-Americans who visit Africa are unsettled to find that Africans treat them -- even refer to them -- the same way as white tourists. The term "obruni," or "white foreigner," is applied regardless of skin color.
https://prince.org/msg/105/463627

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Another issue, is why too many African descendant people mostly pull from Egyptian culture/relgion, when the majority of people of African-American ancestry are not Egyptian descendant, but mostly Western and Central African.

Not to mention that Beyonce is not technically or biologically 'African/Black'

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I think what happened in the 1970s was permissable. But in the era of wokeness political correctness and cultural appropriating, it's not so permissable.
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One of the cool things about the (sci-fiction) movie Black Panther was they exhibited the ethnic cultures of regions mostly connected with those who were affected by the trans Atlantic slave trade. We didn't see a bunch of Egyptian/Ethiopian imagery and clearly 'mixed' ethnic people.

There was another image of a goddess(?) that she 'expressed' that I saw Cher do inthe 70s or 80s. Looked like the sun was around the back of their heads.

https://dancingastronaut....eyonce.jpg

.

I think if you are of a certain religion, and embracing the imagery of an Egyptian goddess, then it is going to be problematic. If she is Christian, then she is, if she isn't then she isn't.

https://www.youtube.com/w...20jeuFGrHk

Dionne Warwick says Beyonce is not an icon

The textiles and designs may not be her immediate culture of HOUSTON TEXAS (which she has represented thoroughly), but the album was an extension of The Lion King.

I watched a documentary on television about the making of this and she collaborated in a way not unlike Paul Simon when he made his iconic Graceland album. He also received criticism for that but ultimately those South African styles and talents were genuine inspiration that he brought (back) to a western audience.

A Fashion Historian Unpacks the Symbolism of Beyoncé's 'Black Is King' Costumes

By Cady Lang

August 4, 2020 1:32 PM EDT

When Beyoncé released her latest visual album Black Is King on Disney+ on July 31, casual fans and the BeyHive alike were treated to a glorious feast for the eyes that featured the rich range of cultures and countries of the African continent. While the Afrocentric narrative of Black Is King draws on last year's The Lion King: The Gift album as a framework to explore both Africa's vast history and the African diaspora through the coming-of-age story of a young king, the aesthetic component of the film plays an equally important role, thanks to the dazzling vision of Beyoncé and her creative collaborators, especially her stylist, Zerina Akers.
.

"With this visual album, I wanted to present elements of Black history and African tradition, with a modern twist and a universal message, and what it truly means to find your self-identity and build a legacy," Beyonce said when the trailer for the project dropped in early July.
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Many of the most striking moments in Black Is King owe their gravitas to the bold fashion statements present in each scene that pay homage to everything from the Yoruba river goddess Oshun to Lipombo elongation. Fashion historian and curator Darnell-Jamal Lisby says that Beyoncé's use of fashion to tell a story is far from new (one only need look as far as her Daughters of the Dust-esque visuals for Lemonade or her HBCU-inspired theme for 2018's Beychella) — but says that with Black Is King, she very deliberately used her costumes to center the story.
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"You see the entire direction of where her artistry is going in terms of using fashion more wholly to really speak to this theme of her appreciation for the various cultures of Africa and the total African diaspora," Lisby tells TIME. "It was a nod and an homage to the diversity of Africa, that it's not all just one conditioned picture that's been trained in the Western world for our eyes to think about when it comes to Africa, but it gives an access point, for some who might not realize there is so much diversity within the African continent and every culture has something to give and has given to our global history."
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Below, Lisby weighed in on some of the references Beyoncé makes with her fashion in Black Is King.

Oshun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility and rivers
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According to Lisby, Beyoncé references Oshun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility and rivers, multiple times in Black Is King, including in the "Spirit" music video that was released last year (the footage was incorporated in the new film), where she sports a Lafalaise Dion cowrie shell mask, and in the opening scene of the visual album, where she appears wearing a romantic sheer cream gown by Wendy Nichol. This isn't the first time that Beyoncé has referenced Oshun either; her show-stopping Grammys performance in 2017 had a clear ode to the deity associated with love.

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read more here

https://time.com/5875425/...g-fashion/