Just days after wrapping up her Formation World Tour, Beyoncé debuted new sets, costumes, and routines for the Tidal X: 1015 concert in Brooklyn last night.

The Houston-bred singer performed with a hologram before going into "6 Inch" and "Haunted" with a crew of dancers. She came back at the end of the show to perform "All Night."

The concert was held in support of the Robin Hood Foundation, which calls itself “New York’s largest poverty-fighting organization.”

The United States may be on the verge of electing its first woman president, but for many of the country's poorest and most marginalized, things aren't getting better. In fact, across the south the fight to keep abortion safe and legal wages on.

The Lady Parts Justice League describes themselves as "a coven of hilarious badass feminists who use humor and pop culture to expose the haters fighting against reproductive justice." The women came together to create a hilarious and timely remix to Beyoncé's "Formation" that spotlights the ways draconian laws and regressive societal views lock women out of exercising their full reproductive rights.

Watch below.

Beyoncé spent the summer performing to sold out crowds on her Formation World tour. Along the way she made sure that her politics would not be overshadowed by her celebrity.

After the killings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling in July, she stopped her show to pay tribute to victims of police violence and wrote an open letter championing the cause against police brutality.

But more than a year before the Formation video broke the internet, she foreshadowed their move away from the inoffensive and readily palatable.
At the Grammy’s in 2015, she performed the gospel classic “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” with a choir of Black men accompanying her. The men, dressed in all white, performed simple choreography that included a reference to “hands up, don’t shoot,” the rallying cry of angry protestors in the wake of Mike Brown’s killing in Ferguson, Missouri.



To clarify her intentions, Beyoncé released a a mini-documentary on the making of the performance. “I felt like this is an opportunity to show the strength and vulnerability in Black men,” she said. She went on to describe herself as a vessel for the past and continued suffering of Black people including her father who grew up in segregated Alabama. “Now I can sing for his pain,” she reflects. “I can sing for my grandparents pain. I can sing for some of the families that lost their sons.” Despite her best efforts and a shimmering, diaphanous gown, the performance was rather unspectacular, and Beyoncé’s invocation of the gesture got lost in the controversy surrounding her perceived sleight to another performer. But, perhaps, that was a good thing. Beyoncé dipped her toe into the waters of Black Lives Matter with nary a peep.

Beyoncé celebrated her 35th birthday with a Soul Train-themed birthday bash in New York City on Monday. Of course, her famous friends and family showed up to help her celebrate the occasion.

The party was a family affair. Beyoncé arrived in style with her daughter, Blue Ivy.

Beyoncé & Blue arrive at her Soul Train themed birthday party. pic.twitter.com/axq4YAHK5I

— BEYONCÉ LEGION (@Bey_Legion) September 6, 2016

Solange showed up with her son, Julez, and her husband, Alan. Solo channels the 70s in her streetwear often, so, of course, she nailed it.

In an orange chiffon top and hot pants, Beyoncé thanked the group for coming. Then Blue Ivy wished her mommy a happy birthday.

Blue wishing Beyoncé a happy birthday  💙 pic.twitter.com/Lstc4LfGYF

— BEYONCÉ LEGION (@Bey_Legion) September 6, 2016

Beyoncé and Blue cut a rug on the dance floor.

Beyoncé & Blue dancing to 'Work It Out' at her 35th birthday party 💙🎉 pic.twitter.com/naLdo6KAbV

— BEYONCÉ LEGION (@Bey_Legion) September 6, 2016

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz were there. Beatz DJed the event.

Chance the Rapper showed up to show love to his "TT."
Bey's protege's Chloe and Halle were in attendance.

Lala and Carmelo Anthony showed up.

Puffy went full Superfly with Cassie.


Kelly Rowland gave Donna Summer Realness.

Michelle Williams channeled Cher.

Usher nailed the theme with Jay Z gave us hints of Jimmy Hendrix.

Usher, Grace Miguel, Tim Witherspoon and Kelly Rowland.
Bey changed into a sequin jumpsuit during the party. That's when she really let loose.

Beyoncé & Jay Z dancing at her 35th birthday party 🎉 pic.twitter.com/zqw6nyXvp1

— BEYONCÉ LEGION (@Bey_Legion) September 6, 2016

Bey was born in 1981, but it's clear why she feels an affinity for the decade. Her first film role in 2002 was Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember.  And her love for 70s rock queen Tina Turner has been well-documented.

Beyoncé's attendance at the BET Awards, or lack thereof, has become a bit of a meme in recent years. The shady narrative goes that Beyoncé is too big of a star to show up the network's biggest outing every year.

But Beyoncé certainly shut down all that talk with her incredible performance of "Freedom" that opened the show. With her cadre of dances, she sang and splashed across the stage. The song is liberation anthem and she brought along Kendrick Lamar to perform his verse with a few added lines.

Together they took the song to a new level.













Photo by Paras Griffin/BET/Getty Images for BET

Ingrid Burley was one of the first signees to Beyoncé's record label Parkwood Entertainment. The Houston-bred rapper wrote one of Lemonade's more introspective tracks. But "Love Drought" isn't about Beyoncé's fraught emotions regarding a cheating husband.

Ingrid told Genius that she wrote the song out of frustration with the label. When she felt the label wasn't giving her opportunities, she wrote the song in about 30 minutes.


Listen to Ingrid's latest single.

While Michael Jackson is often credited at Beyoncé's biggest influence. It's no surprise that the global superstar feels a particular affinity for Prince. The two performed together at The Grammy Awards in 2004, and Beyoncé has long included music from the The Time, a group Prince assembled and wrote for, in her live shows (See: The Beyoncé Experience).

In Dallas on Monday, Beyoncé covered "The Beautiful Ones" during the Formation World Tour. The song appears on Purple Rain.  She first performed the cover in 2011 at the Glastonbury Festival in England, and this longer version was equally spectacular.


Watch the Glastonbury performance.

Beyoncé is trying something new. Or at least that's what it looks like.

A trailer for her new short film "Lemonade" debuted, and it features Beyoncé in varied New Orleans locales looking pretty angry.  She's even seen smashing a New Orleans Police Department camera with a bat.

"Lemonade" will premiere on HBO 4/23 at 9ET.

Watch the trailer below.

We've been bopping to Beyoncé's "Formation" since it was released in September, but this Afro-beat remix by DJ Puto takes it to another level.  The new beat paired with the ill choreography by Kara Janelle makes for an irresistible combination. Watch and try to sit still.

Ciera Paul makes learning fun with her innovative approach to teaching geometry. Paul, who teaches at a Charter school in New Orleans, helped teach her kids about circumferences, radii, and angles with a rap to the tune of Beyoncé's "Formation."

You can tell in the clip that every student is engaged. There's even a verse for the Spanish speaking students.

It's great to see an educator so in tune with what her kids respond to. This is exactly what our kids need! Great job, Ciera!

KeKe Wyatt possesses one of the most underappreciated voices in r&b. And we'll soon get more of her music with her new album Rated Love.  Keke is promoting her new LP with covers of some of her favorites. Most recently, she's put her own spin on Beyoncé's "Love on Top."

The cover works because it never feels like Keke is doing a Beyoncé impression. Watch below.

by Kimberly Foster @KimberlyNFoster

Beyoncé has the whole world talking about the unapologetic blackness in her new video, Formation, but the pop superstar isn't new to celebrating Black brilliance.

She's often given nods to the Black women performers who've inspired her, most notably Tina Turner. And back in 2006, Beyoncé celebrated Jospehine Baker's 100th birthday with a banana dance-inspired performance of her hit song, "Deja Vu" on the televised Fashion Rocks special.
B sported a bedazzled bustier and skirt made of embellished faux bananas, a costume very similar to the one worn by Baker as she performed the banana dance across Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. Baker rose to prominence performing cabaret acts in La Revue Nègre in Paris in 1925. By 1926, the banana dance became here signature.

Beyoncé's seductive spectacle captured the essence of Baker's allure. She was powerful while exhibiting complete control over her body during the effervescent choreography.


Beyoncé also paid homage in song's video with a dance break that contained choreography reminiscent of the icon's.

Josephine in the Folies Bergere in 1926. From The Josephine Baker Story by Ean Wood

She told ABC News in 2006, "I wanted to be more like Josephine Baker, because she didn't, she seemed like she just was possessed and it seemed like she just danced from her, her heart, and everything was so free."


Beyoncé's affinity for Baker comes as no surprise. Baker's control of her art and her image was unprecedented for her time. Baker, a Black woman beloved by white audiences, built a name by working within the status quo to transgress social boundaries. In her later life she became a civil rights activist.

The origins of the skirt are unknown. Baker gave varied stories about it's creation throughout her life, but she will forever be an icon because of her daring.

Josephine Baker in Banana Skirt. Paul Colin (French, 1892-1985)

For More information on Josephine Baker:

For Kids:


Photos: WireImage/Kevin Mazur

Beyoncé gave us a first look at her new single, Formation, tonight at the Super Bowl. She released the first single and video off of her forthcoming project last night, just in time for a debut in front of hundreds of millions of people.

Queen Bey treated viewers to some hella blackness with her backup dancers dressed like Black Panthers. Beyoncé, herself, gave us a look reminiscent of Michael Jackson's Super Bowl ensemble.

Immediately after the performance, Beyoncé announced her world concert tour and a fund to benefit Flint children that will include a show at Detroit's Ford Field on May 29.

Yes, Beyonce, You DO Slay
Beyoncé dominates the field. Literally. Is Bey a Bill Gates in the making? #iSlay #sheSlay #weSlay
Posted by Refinery29 on Sunday, February 7, 2016