We all knew that Beyoncé’s Coachella performance, which was essentially her comeback to the stage since having twins Sir and Rumi, was going to be popping. Our queen is nothing if not a stellar performer and a perfectionist—no detail is too small. However, what we actually got Saturday night left many of us (aka Beyoncé’s black fans) bubbling up with pride. The superstar’s performance, with themes heavily nodding to black culture, especially HBCU culture, was for many of us a homecoming, both literally and figuratively.
In short: She did that.
But Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Knowles-Lawson, was not always convinced that #Beychella would turn out as well as it did.
On Monday the matriarch shared an Instagram post with a glowing review of Beyoncé’s performance, along with her own reflection, emphasized by her worry that Coachella’s mostly white audience wouldn’t get what her daughter was trying to do with the performance.
“I told Beyonce that i was afraid that the predominately white audience at Coachella would be confused by all of the black culture and Black college culture because it was something that they might not get,” Knowles-Lawson wrote in the caption. “Her brave response to me made me feel a-bit selfish and ashamed.”
“She said i have worked very hard to get to the point where i have a true voice and At this point in my life and my career i have a responsibility to do whats best for the world and not what is most popular,” Knowles-Lawson recounted. “She said that her hope is that after the show young people would research this culture and see how cool it is, and young people black and white would listen to ‘LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING and see how amazing the words are for us all and bridge the gap. She also hopes that it will encourage young kids to enroll in our amazing HIstorically (sic) Black Colleges and Universities. I stand corrected.”
Indeed.
Not only did Beyoncé work the shit out of that performance and accomplish the goal she set out to accomplish with her performance, but on the heels of said performance, she put her money up as well, launching a scholarship fund specifically to benefit four HBCUs.
And that, my dears, is how it is done.
#BlackGirlMagic forever.