Music Review: Beyonce - Formation

Beyonce's performance at the Superbowl arguably became bigger than the sporting event itself. There's no doubting that this song is going to be massive, not in the least because it's one of the more controversial pieces to ever grace the commercialised world of American sport, but also because Beyonce herself certainly sold it with all her skills as a performer. I'll give Beyonce that she certainly made an impact, and did so in stark contrast to the relatively cheerful and standard worlds of Coldplay and Bruno Mars, but then that's not exactly difficult to shine when compared to them. That's especially true when Beyonce decided to emulate Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympic Games, which was a distasteful yet powerful act that brought politics unnecessarily into sports. In my opinion that should never happen, yet here we are again bringing racial issues into the world of sport, only this time just slightly less extreme. Beyonce's whole performance was obvious in its tone. In the background were a legion of dancers in the colours and attire of the Black Panther Party, an extremist group in favour of African American rights, who in my opinion should be getting a bashing in the same way that Phil Anselmo's white power salute did a few weeks back. The difference is that Anselmo's antics wasn't at the Superbowl, and so Beyonce deserves every bit of criticism she gets from this bold statement.

To me it doesn't matter that Beyonce's new single is primarily designed to shit all over white people, because as a powerful politically charged piece that's exactly what it should be doing. However my issue instead is that this strong message is shoved down your throat in the most thoughtless way possible. This is an explicit song in both its language and message, yet these huge themes are almost dictated in a primitive tone that echoes more of propaganda than a serious piece of art. That's why I'm so confused by what should be a revolutionary piece, as the song is primarily a trap infused club anthem that doesn't work in any way as some sort of rallying cry for a political movement. I could only see this song playing over the speakers in sweat infested clubs rather than on a political stage, and in a similar way I felt this song only acts as an advert for Beyonce's new album rather than using that controversy to question the moral views of the listener like any good political song would do, and it's this amateur approach to a serious piece that acts as the foundations to a fundamentally flawed song.

But the biggest problem with 'Formation' is the quality of the song itself. There may be a tremendously powerful message overshadowing the whole tone, but when you actually analyse the qualities that make up a thought provoking song you soon find an absence of them in this careless piece. I would have imagined that if there was any one person who could turn a song of this poor quality into something special then your money would be on Beyonce, or at least a Beyonce of a few years ago, but here she sounds uncharacteristically average. The themes presented should always be bigger than the person in question, but here I didn't find that. I do believe Beyonce is passionate about the racial issues presented, but to me this felt like a vanity project with a disguise that shoves racial issues down your throat to cover the lacklustre quality of the whole song. This is about as two dimensional as pop performances get, and it's a song that can only savour a decent performance for the stage when Beyonce is allowed to shine like the performer she is, but that's another fundamental sign that this song doesn't work as a political anthem. Even during the Superbowl performance I still felt detached from the overriding message, and I think that has a lot to do with the confusing dance friendly and upbeat tone that the whole song has.
 
Furthermore the pacing is amateur at best, and there's constant breaks in the structure that make the strong themes feel like a clunky afterthought to boost sales, and that's supported by the generic trap beat, an emphasis on a weak bass line and repetitive nature of the whole thing. The chorus feels out of place and isn't even a crescendo, and everything is so underwhelming, which leaves a song with no atmosphere, no reason for me to care about these supposedly serious themes Beyonce wants to dictate to me. It actually ended up feeling like Beyonce had reduced what I thought were going to be extremely poignant themes into a generic dance track, and that arguably is the greatest crime this rubbish commits. Beyonce herself isn't even anything special in this. I don't know if she thought that dancing in the video looked charismatic, but shit would be the word I would use to describe whatever the hell she thinks she's doing. I never recall Martin Luther King having to look like a hooker to promote his message, yet Beyonce feels the need to, and it's this emphasis on commercial rubbish that deals the final blow in making me think that this is nothing more than some excessive marketing for an individual, which is pretty pathetic when you consider the huge themes just chucked around without a thought. This isn't a powerful performance; it's actually quite an irritating one, especially the beginning where she sounds like she needs some cough medicine rather than the opening lines of her latest single.

The lyrics are another huge low point. They're co written by one half of terrible rap duo Rae Sremmurd, so it's of no surprise that they're hopeless and full of self centred nonsense, but why the hell are there such stupid lines like the following in what's meant to be a thoughtful song?

My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana

You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bama

I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros

I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils

That's racist isn't it? This is just a racially charged vanity project. Beyonce turns a song about social issues into a description of herself instead of writing deep lyrics herself, yet I'm supposed to believe this is a song for the masses instead of a song massaging an individuals ego. Then those egotistical claims are followed up with more self centred horseshit like this:

I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making

 
No Beyonce, you're not a Bill Gates in the making. Bill Gates was pioneer in the tech industry, whereas you're a performer using your talents to try and start a revolution based around your ego that's just created controversy. Bill Gates got to where he is by working hard and not by parading around half naked and getting other people to write his work for him. Beyonce, get off your high horse and write your own fucking lyrics and maybe I will start to believe that this is a personal crusade even slightly comparable to the achievements of Gates. It's even worse if this reference was a nod to the accumulation of wealth. If that's the case then this song is becoming more deplorable and self centred with each verse.

In summary this is the same as those other Beyonce dance tracks that I've hated over the years, the only difference being this one is hidden behind a weak political facade that revolves around an individual. Controversy may equal cash for Beyonce's new album, but when you throw around such huge themes with such careless thought and condescending tone it's clear that this is primarily about you and not the art or message your creating. Sorry Beyonce, this isn't powerful, it's an early contender for worst song of the year.

Final Score: 1/10