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But, after many years of people constantly speculating about her marriage, her true personality, and even her pregnancy, Beyoncé decided to crack the doors to her personal gateway. First, she did an interview with Oprah, followed by a self-directed documentary of her life and struggles as a wildly successful commercial artist.
Here is a quick recap of both and my thoughts:
Next Chapter Interview - Bey showed up to chat with the legendary Oprah with leather pants, a white T-shirt, a black blazer, and her signature long honey blond locks. Since this was her first interview after her show-stopping Superbowl performance, Oprah started off with questions about how she prepared for and felt during her 12 minute spectacle. Bey's eyes lit up as she talked about how excited she was to have her girls (Kelly and Michelle) by her side and how proud her husband Jay-Z was. The experience was so ethereal that it took her into a complete "zone".
Oprah then asked about her firing her father as a manager. Beyoncé simply stated that it was time for her to grow and strike out on her own. She wanted her father to be just that: her father. However, the best moments of the interview came when she talked about Jay-Z and baby Blue Ivy. Bey confidently told Oprah that she is a better woman because of her relationship to Jay-Z and how Blue Ivy was her best friend and made her life complete. Bey hinted that she wanted to expand her family after this year's Mrs. Carter Show tour and she wanted to take more time to enjoy her incredible life.
My Thoughts: First, I thought Oprah was going to come a bit harder on the questions, to be honest. But, I realized that many of them would probably be answered in the documentary. I still think this was one of Bey's best interviews. She let down her emotional walls and gave us a peek into who she truly is. To me, when she talked about her daughter, her well-intact persona gave way and she was, just for a moment, a regular mom gushing about the joy of having her first child. As a mom of one daughter, I finally felt like I could relate to her. My favorite part was when she said Blue Ivy was fiery and she shook her head while saying "Lord, I'm gonna have myself a time." Hilarious. I also found it interesting how much Oprah respects and admires Beyoncé, almost to the point where Oprah feels like Bey is the most powerful woman on Earth.
Life is But a Dream (moments and my thoughts):
Life is but a dream opened with footage of a young Beyonce and toddler Solange on the front steps of the house they grew up in. Bey was stylish and bold at a young age as she harassed honeybees in a bush with white cowboy boots on. As the film opened, Beyoncé immediately laid the foundation of her inner thoughts. She acknowledged her commercial success, but realized that it was not enough. She laid out the pitfalls of being a brand by stating that she didn't "want to sing about the same thing for 10 more years" and how she can't grow creatively. To me, this confirmed my long standing suspicion that Bey is slightly jealous of her younger, infinitely cool, and free spirited sister Solange. Since Solo is not a huge commercial brand, she is allowed to say and do what the hell she wants.
The film then moves into discussing Bey's relationship with her father and former manager Matthew Knowles. She chose to focus on the pain of their strained relationship instead of shedding light on stories about his infidelity and subsequent child out of wedlock and divorce from her mom. Honestly, I thought it was smart to do this because the documentary is about her and her growth, not about him.
There were many great moments. We discovered that Beyoncé has a potty mouth when she is passionate about something. For instance, when discussing how she would go about managing her career, Bey said "First, you have to figure out what you want....Do you want to kiss asses? Do you want a career?". She also revealed just how passionate she is about women's rights. During her Billboard performance, she worked hard and experienced many setbacks while preparing for the show stopping performance of "Run the World". What we didn't know is that she was also in the early stages of pregnancy at that time. She ranted about how men make more than women overall and how men use money to define what power is and to define sexiness in women. Bey said that it was all "bullshit".
Beyoncé showed her fun side several times during the movie. One of the best fun moments was an impromptu living room performance with Solange and Kelly. Like three middle school aged girls, they danced around and sang The Cardingans "Lovefool" while giggling and laughing. Bey even had Jay-Z singing along with her as they dined over wine.
Jay-Z and Bey's love was a focal point of the documentary. There was great footage of them on a yacht smiling and joking and Jay showing up to many of her performances to quietly support his wife. However, the best moment was home footage from 12/4/2006 (his birthday) when Bey stood up and made a heartfelt speech to her (then) future husband. She told a room full of close confidants how he had helped shape and mold her as a woman, artist, and spiritual being. My favorite line was "Every year, I'm more in love with you." They have a real love that transcends money and power.
There love was strengthened during the documentary by a surprise. Bey laid in bed at night sans makeup, looked into the camera and bravely stated that she was "with child". Her emotions were clearly all over the place by the unplanned pregnancy: fear, joy, wonder, excitement, exasperation. Most of her fear stemmed from her prior miscarriage, which she addressed in the documentary as being the saddest thing she has ever experienced. She played a song she wrote about it with poignant lyrics: "I guess love just wasn't enough for us to survive...you took the life right out of me." At the end, we finally got to see Blue's cute face and her interaction with her famous mom.
Bey FINALLY showed her pregnant stomach not once, but twice. The first time was at around 20 weeks when she was going to attend the MTV Awards in 2011. Known for her sexy outfits and wild performances she decided she could not keep it a secret any more. After her infamous performance (remember the mike drop and belly rub?) there was footage of her backstage hugging her husband and feeling relieved. The second shot was at about 37 weeks and finally put the surrogate rumors to bed.
To be honest, Beyoncé is not known as the most intellectual chick around, but she did make several great points that resonated with me. She shed light on the price of commercial fame for a creative soul. She discussed how we are so image focused and feel entitled to know things about celebrities that are just not our business. I agree with her about how celebs need and deserve separation between their personal life and public persona. She believes that today's commercial artists push singles instead of albums, and this is largely true.
Overall, I think she did a great job at cracking the surface at who she is. Do I expect her to start Tweeting everyday and post 1,000 pictures of Blue everyday? Will I start to refer to her as King/Queen Bey or Bey-sus? No. Nothing personal, just not a fan of celeb worship. But the respect I have always had for her as a woman who works hard and lives her purpose has been increased. It is impossible to get to completely know the totality of a person in a 1.5 hour documentary, but Bey did a good job at revealing what she chose to reveal.
-T. Amour
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