“How 'Lemonade' Shifted Beyoncé’s Art And Career - Essence” plus 2 more

How 'Lemonade' Shifted Beyoncé’s Art And Career - Essence
Beyonce's New Ivy Park Campaign Follows Her From Childhood to Superstardom - Billboard
Skye Townsend, known for her Beyoncé imitation, joins ‘Black Lady Sketch Show’ - Houston Chronicle

How 'Lemonade' Shifted Beyoncé’s Art And Career - Essence

Posted: 23 Apr 2021 12:00 AM PDT

For Black women, both the pain and pride presented on Beyoncé's sixth studio LP was all-too familiar. Lemonade captured the emotions we are conditioned to hide and put forth a vulnerable, yet powerful image of Black womanhood that painted a contemporary portrait of the experiences Black women have with each other, our romantic partners, and the world.

Lemonade is a reminder that Black women's blues will not be overshadowed by "Becky with the good hair."

In alignment with her self-titled digital drop that stopped the world in 2014, Lemonade was released in video format as well as audio. The short film featured the singer delivering stanzas from British-Somali poet Warsan Shire, and celebrity cameos from the likes of Zendaya and Serena Williams. Women such as Trayvon Martin's mother Sybrina Fulton and Michael Brown's mother Gwen Carr also took part in the then-secret project.

The sacred sisterhood shared between Black women through generational trauma and triumph as well as Black femininity was celebrated through aesthetics highlighting multiple women from different walks of life. Together, Black women take on the burden of battling misogynoir, racism, and sexism advocating for ourselves against a world conditioned to grant us less permissions and privileges than others.

"The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman." Powerful words spoken by Malcolm X used by Beyoncé on the rage-filled "Don't Hurt Yourself," featuring Jack White. Anger, an emotion we are often forced to hide out of fear of being stereotyped as "angry Black women," was on full display in this visual.

She showcased Black women as resilient without stripping us of our delicate, yet powerful humanity. The vibrant choreography and lush costuming in one scene is juxtaposed by the stillness and bareness of the next. Each chapter of the film is named for a different emotion: intuition, denial, anger, apathy, emptiness, accountability, reformation, forgiveness, resurrection, hope, and redemption, and at every layer, another element is unpacked.

Arguably, the biggest theme of Lemonade is the complicated manner in which Black women experience romance due to generational curses, dating back to times of enslavement. Melina Matsoukas, director of the "Formation" video revealed Beyoncé's goal "to show the historical impact of slavery on Black love, and what it has done to the Black family."

She continued "It's an unfair struggle that only Black women can understand and relate to.

In a 2018 editorial penned for Vogue, the singer herself wrote "I come from a lineage of broken male-female relationships, abuse of power, and mistrust. Only when I saw that clearly was I able to resolve those conflicts in my own relationship. Connecting to the past and knowing our history makes us both bruised and beautiful."

Every shot fired at her cheating husband, (allegations confirmed by Jay-Z's admissions of infidelity on the apologetic yet heralded 4:44 album), was also directed at the Black men who benefit from a patriarchal society, challenging them to question their own faults as she expressed what she and countless women before her, including her own mother Tina Knowles-Lawson endured.

Lemonade added to the canon of art created for Black women pushed to the limit. The cathartic release shown by Beyoncé smashing a car with a baseball bat now stands alongside Angela Bassett's character in Waiting To Exhale lighting her cheating husband's belongings on fire or Whoopi Goldberg's character Celie in The Color Purple finally standing up to her unfaithful abuser, promising he would not see peace without atonement.

With heavy messaging and sheer talent, the 12-track album exists as Queen Bey's most acclaimed. Lemonade earned a Peabody Award in entertainment, three BET awards in 2016 and five in 2017 for the same project. It was certified platinum by June 2016, and reached triple platinum status the same month, three years later. It has been cited in academia and used in college courses on feminism and pop culture.

The album went on to be nominated for nine Grammy-awards, only winning two to the disapproval of many, including Adele, who won the night's top prize. During the "Chasing Pavements" singer's acceptance speech for album of the year, she emotionally declined to proudly take the award.

"I can't possibly accept this award, and I'm very humbled, and I'm very grateful and gracious, but the artist of my life is Beyoncé," she said. "You are our light, and the way that you make me and my friends feel—the way that you make my Black friends feel—is empowering, and you make them stand up for themselves. And I love you, I always have, and I always will."

The concept album featured Country, Hip-Hop, R&B, Rock and Roll, Funk and gospel, forever releasing the singer from being held to one sound. Lemonade changed the trajectory of Beyoncé's career by cementing her status as a social disruptor and voice for change. Throughout her career Beyonce has used her music to speak out against double standards, body shaming, Hollywood woes, and more however Lemonade elevated her budding activism through art to new heights.

"Formation," released ahead of the album and film, was performed at the Super Bowl and led conservatives and police forces across the country to launch a movement to ban Beyoncé for her message against racism and police brutality. Having the mothers of the movement in her film, boasting lyrically of her "negro nose," reclaiming former plantations, and demanding "Freedom" with Kendrick Lamar amplified Beyoncé's dedication to artistry with purpose.

The infamous blonde braids (now affectionately called lemonade braids in the Black community) and fur coat will forever signify the moment in time when Beyoncé shifted from global pop icon to legend.

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Beyonce's New Ivy Park Campaign Follows Her From Childhood to Superstardom - Billboard

Posted: 26 Apr 2021 11:06 AM PDT

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Beyonce's New Ivy Park Campaign Follows Her From Childhood to Superstardom Billboard

Skye Townsend, known for her Beyoncé imitation, joins ‘Black Lady Sketch Show’ - Houston Chronicle

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 12:00 AM PDT

Comedian Skye Townsend

Photo: Ali Paige Goldstein/HBO / Ali P. Goldstein/HBO

Anyone who knows Skye Townsend knows the lady can do one hell of a Beyoncé impression.

It's an impersonation she perfected almost a decade ago, way back in the good ol' days of social-media app Vine. She would post six-second clips of herself talking like our prized pop princess, beaming with pride about whatever baby talk Blue Ivy uttered at the time. We can only assume the Beyhive didn't take too kindly of Townsend's light mocking. "I got a couple warnings to tread lightly and watch what I say," says Townsend, on the phone from her Los Angeles home. "But I'm a member of the Beyhive myself, so I always come with respect."

So, did Queen Bey ever take notice of Townsend's imitation? "A couple of years ago, somebody said that she had seen the video. But I haven't heard it from her mouth, so I don't know. But I hope, if she saw the impression, that she enjoyed it — you know, all in good fun."

Cut to today: Townsend, now 27, is one of the cast members of HBO's "A Black Lady Sketch Show," which begins its second season April 23. Series creator Robin Thede, along with Ashley Nicole Black and Gabrielle Dennis, return to do sista-centric sketch comedy that's usually dark, surreal, absurd and utterly Black-and-proud. They once again get celebrity men and women of color to join in on the fun, including Issa Rae (who also serves as an executive producer), Gabrielle Union, Ayesha Curry, Miguel, Omarion and Jesse Williams.

Unfortunately, first-season regular Quinta Brunson won't be back this season, as she's moved on to develop a sitcom pilot for ABC. And this is where Townsend comes in. "They had decided to add a new member to the second season," she says. "And, so, I initially sent in an audition tape and, the next day, they told me to come in and read for Robin Thede and the head writer and casting. And, a few days later, I got a call that the offer came in for the show. So, it was a fairly quick process." (Townsend isn't the only new addition to the "Sketch" sisterhood. Dallas native Laci Mosley is also in the cast this season.)

Townsend joins "Sketch" right when it appears that late-night TV has been getting a lot of comic commentary from women of color. From "Sketch" to "The Amber Ruffin Show" on NBC and Peacock to "Doing the Most with Phoebe Robinson" on Comedy Central to the upcoming "Ziwe" on Showtime, networks and cable channels are finally giving Black women shows where they can come with the funny.

"It's incredible to be a part of something that is granting people laughter, making people feel better in these crazy times," says Townsend. "I think comedy is so powerful, because it gives us an escape, right? And our show is really just Black women existing in a magical reality and all of the things that happen in our imagination. And, so, I'm really honored to be part of something that is just giving Black people everywhere a chance to exhale and laugh and get a break from a lot of the traumatic stuff going on. Because that's the whole point of comedy, you know. It's to just get a breather."

Townsend grew up in a family that knows a bit about comedy. Her father is Robert Townsend, the comedian and filmmaker best known for directing "Hollywood Shuffle," "The Five Heartbeats" and "Eddie Murphy Raw." "He gives wonderful advice and I really appreciate him allowing me to spread my wings on my own, so I really felt like I earned it," she says. "One of the best pieces of advice he gave to me was to pace yourself and reveal your gift wisely. Because he said you can do so many things, but you don't wanna overwhelm people. So, find a way to slowly reveal your talents and let them speak for you."

Townsend hasn't just been slowly revealing her comedic talents. She's also a singer-songwriter, previously releasing two EPs, "Vomit" and "Rocking Chairs," in the early aughts. (Both can be found on her SoundCloud page.) While she says she's in "comedyland" at the moment, she's hoping to have a music project that'll be on all streaming platforms at some point.

So, whether she's doing characters on "Sketch" or belting out her own tunes or even going back-and-forth with her poet cousin on the "Unpack 'n Bounce Back" podcast (which starts again next month), Skye Townsend wants it known that it's her skills— not her last name— that made her who she is today. "When people think of me, I want them to think about my talent before anything else," she says. "And that's what I'm working hard towards — the work being so good that it can't be denied."

Craig Lindsey is a Houston-based writer