About

"Formation" is a 2016 song by the pop artist Beyoncé. The song is notable both for its popularity and also its political and personal content, which references Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans, Beyoncé's Texas upbringing, African-American identity, and the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Origin

"Formation" was released as free downloadable track on Tidal and music video on YouTube simultaneously,^[1][2] with no prior notice to the media, on February 6th, 2016, which was the day after Trayvon Martin's birthday and the day before Sandra Bland's birthday.

Spread

The track debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 11, a high for Beyoncé.^[3] Since the song was distributed for free, there are no statistics available on how many people downloaded it from Tidal; however, as of March 17th, 2016, the video has over 33.7 million streams. The day after the song's release, Beyoncé performed it with Bruno Mars at Super Bowl 50 during the halftime show, performing with a cadre of African American dancers dressed in costumes that were reminiscent of Black Panther uniforms.

Soon after that performance, Beyoncé announced that she would be going on a world tour to promote her new music. Police Unions, angered by the pop star's endorsement of the Black Lives Matter movement, encouraged their members to not volunteer to work crowd control at her concerts.^[5]

Reaction and choreography videos became common in the days and month following the release of the track, including several which received millions of views (below left). After the release of the song and the controversy surrounding the Super Bowl performance, Saturday Night Live created a popular skit in which white people suddenly learn that Beyoncé is a black woman, and subsequently go insane; the YouTube video of the skit has received over 6 million views as of March 17th (below right).

In one still from the video Beyoncé, dressed all in black with long braids and a hat drawn down over her eyes, gives the middle finger to the viewer with both hands; this still has been circulated widely as a GIF, and also been a frequent target for fanart and illustration. It is often accompanied by the word "Slay," a lyric from the song.

External References