About

Black Is King is a visual album by American recording artist Beyoncé. A companion piece to her soundtrack companion to the 2019 film The Lion King, Black Is King is a collection of music videos linked together by the story of an outcast African king, from his infancy to adulthood. The film premiered on Disney+ in July 2020.

History

On June 19th, 2019, Beyoncé released the album The Lion King: The Gift, a soundtrack companion album to the 2019 remake of The Lion King.^[1]

The following year, on June 28, 2020, Disney+ premiered the teaser for Black Is King on YouTube. Within two months, the video received more than 100,000 views (shown below, left). Weeks later, on July 19th, the Walt Disney Studios YouTube channel premiered a full trailer for the film, receiving more than 3 million views (shown below, right).

On July 31st, Black Is King premiered on Disney+.

Reception

Critical Reception

The film received positive remarks from critics. On the review aggregator Metacritic,^[2] Black Is King scored an 81, based on 13 critic reviews. The top review, from Mesfin Fekadu of the Associated Press, reads, "King Beyoncé's new film takes you on a journey of Black art, music, history and fashion as the superstar transports you to Africa to tell the story of a young man in search of his crown, matched to epic songs she created while inspired by The Lion King." The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes ^[3] certified the film as "Fresh," with a score of 100% (based on 25 reviews).

Online Reaction

Online, fans praised the film. Many shared images, readings and expressions of praise of Beyoncé's work from a musical, technical and artistic standing (examples below).

YouTubers published reaction videos on the film. For example, YouTuber Zach Campbell published one that received 141,000 views (shown below).

On TikTok ^[4] the hashtag received more than 12.5 million views (examples below).

Search Interest

External References