Thank You, Beyoncé

About

Thank You, Beyoncé refers to a catchphrase and social media trend based on Beyoncé's "She Knows" conspiracy theory, in which someone has to thank the American singer during any speech, award ceremony or celebration so it doesn't cause them bad luck for overshadowing or seeming like you are provoking her or her fanbase. The expression went viral in early October 2024 on X, former Twitter, and TikTok, often being applied along parody content or exaggerating people's reactions who purposely didn't say "thank you" to her.

Origin

The "Thank You, Beyoncé" theory started in 2017 after Adele won Album of the Year at the Grammys, and, during her emotional speech, she attributed Beyoncé as a major inspiration, describing her as the “artist of my life.” On February 13th, 2017, the Grammy's official YouTube^[1] posted Adele's complete speech (seen below), which garnered over 16 million views and 163,000 likes in seven years.

The earliest memetic mentioning the "Thank You, Beyoncé" conspiracy theory was posted on TikTok on October 4th, 2024, by user @igotstinkyfeet.^[2] The video (seen below) shows the creator doing an acceptance speech and especially thanking Beyoncé, amassing over 9 million plays and 2 million likes in a week.

Spread

Skits and jokes about the "Thank You, Beyoncé" conspiracy theory became more prevalent on TikTok and X over the following days. For example, on October 7th, 2024, TikTok^[3] user @andreuhs pretended to be shot after he got a perfect score on a test but "forgot to thank Beyoncé." The video (seen below) received roughly 838,000 plays and 139,000 likes in two days.

On October 9th, 2024, American singer and dancer Jojo Siwa mentioned the "Thank You, Beyoncé" conspiracy theory during her speech at the Industry Dance Awards. The moment was later posted on X^[4] by @PopBase, amassing over 1 million views and 30,000 likes in a few hours.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References