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On the finish of the day, essentially the most urgent query surrounding the 2024 Democratic Nationwide Conference was: The place the hell is Beyoncé?
The reply: Not on the DNC.
To be clear, the thought of the best performer and arguably largest pop star on the planet displaying as much as Chicago’s United Middle and taking part in one music to a sea of political dorks and lawmakers is, surely, far-fetched. But it surely didn’t come out of nowhere. All of the clues have been there. Or, at the least, so many individuals — together with the media reporting on the occasion — thought so.
The rumor began Thursday afternoon, with an insidery put up that promised one thing enormous. “If you happen to thought the Oprah shock was large, simply wait,” the since-deleted put up from an nameless X consumer mentioned. Given Oprah’s gravitational pull on tradition at giant, the record of people that might outshine her is, at most, 10 or so names lengthy.
Beyoncé Knowles is without doubt one of the only a few folks on Earth who is larger than Oprah. Whereas there was some crucial hypothesis about Taylor Swift as effectively, the truth that Harris is utilizing Bey’s music “Freedom” on the marketing campaign path meant that election-watchers and followers alike started speculating that the singer was the key VIP. There have been additionally reviews from folks inside the sector that the conference’s home band was utilizing Beyoncé songs to soundcheck. Later within the night, reporters famous that the rostrum was arrange for somebody particular!
As whispers of the extraordinarily well-known and thrilling visitor who was positively Beyoncé grew, White Home political director Emmy Ruiz posted an emoji of a bee at round 4:30 pm. Bey calls her followers the Beyhive, and Ruiz’s bee put up threw gasoline on the hearth. It’s the equal of Gotham Metropolis lighting up the sky with the Bat Sign.
Certainly Bey was coming! (Ruiz later claimed that her 6-year-old had posted the bee.)
Then the seemingly final affirmation got here: TMZ reported that Beyoncé was going to indicate. Whereas your mileage could range on how TMZ reviews deaths and arrests (often by speaking to hospital staff and cops who shouldn’t be leaking that type of non-public data), they’re hardly incorrect.
Sleuths then began piecing collectively extra of the alleged puzzle. The Chicks, fellow Texans who Beyoncé has collaborated with, have been on the schedule. As was Pink, the singer obsessive about aerial tips and grownup gymnastics who additionally as soon as starred with Beyoncé in a Pepsi industrial. Additionally on the docket was Colin Allred, a Democrat from Bey’s residence state working for senate, talking only a few slots earlier than Harris, the primary occasion. Individuals from Texas, former collaborators, ah sure, all of it is sensible for those who squint onerous sufficient and play Six Levels of Separation: Beyoncé Version.
Maybe essentially the most plausible connection is that supporting Kamala Harris appears like one thing Beyoncé would do. If Harris wins, she could be the primary girl to grow to be president and the second individual of colour in historical past to ever maintain the nation’s highest workplace. That’s a political and historic milestone that aligns itself with Beyoncé’s artwork and her songs in regards to the energy and vulnerability of being a Black girl. She has additionally endorsed a number of Democratic candidates within the latest previous — beginning with Barack Obama proper by way of Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden — and performed at President Obama’s Inaugural Ball in 2009 and inauguration in 2013.
Beyoncé’s cultural and political evolution over the previous decade of her profession has made her a legendary determine. Much more particularly, starting with the discharge of Renaissance in 2022, the singer has been fastidiously crafting her work round a core thought: What’s America? And additional, what does it sound like? Who does it belong to?
By tapping into home music in 2022 after which nation on this yr’s Cowboy Carter, Bey highlighted two distinctly American improvements and underscored how Black women and men are integral components of these two genres. She’s difficult the concepts of America and reinventing it with every query and with every music. What may very well be extra symbolic of Beyoncé’s Americana than the nation’s first Black, biracial, girl president? What may very well be extra on-brand than Beyoncé singing “Freedom,” the Harris-Walz marketing campaign music, and introducing Kamala Harris?
All through the night, NBC and different retailers breathlessly speculated on the likelihood that Beyoncé was simply across the nook, with the Peacock speaking to delegates within the viewers who appeared to substantiate. Simply because the nation was totally Bey-pilled, and because the clock approached 10:30 CT — proper earlier than Kamala Harris was scheduled to just accept the nomination — the rumor was squashed.
Harris bought a video introduction, and Beyoncé’s publicist posted on Instagram, “Don’t report rumors.” The Hollywood Reporter additionally bought a denial at round 10:15 pm ET. For Beyoncé followers and maybe some impartial voters, it could’ve been good if the DNC or mentioned publicist squashed the rumors hours earlier as an alternative of dangling a Bey efficiency so shut that we might style it.
It could be useful, at this juncture, to do not forget that the purpose of the DNC shouldn’t be, technically, to have a Beyoncé live performance, however somewhat to introduce the nation to the lady who desires to be president. And for a quick few hours, it seemed like each would occur! Nonetheless, the X account that reportedly said this entire mess says it regrets the error, as does TMZ.
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