Beyoncé gives rare, eye-opening interview. Here are 5 things we learned
Beyoncé on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar and in her latest Ivy Park ad. (Harper’s Bazaar/Ivy Park)
Beyoncé has given a rare and insightful interview to Harper’s Bazaar, opening up about her past, her future and her family.
A new Beyoncé interview is a rare treat – the music icon has, for much of the past decade, eschewed press and spoken instead directly through her music and visuals.
But, like most of us after a year of isolation, Beyoncé is feeling chatty. She blessed Harper’s Bazaar with an in-depth and surprisingly candid interview – and a luscious editorial spread to go with it that will leave you feeling poor, if nothing else.
Here are the five highlights from Beyoncé’s big interview.
Beyoncé had recorded ’50 or 60 songs’ by age 10
Talent. Work ethic. Drive. These are the things you can learn from Beyoncé.
As a child, Beyoncé said, she was so determined to make herself a star that she gave herself a vocal injury aged 13. Children at her school had no idea she could even sing, because she “barely spoke”.
“If something wasn’t helping me reach my goal, I decided to invest no time in it,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “I didn’t feel like I had time to ‘kiki’ or hang out. I sacrificed a lot of things and ran from any possible distraction. I felt as a young Black woman that I couldn’t mess up.”
After more than two decades in the spotlight, @Beyonce has become much more than a pop icon. She’s a cultural force who has routinely defied expectations and transformed the way we understand the power of art to change how we see ourselves and each other. https://t.co/bUg58Y9cIB— Harper's Bazaar (@harpersbazaarus) August 10, 2021
Beyonce’s entire I Am… Sasha Fierce era was an exercise in being petty
Beyoncé recalled being told by an agency prior to the release of her third album that fans didn’t like her being photographed in black and white, and that if she wanted to sell, her artwork needed to be colourful.
“I was so exhausted and annoyed with these formulaic corporate companies that I based my whole next project off of black and white photography, including the videos for ‘Single Ladies’ and ‘If I Were a Boy’ and all of the artwork by Peter Lindbergh for I Am… Sasha Fierce, which ended up being my biggest commercial success to date,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.
The reason you don’t see fun Beyoncé is because you don’t know her like that
Over the years critics have accused Beyoncé of being robotic and, to put it plainly, boring. She addressed this, telling Harper’s that only the people she “loves and trusts” get to see her full self.
“Those who don’t know me and have never met me might interpret that as being closed off. Trust, the reason those folks don’t see certain things about me is because my Virgo ass does not want them to see it….It’s not because it doesn’t exist!”
“I worked to heal generational trauma and turned my broken heart into art that would help move culture forward and hopefully live far beyond me. My 30s were about digging deeper,” says @Beyonce for our #BAZAARICONS September cover story. Read it now here: https://t.co/mk8C6C68gS pic.twitter.com/jHBZHLufDi
— Harper’s Bazaar (@harpersbazaarus) August 10, 2021
Beyoncé has literal beehives
Yep, Beyoncé has an army of bees creating the sweetest, most nourishing honey ever known to man. She’s also building a hemp farm, having discovered the benefits of CBD on her last tour.
‘Yes, the music is coming’
It’s been five years since Lemonade – and although we’ve had the joint album Everything is Love (with Jay-Z) and the epic visual album Black is King since, we of course want, nay, need more.
Fortunately, Beyoncé has confirmed that she’s been in the studio “for a year and a half”.
“Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare,” she cautioned. “One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies. Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio.” But still, she said: “Yes, the music is coming.”
