Girls.
We run this mother.
This was the first lyric of Beyoncé’s Run the World (Girls). Before this song was released in her album 4, Beyoncé’s top songs were Crazy in Love and Single Ladies. The iconic Single Ladies, empowered women to appreciate being single and pursue happiness without the presence of a man. Meanwhile, Crazy in Love describes the narrative of someone who is, in fact, crazy in love. Beyoncé previously dabbled with women empowerment, but it took until Run the World (Girls) for her message to come across loud and clear: she’s done with the patriarchal BS.
Run the World can make any women feel as if they can take control of their lives and quite literally, run the world. I remember Beyoncé released 4 seven years ago, and this song was the shining star in my mind. Coupled with the modern feminist movement, this song included all women, such as the straight and LGBTQ community, in order to make them feel like they were the new bad ass women to rule this world.
Beyoncé sings,
“This goes out to all my girls that’s in the club rocking the latest, who will buy it for themselves and get more money later.”
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These lyrics show how she’s uplifting women to become financially independent and still rep the latest swag. She continues to sing,
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“Boy you know you love it, how we’re smart enough to make these millions, strong enough to bear the children… then get back to business.”
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Now those are lyrics.
Beyoncé encourages women to not have to pick between domestic life and the work force; she wants women to have their cake and eat it too. If you have ears, you can understand that Beyoncé wants women to feel as if the world is their oyster. But she is not just encouraging women, she utilizes countless different races and sizes of women in her performances to push women to support other women. Because we can all run the world together.
Beyoncé practices what she preaches. Beyoncé had Blue Ivy at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York on January 7, 2012. Just four months after she had her baby, she performed for three nights in a row at Revel Atlantic City in her show labeled, Back to Business. At this point, she’s dripping with feminist suave.
Beyoncé's "Back to Business" prelude video
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Run the World was just the beginning.
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Then, December 13, 2013 happened.