American singer and songwriter Beyoncé has opened up about how she tackled the year 2020 and how she put together “Black is King” visual album in the latest British Vogue issue.
Interviewed by Ghanaian-British fashion editor for Vogue, Edward Enninful, Beyoncé disclosed that the planning of her visual album started from her backyard with plans to shoot only two videos for “The Gift” album but ended up travelling to Africa to do more.
“It started out simple, in my backyard,” she said. “I wanted to do one or two videos for The Gift album, then it just grew. Before we knew it, we were shooting in Nigeria, Ghana, London, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where we filmed with the women of the Himba tribe.”
“It took an incredible group of creatives from all around the world, and so many of us were of African descent, telling a part of our own family’s story and its hidden history. Black Is King was a huge production that employed a large number of brilliant artists who may not typically see themselves working on a Disney project. Until now!”
When asked how she sees herself and her work in relation to the global black community, she gave a shout-out to Ghana and credited dancehall star Shatta Wale and dancer Dancegod Lloyd for their works on the song “Already” off the album.
“Shout out to Ghana! We shot there for the “Already” video. We worked with Shatta Wale and the choreographer Dancegod Lloyd. I am doing what my family has always done in celebrating and uplifting the black community.”
She also opened up about her humanitarian projects in Africa and support for black-owned small businesses.
“We are investing in young people’s education with college scholarships in the US and job training with our BeyGood programme in South Africa. I’m also proud of the work we’ve done through BeyGood and the NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] to support black-owned small businesses that would not have been able to survive this year.”
Source: Vogue
