Beyoncé’s “Formation” is named best video of all time by Rolling Stone.
Formation held the No. 1 spot down on the list of 100 videos ranked by the magazine.
The publication wrote, “If Beyoncé’s self-titled visual album established her as one of the greatest artists of all time, her surprise-released ‘Formation’ video (and ensuring album Lemonade) marked her as one of the most important.”
The music video, directed by Melina Matsoukas, released in 2016, included references to Hurricane Katrina, Creole culture, and police brutality. Blue Ivy, her daughter, even had a cameo. The music video won Best Music Video at the Grammy Awards.
The music video featured many telling visuals, including the singer-songwriter lying on top of a sinking police car in a ruined New Orleans and a wall spray-painted with “stop shooting us” on it.
According to the director, Matsoukas, Queen Bey wanted the video to show the “historical impact of slavery on black love and what it has done to the black family,” she explained to The New Yorker in 2017.
“I wanted to show – this is black people. We triumph, we suffer, we’re drowning, we’re being beaten, we’re dancing, we’re eating, and we’re still here,” Matsoukas said while discussing the music video’s concept.
However, several critics quickly placed Beyoncé and the video as “anti-police.”
Beyoncé denied the accusations in an interview with Elle declaring people who truly believed she was “anti-police” were wrong.
“I’m an artist and I think the most powerful art is usually misunderstood,” the 39-year-old artist told Elle in April 2016. “But anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken. I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of officers who sacrifice themselves to keep us safe.”
Furthermore, Beyoncé continued to explain the message of Formation.
“But let’s be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things,” she explained.
On the other hand, she performed the song during the Super Bowl halftime days after debuting.
Formation is off her sixth studio album, “Lemonade,” which was the most searched song of the year in 2016.
