Beyonce brought all of her flawless fierceness and slaying to San Diego when her Formation Tour stopped in to say hello on May 12, 2016. I, along with my family and 50,000 others were in the crowd.
I never know what to expect when I go to these massive stadium shows. The beauty of attending a live music act is to share a space with an artist and others around you that share the same love for that artist. It’s the ability to connect with someone who we may only know through a computer screen, an Instagram account or sounds of the radio.
But in a stadium, the connection is so physically difficult. The artist is yards away, appearing no larger than a postage stamp. I’m more connected to the men’s bathroom -- which was about 5 paces away -- than I am to the Queen Bey.
But this is Beyonce. Sasha Fierce. One of a short list of entertainers who can stand out in a sea of dancers, a collection of a million LED lights and a stage filled with production technology that I can only imagine must be equivalent to the cost of several acres of coastal property in La Jolla, Calif.
I mean, no joke, part of her stage -- which I’m guessing took up slightly over ⅓ of the Qualcomm Stadium field -- LITERALLY TURNED INTO WATER. The Queen and her dancers walked/danced on water. WTF??!!
If there is a way to connect with an audience in the same way you would during an acoustic set at coffee shop, Beyonce somehow finds a way to do it.
Here I was being blasted with a setlist of songs, of which just a handful I was familiar with, yet I was so engaged.
And just past the halfway point, I realized what was drawing me in. After about the 37th time of Bey asking for the ladies to give themselves a shout out. For being okay for “waking up like this.” For being okay with being independent. For being okay with empowerment.
If the Spice Girls were about girl power, then Beyonce is girl powerized.
You see, I have a daughter. And everyday I watch as she continues to grow into her own self. Realizing what self worth is and why positive self worth is the thing that will help define her. It is that strong spirit I am most proud to see her nurture within herself.
Raising a girl puts me more in tune with examples of strong, take no BS women. Because my daughter, nor Beyonce, seems to be those type of females.
My daughter is a little ball of girl power.
On this night, through music, sound and visual, Beyonce connected with me and exemplified what it means to be strong.
I realize I don’t know a whole lot about her outside of the music world. In fact, most of her music that really “speaks” to women naturally never spoke to me. Yet, I still enjoy the music, I mean who doesn’t bounce to “Love On Top?”
If Beyonce is going to be one -- not the sole one -- but one example of a strong women that my daughter looks up to then I’m good with it.
Beyonce is a women that stands tall, with flawless hair whipping so perfectly as a strategically placed fan blows wind through it while executing perfect booty shakes and dance moves in ankle deep water. She is a woman who is a working mother, a business woman and a philanthropist.
Beyonce certainly is a controversial figure to many ... but, then again most shit disturbers are.