“_____chella.”

 

“Check this out. After Beyoncé perform, after she done the dance, Coachella gotta rename Coachella to Beychella. New name alert, Beychella.” 

COACHELLA has been a music festival held in Southern California for over two decades. With other iconic names to headline such as Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z. Before 2018, not a single black woman had headlined. Beyoncé was intended to headline in 2017, following the success of her 2016 studio album, Lemonade, but during the 2017 Grammy’s, she revealed that she was pregnant with twins. After she had her twins, she worked for her 2018 Coachella set with excessive physically training, and dieting, cutting out things such as meat, carbs, dairy, alcohol, and other things. She went in with the goal of honoring her culture shown through HBCU culture from the majorette dancers as her background dancers, to the band members, even with an all-black orchestra. Her set included her iconic hits from that of her first solo album to her latest album. There was even a Destiny’s Child throwback with her old girlband as she sang some songs with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. She danced with her younger sister, Solange (a small throwback to when her sister performed at Coachella a few years prior), and even a small appearance from her husband, Jay-Z. 

Following her iconic performance, two things occurred: the first was in 2019, when she released her documentary on Netflix named Homecoming, paying tribute to her black roots in the form of the HBCU culture from the dancing, to the visuals, and the instruments played on stage. It also highlighted the physical process to get her body prepared for almost the two hour set over the two weekends, as well the mental and emotional process as she had to push her body to its furthest limits. The second that followed the adopted “chella” named that spurred for any artist who headlined. This includes things such as “Gagachella” “Arichella” “Sabrinachella” “Biebrchella”, and many more headlining artists that eventually adopt this play on words from their fanbases. 

Beyoncé has an influence and is the standard and this for sure proves it. There’s also a pattern when fans of other artists automatically try to compare Beyoncé set to their favorite artists set. I don’t believe it gives a fair comparison, especially since Beyoncé’s intention was to bring her culture to the stage; share it with the world, but also raise the bar (which she did if everyone always try to compare her set to others when she performed over 8 years ago). 

Her influence is still on Coachella if she manages to remain on everyone’s minds during Coachella season. 

Beyoncé released her self titled album, Beyoncé on a Friday, causing the current pattern for new songs and albums to also be released on Fridays, breaking the traditional music released on Tuesdays. Therefore, this woman has influence, she has global power and even when people use it, or always bring her up in negative ways, it’s reinforcing her power and influence she’s had with the entertainment industry.

Black women are the standard for a lot of things in the media, and it’s so rare they actually get the credit for it before white media attempts to discredit them or their value as human beings. 

Beyoncé set this standard almost 10 years ago, and now every artist will have to catch up with her and live up to the “Beychella standard.”