Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter is an American singer, songwriter, and businesswoman. Nicknamed "Queen Bey", she is regarded as an influential cultural figure of the 21st century. Throughout her career, Beyoncé has been recognized for her distinctive vocal range and live performances. Rolling Stone named her the world's greatest living entertainer, and one of the greatest vocalists of all time.
"Hard" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fourth studio album, Rated R (2009). The song features a guest verse from American rapper Young Jeezy, credited only as "Jeezy" on the album. The artists co-wrote the song with its producers, The-Dream and Tricky Stewart. "Hard" was sent to radio by Def Jam Recordings on November 10, 2009, as the second United States single from Rated R. It is a hip hop song and features military horns, hissing synthesizers, sharp beats and piano chords.
"Why Don't You Love Me" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Beyoncé Knowles for the platinum edition of her third studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008). It was written by Knowles, Angela Beyincé, Solange Knowles and the Bama Boyz and produced by the Bama Boyz and Knowles. "Why Don't You Love Me" is an R&B song with disco influences that is set in a retro style. According to its lyrics, Knowles questions her love interest about why he does not value her fabulousness. Its 1960s-styled music video was directed by Melina Matsoukas and Knowles under the alias Bee-Z, and it stars the latter as "B.B. Homemaker". Knowles pays homage to Bettie Page in the video, which critics universally commended for its 1960's style sets and costumes. They also complimented Knowles for her acting skills.
The music video for Barbadian singer Rihanna's 2011 single "We Found Love" was directed by Melina Matsoukas. It was filmed on September 26–28, 2011, in the New Lodge area of Belfast and Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. People driving around the location of the set informed BBC that traffic in the area was congested as drivers wanted to see the singer. The video premiered on October 19, 2011, and was made available to download digitally three days later on October 22. As of July 2023, the video has amassed over 1 billion views on YouTube.
The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 24, 2014 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. It was the 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards. Beyoncé and Iggy Azalea led the nominees with eight nominations each, while Eminem followed them with seven. Beyoncé received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, following a 16-minute medley of her self-titled fifth studio album. The show had an audience of 8.3 million viewers, while 10.1 million cumulative with the other three Viacom networks that simulcast the presentation.
"Pretty Hurts" is a song by American singer and songwriter Beyoncé for her eponymous fifth studio album (2013). It impacted mainstream radio in the United States on June 10, 2014, as the fourth single from the album. The song was written by Sia, Ammo and Beyoncé and its production was handled by Beyoncé and Ammo. It is a power pop and soul ballad, instrumentally complete with a sparse background honed with the use of synths, minor chords and a "booming" drum beat. The track's lyrical content deals with subjects of third-wave feminism, self-empowerment and body image. Additionally, the song's lyrics deal with the consequences of society's high standards of beauty, and in "Pretty Hurts" eating disorders are depicted as one of the subjected results.
The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards were held on Sunday night, August 28, 2016 at 9:00–11:54pm EDT at Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City. Adele's "Hello" was the most nominated video with seven categories. This marked the 33rd edition of the live broadcast. Beyoncé led all winners with eight awards. Rihanna received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award after performing several medley numbers during the ceremony. Britney Spears marked her first performance at the awards show since the heavily criticized 2007 show nine years prior. Beyoncé won eight awards to bring her career total of wins to 25 VMAs, overtaking Madonna's previous record of 20 awards, making her the artist with the most wins in the history of the award show.
Blue Ivy Carter is an American singer. She is the first-born daughter of musicians Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Two days after her birth, Time dubbed Carter "the most famous baby in the world." That same day, her breathing, cries and coos were featured on the song "Glory", by her father Jay-Z, which earned her a Guinness World Record for being the youngest person to have a charted song on any Billboard chart. She has been the subject of depictions in media, including impersonations on Saturday Night Live and RuPaul's Drag Race.
Lena Waithe is an American actress, producer, and screenwriter. She is the creator of the Showtime drama series The Chi (2018–present) and the BET comedy series Boomerang (2019–20) and Twenties (2020–21). She also wrote and produced the crime film Queen & Slim (2019) and is the executive producer of the horror anthology series Them (2021–present).
Queen & Slim is a 2019 American romantic road crime drama film directed by Melina Matsoukas and with a screenplay by Lena Waithe from a story by James Frey and Waithe. The film tells the story of a young couple who go on the run after killing a police officer, in self-defense, in the heat of an argument during a traffic stop that had quickly escalated. Bokeem Woodbine, Chloë Sevigny, Flea, Sturgill Simpson and Indya Moore also star.
The 19th BET Awards were held on June 23, 2019 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony celebrated achievements in entertainment and honors music, sports, television, and movies. Cardi B received the most nominations with seven, and won the most awards with two, including for Album of the Year.
The 51st NAACP Image Awards, presented by the NAACP, honored outstanding representations and achievements of people of color in motion pictures, television, music, and literature during the 2019 calendar year. The ceremony took place on February 22, 2020, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and was broadcast for the first time on BET - as well as simulcast on several of its sister ViacomCBS networks, moving to the former after broadcasts on TV One in previous years.
Queen & Slim: The Soundtrack is the soundtrack to Melina Matsoukas' 2019 film Queen & Slim. It was released on November 15, 2019, through Motown Records.
The music video for American singer Beyoncé's 2016 single "Formation" was directed by Melina Matsoukas. It was filmed over the span of two days in Los Angeles, California. The video premiered on February 6, 2016, alongside the song's debut exclusively on Tidal. The video was also uploaded to Beyoncé's official YouTube channel unlisted, meaning this prevented the music video from being accessed by search functionalities, with viewers needing to access the video via Beyoncé's official website.
