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Beyoncé Wore Brand-New Costumes for Her Second Coachella Performance


The first weekend of Coachella was downright historic thanks to Beyoncé’s two-hour long set. The 26 songs she performed, her reunion with Destiny’s Child, and of course the outfits, were all as fierce as Sasha Fierce herself. And her repeat performance for Coachella’s second weekend did not disappoint. The songs in her set stayed mostly the same as her first performance, according to fans on Twitter, but because Bey’s extra-ness knows no bounds, she totally switched up her costume game.

This weekend’s performance wasn’t live-streamed like last weekend’s, but her costumes tell the story. The old-gold-and-black looks, widely interpreted by fans as an homage to the first black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, were replaced with a bright magenta theme. Never fear, though: Queen B’s new look still had her sorority letters emblazoned on the front. Best part: You can choose between the two colorways at her Beychella Pop-Up Store.

Last weekend:

PHOTO: Kevin Winter

This weekend:

2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival - Weekend 2 - Day 2

PHOTO: Kevin Mazur

The dancers’ costumes followed suit in all pink this weekend, compared to last weekend’s yellow outfits.

Last weekend:

2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival - Weekend 1 - Day 2

PHOTO: Kevin Winter

This weekend:

2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival - Weekend 2 - Day 2

PHOTO: Kevin Mazur

Bey also replaced the sequined camo costumes she and former bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams wore for their Destiny’s Child reunion with head-to-toe silver sparkles for their second weekend together.

2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival - Weekend 2 - Day 2

PHOTO: Kevin Mazur

And she switched up her most regal look, which was inspired by Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. The first weekend’s interpretation stuck with the black-and-gold theme, while the second weekend’s look was pure platinum. Check out the back on her incredible cape:

Last weekend:

2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival - Weekend 1 - Day 2

PHOTO: Larry Busacca

This weekend:

2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival - Weekend 2 - Day 2

PHOTO: Kevin Mazur

Beyoncé also added two new looks to her performance: One was an all-black ensemble for her special performance of “Mi Gente” with J Balvin.

2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival - Weekend 2 - Day 2

PHOTO: Kevin Mazur

And Queen Bey brought husband Jay-Z on stage once again to perform with her. Last weekend, she wore a short-sleeve fishnet-style top with her sorority crest on it; this time she wore a sparkling pink sweater with the sorority crest on the front.

2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival - Weekend 2 - Day 2

PHOTO: Kevin Mazur

All of the looks were once again created by Balmain. The brand’s creative director, Olivier Rousteing, posed a sketch of the design for one of the band members on his Instagram with the caption, “BALMAIN X BEYONCÉ 21.04.2018.”

Jessica Alba managed to get some clips of the show, which she shared on Instagram for those of us who couldn’t be there to witness it in person (bless).

Just when we thought Bey’s Coachella performance couldn’t get any more iconic, she managed to raise the bar once again. All hail Queen B; all hail #Beychella.

Related Stories:
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–Rihanna’s Coachella Outfits Are Unlike Anything You’ve Ever Seen at a Festival





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Tina Knowles-Lawson Was Worried the Coachella Audience Wouldn't 'Get' Beyoncé's Performance


Beyoncé‘s 2018 Coachella performance was incredible for several reasons. First and foremost, she’s Beyoncé; it’s a blessing any and every time she graces us with her presence. Her set was more than just entertaining, though. Throughout the performance, Beyoncé paid tribute to black culture, specifically historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

She started her commentary right at the beginning when a loud voiceover dubbed the show “Beyoncé Homecoming 2018.” It played into the HBCU theme of Bey’s set, while also nodding to the fact she’s the first black woman to ever headline Coachella. This overarching concept was accompanied by drum lines, choirs, and step squads in between Beyoncé’s outfit changes—all hallmarks of HBCUs. She also channeled Wakanda, the fictional nation in Black Panther, during the show, which augmented its black empowerment theme. Thousands of people, specifically black women, left Beyoncé’s Coachella set feeling inspired and more represented than ever before. Beyoncé followed this up by announcing she’s giving $100,000 in scholarship money to four HBCUs:

But Tina Knowles-Lawson, Beyoncé’s mother, was originally concerned about how the performance would be perceived. The famous matriarch revealed on Instagram this week she thought Coachella’s “predominately white” audience wouldn’t understand her daughter’s messaging. Beyoncé, however, wasn’t fazed by that.

“I told Beyonce that I was afraid that the predominately white audience at Coachella would be confused by all of the black culture and black college culture because it was something that they might not get,” she wrote on Instagram, next to a photo of a quote about the Coachella performance. “[Beyoncé’s] brave response to [my concerns] made me feel a bit selfish and ashamed. She said, I have worked very hard to get to the point where I have a true voice, and at this point in my life and my career, I have a responsibility to do what’s best for the world and not what is most popular.”

Knowles-Lawson added that Beyoncé said she hoped that “after the show, young people would research this culture and see how cool it is, and young people, black and white, would listen to ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ and see how amazing the words are for us all and bridge the gap.” (“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a hymn Beyoncé performed during Coachella that is often referred to as the “black national anthem.”)

“I stand corrected,” Knowles-Lawson wrote at the end of her post. Not only was Beyoncé’s Coachella performance understood: It was embraced.

See Knowles-Lawson’s post for yourself, below:

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Sorry BeyHive, Beyoncé Didn’t Actually Change Her Nails During Her Coachella Performance



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Watch Carrie Underwood's Emotional Performance of 'Cry Pretty' at 2018 ACM Awards


In December 2017, Carrie Underwood revealed that she broke her wrist and severely injured her face after falling down the steps outside her home. The accident required Underwood to receive “between 40 to 50” stitches. “I’ll spare you the gruesome details,” she wrote in a blog post on her fan site about the accident, adding that she wasn’t “quite looking the same.”

“I honestly don’t know how things are going to end up but I do know this: I am grateful. I am grateful that it wasn’t much, much worse. And I am grateful for the people in my life that have been there every step of the way…It’s crazy how a freak random accident can change your life,” she wrote.

Now, four months after writing that post, Underwood took the stage at the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday night (April 15) to sing her new song “Cry Pretty.” This was her first time doing a public performance since the incident—and, naturally, she nailed it. So much so that the audience gave Underwood a long standing ovation. But the high points of the night didn’t stop there: Shortly after, she won Vocal Event of the Year with Keith Urban.

Watch a portion of Underwood’s performance, below:

Underwood’s kept a relatively low profile up until now. On April 4, she posted this photo of herself to Instagram, which many people took as her “revealing” her post-injury face for the first time.

Underwood has a very busy year ahead of her. “Cry Pretty” is the first single off her upcoming album, which is expected to drop later this year. On April 10, she wrote an open letter to her fans with updates about both her face and wrist injuries. “First off, physically, I’m doing pretty darn good these days! My wrist is almost back to normal, about 90 percent there…and the docs say that last 10 percent will come in time,” she wrote. “And my face has been healing pretty nicely as well. I definitely feel more like myself than I have in a while.”

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Twitter Really Wants to Pledge Sorority 'Beyoncé Alpha Knowles' After Her Coachella Performance


Beyoncé (all hail) pulled out every single stop during her history-making, two-hour, 26-song set at Coachella on Saturday. Besides a hell of a performance, she also delivered on another front. Her costumes—which she collaborated with Balmain‘s creative director Olivier Rousteing to design—weren’t only incredible to look at, they also carried deep significance. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s used symbolism to make larger points: Her 2016 visual album for Lemonade was filled with homages to black excellence.

Some fans believe, for instance, that the gold-and-black color scheme was far from accidental—and not just because of the beyhive beehive reference. They pointed out that the colors also represent those of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first black fraternity.

Then there’s that yellow sweatshirt she wears, emblazoned with the Greek letters B (Beta) and K (Kappa). Some see the Greek letter Delta in the middle, but other fans are reading the center letter as Alpha—look closely.

PHOTO: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella

That, plus the stepping of her dancers and the marching band in the back—fans are reading her performance as an homage to the HCBU experience.

Then there’s her black top with the crest, which fans point out is symbolic of “black power and liberation,” with one noting that the four figures on the crest—”a Nubian queen, a black panther, a Black Power fist, [and] a black bee”—all underscore that theory. The ancient Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, an icon of beauty and strength, is typically pictured wearing a blue crown like the one pictured on Bey’s top, too. (And, if you remember, Bey also made a visual reference to Nefertiti during Lemonade‘s “Sorry.”)

Other fans point out that it’s another nod to HCBU tradition:

Speaking of Nefertiti, look no further than her leotard-and-cape look, topped off by a glittering headdress. (And yep, that’s Nefertiti’s head embroidered on the back of Beyoncé’s cape.) Bey’s even pictured with a black feather in the Egyptian Queen’s hat, much like the famous bust of Nefertiti that was discovered in 1912.

2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival - Weekend 1 - Day 2

PHOTO: Kevin Winter

There seems to be confirmation from the design team on this one, if you read into this quote from Rousteing from the Vogue story: “Jay saw the Egyptian goddess cape and when B put it on, his eyes went wide and he was so excited, he said, ‘Oh, wow!’ That gave me a lot of satisfaction.”

Although none of these theories have been formally confirmed by either the Beyonce or Balmain camps, everything does seem to line up. Until then: Keep it coming, Beyhive.

Related Content:

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Miranda Kerr Debuted Her Baby Bump in Body-Con Balmain





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Kesha's Performance at the 2018 Grammys Will Reportedly Reflect the #MeToo Movement


Kesha made a triumphant return to music last August when she released Rainbow, her first album in five years. The record is significant and powerful for several reasons: Chiefly, it’s her first effort without production credits from Dr. Luke, the hit-maker whom she sued for emotional and physical abuse in 2014. This lawsuit put Kesha’s music career in limbo for years; she was still contractually bound to Dr. Luke’s label, Kemosabe, but didn’t want to work with him. And while Rainbow was released under Kemosabe—and a judge dismissed several of Kesha’s claims against Dr. Luke in April 2016—it’s still inspiring that Kesha made this record on her terms and her way for the first time ever. She persevered.

Her story feels especially poignant right now, given the shift happening in our culture. Last fall, millions of women used the #MeToo hashtag to share their stories of sexual misconduct; in early January, a group of women in Hollywood launched the Time’s Up movement to end harassment and gender inequality at work. Kesha came forward roughly three years before these movements began. She was standing on her own, but now she has an army rallying behind her.

And her performance at the 2018 Grammy Awards on Sunday (January 28) will reportedly reflect this: Ken Ehrlich, a producer for the Grammys, told Yahoo! that Kesha is performing her ballad “Praying” at this year’s ceremony, and she’s making a big statement with it.

“I can tell you, obviously, that Kesha’s performance is definitely going to reflect what has happened to her in the past couple of years,” Ehrlich said. “‘Praying,’ that is what that song is all about, and that’s what she’s going to perform on the show. We are going to do something a little bit different with it. I think people will come away with the sense that we are supporting or allowing the artist to make a statement.”

If true, Kesha’s performance will no-doubt be one of many statements about #MeToo and Time’s Up made throughout the evening. Awards season this year has been less about glitz and more about raising sexual harassment awareness, which is incredible. The Screen Actors Guild Awards, Golden Globes, and Critics’ Choice Awards were all filled with impactful speeches, and the Grammys should be no exception.

We’ve reached out to Kesha’s team for comment on this story and will update when they respond.

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Solange Knowles Cancels Afropunk Performance to Deal With Autonomic Disorder


In a lengthy Instagram post, Solange Knowles has shared that she has been “quietly treating and working through an autonomic disorder” for the past five months.

“Wrote, deleted and re wrote this like 5 times…” she began the message. “However it’s so important to me for the people in South Africa, a place that has tremendous meaning to me and that has given me SO SO MUCH, to know why I won’t be performing at Afro Punk this NYE.”

The singer was days away from performing with the likes of Anderson .Paak at the Afropunk Festival in Johannesburg but pulled out last minute due to her health. Autonomic disorders affect the proper function of major organs like the heart, intestines, and bladder, though Knowles did not go into specifics about her condition, only describing the diagnosis as “complicated.”

“It been a journey that hasn’t been easy on me… Sometimes I feel cool, and other times not so cool at all,” continued Knowles. “I’m still learning so much myself, but right now, my doctors are not clearing me for such an extended lengthy flight, and doing a rigorous show right after. I can’t put into words how saddened and sorry I am that I am unable to perform for you guys this NYE, there is simply no other place I wanted to be than there with my family to bring in 2018 with you…….”

The festival, which has its roots in Brooklyn, has been held in Paris and London in the past, but this was to be its first time in Africa. Knowles promised to return to the continent and perform with Afropunk in the future.

“[…] it is so extremely important to me to connect with the people who have so closely inspired me in so many ways,” she wrote. “I can’t thank Afro Punk enough for their support, and to all of the other festivals this past summer/fall who have known about my health, kept it confidential, and gone out of their way to make me feel supported while doing these shows.”

This year, while continuing to promote her latest record, A Seat at the Table, released in September of 2016, Knowles has been making the festival rounds, playing at a number of shows including at San Francisco’s Outside Lands, New York City’s Panorama Music Festival and London’s Lovebox Festival, where she told the crowd: “I was in the hospital this morning. I was in the hospital for three days. After my show I had a serious episode and was told I shouldn’t perform.”

Forty-eight hours later, she was on the stage at Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival. In order to make those shows, she had gotten”out of that b—h,” she had said at the time of leaving the hospital. This time, however, she’s not taking any chances.

Knowles, who won her first Grammy this year for Best R&B Performance for “Cranes in the Sky”, shared: “As a part of the self care that I’ve tried to encourage this past year, it needs to start with myself, and I’m looking forward to doing a better job of this 2018. This past year has been one of the most fulfilling of my life… Performing this record and experiencing the energy exchange with you guys has been astounding, and I’m so excited about continuing to do the work I feel so absolutely humbled and appreciative to be doing next year. It gives me life.”

Related: Afropunk Festival Returns to Brooklyn, Closes Out Summer Festival Street Style on a High Note



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