On the finish of the day, probably the most urgent query surrounding the 2024 Democratic Nationwide Conference was: The place the hell is Beyoncé?
The reply: Not on the DNC.
To be clear, the concept of the best performer and arguably greatest pop star on the planet displaying as much as Chicago’s United Heart and taking part in one music to a sea of political dorks and lawmakers is, indisputably, far-fetched. However it didn’t come out of nowhere. All of the clues have been there. Or, no less than, so many individuals — together with the media reporting on the occasion — thought so.
The rumor began Thursday afternoon, with an insidery submit that promised one thing big. “For those who thought the Oprah shock was large, simply wait,” the since-deleted submit from an nameless X consumer stated. Given Oprah’s gravitational pull on tradition at massive, the record of people that might outshine her is, at most, 10 or so names lengthy.
Beyoncé Knowles is likely one of the only a few individuals on Earth who is greater than Oprah. Whereas there was some crucial hypothesis about Taylor Swift as nicely, the truth that Harris is utilizing Bey’s music “Freedom” on the marketing campaign path meant that election-watchers and followers alike started speculating that the singer was the key VIP. There have been additionally experiences from individuals inside the world that the conference’s home band was utilizing Beyoncé songs to soundcheck. Later within the night, reporters famous that the rostrum was arrange for somebody particular!
As whispers of the extraordinarily well-known and thrilling visitor who was positively Beyoncé grew, White Home political director Emmy Ruiz posted an emoji of a bee at round 4:30 pm. Bey calls her followers the Beyhive, and Ruiz’s bee submit threw gasoline on the fireplace. It’s the equal of Gotham Metropolis lighting up the sky with the Bat Sign.
Absolutely Bey was coming! (Ruiz later claimed that her 6-year-old had posted the bee.)
Then the seemingly final affirmation got here: TMZ reported that Beyoncé was going to point out. Whereas your mileage could fluctuate on how TMZ experiences deaths and arrests (often by speaking to hospital staff and cops who shouldn’t be leaking that form of non-public info), they’re hardly flawed.
Sleuths then began piecing collectively extra of the alleged puzzle. The Chicks, fellow Texans who Beyoncé has collaborated with, have been on the schedule. As was Pink, the singer obsessive about aerial methods and grownup gymnastics who additionally as soon as starred with Beyoncé in a Pepsi industrial. Additionally on the docket was Colin Allred, a Democrat from Bey’s dwelling state working for senate, talking only a few slots earlier than Harris, the primary occasion. Folks from Texas, former collaborators, ah sure, all of it is sensible if you happen to squint arduous sufficient and play Six Levels of Separation: Beyoncé Version.
Maybe probably the most plausible connection is that supporting Kamala Harris looks like one thing Beyoncé would do. If Harris wins, she could be the primary girl to grow to be president and the second particular person of coloration in historical past to ever maintain the nation’s highest workplace. That’s a political and historic milestone that aligns itself with Beyoncé’s artwork and her songs in regards to the energy and vulnerability of being a Black girl. She has additionally endorsed a number of Democratic candidates within the current previous — beginning with Barack Obama proper via Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden — and performed at President Obama’s Inaugural Ball in 2009 and inauguration in 2013.
Beyoncé’s cultural and political evolution over the previous decade of her profession has made her a legendary determine. Much more particularly, starting with the discharge of Renaissance in 2022, the singer has been rigorously crafting her work round a core thought: What’s America? And additional, what does it sound like? Who does it belong to?
By tapping into home music in 2022 after which nation on this yr’s Cowboy Carter, Bey highlighted two distinctly American improvements and underscored how Black women and men are integral components of these two genres. She’s difficult the concepts of America and reinventing it with every query and with every music. What might be extra symbolic of Beyoncé’s Americana than the nation’s first Black, biracial, girl president? What might be extra on-brand than Beyoncé singing “Freedom,” the Harris-Walz marketing campaign music, and introducing Kamala Harris?
All through the night, NBC and different retailers breathlessly speculated on the likelihood that Beyoncé was simply across the nook, with the Peacock speaking to delegates within the viewers who appeared to verify. Simply because the nation was totally Bey-pilled, and because the clock approached 10:30 CT — proper earlier than Kamala Harris was scheduled to simply accept the nomination — the rumor was squashed.
Harris received a video introduction, and Beyoncé’s publicist posted on Instagram, “Don’t report rumors.” The Hollywood Reporter additionally received a denial at round 10:15 pm ET. For Beyoncé followers and maybe some unbiased voters, it will’ve been good if the DNC or stated publicist squashed the rumors hours earlier as an alternative of dangling a Bey efficiency so shut that we might style it.
It is perhaps useful, at this juncture, to do not forget that the purpose of the DNC shouldn’t be, technically, to have a Beyoncé live performance, however relatively to introduce the nation to the girl who needs to be president. And for a short few hours, it appeared like each would occur! Nonetheless, the X account that reportedly acknowledged this entire mess says it regrets the error, as does TMZ.