Beyonce quotes Nigerian write Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in her pop songs and releases music videos that inspire deep discussion and analysis.
Unless you’ve spent the last 10 days on an internet-less island, you probably know about Queen Bey’s visual album Lemonade. Maybe you’ve even watched it a half-dozen times already. But did you really get it? If not, there’s plenty of nerdy analysis available for you on the internet–but my personal favorite is the extensive, thoughtful reading guide to Beyonce’s Lemonade published this week by MICA librarian Jenny Ferretti.
The guide includes information about Warsan Shire, the Somali-British poet that Beyonce quotes in the video; explications of some of the female video artists who inspired Lemonade‘s visual aesthetic; tributes to her many talented collaborators; and talking points about issues brought up in the video, including gun violence and police brutality.
On Medium, Ferretti explains that she created the resource guide because not only is she a huge Beyonce fan–she’s also a huge nerd. “It occurred to me that there may be more college freshman that know who Beyoncé is than ones who know of the Black Panther Party,” Ferretti writes. “Considering the backlash and criticism for Beyoncé’s backup dancer outfits, it may be that some of these students are also misinformed about who the Black Panther Party was. This is the perfect time for a discussion on references to history in popular culture.”
Okay, librarians are officially cool again.
Librarians have NEVER been not cool!