Homecoming: The Live Album is the fifthlive album by American singer and songwriterBeyoncé, recorded from her two headliningCoachella performances in April 2018. It was released on April 17, 2019.[1] The album accompanied aconcert film documenting the performance,Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, which premiered the same day on the streaming platformNetflix.[2] The album was also released on vinyl, on December 4, 2020.[3]
The album was recorded during Beyoncé's 2018 Coachella performance, which was described by many media outlets as historic.[4][5]
On January 4, 2017,Beyoncé was announced as a headlining act for the April 2017Coachella festival.[6] However, on February 23, 2017, she postponed her performance until the following year, due to doctor's concerns regarding herpregnancy with twins (born in June 2017).[7][8] Playing her rescheduled dates in 2018, Beyoncé became the first black woman ever to headline the festival. In its nearly twenty years of existence, the festival has only had two other women solo headliners,Lady Gaga (who replaced Beyoncé in 2017) andBjörk (2002 and 2007).[9] Even prior to Beyoncé's performance, the nickname "Beychella" emerged for the 2018 festival.[9]
For her April 14 and 21, 2018, performances, some 100 dancers as well as her sisterSolange, her husbandJay-Z, and her formergirl groupDestiny's Child joined Beyoncé on stage. She played a 26-song set to 125,000 concert-goers in attendance as well as millions watching via the live-stream onYouTube and subsequent playback.[10] The set sampledMalcolm X andNina Simone among others.[11] The performance has been credited as paying a strong tribute to theHBCU experience.[12]
A full marching band played during much of the set, accompanied by majorette dancers.[13] Writing for Mic.com, Natelegé Whaley stated that the band consisted of members from various HBCUs and played samples of songs that are often played at an HBCU such as "Swag Surf", "Broccoli", and "Back that Azz Up", along with samples ofgospel andgo-go music.[14]Journalists also noted that the set incorporated various aspects ofblack Greek life, such as astep show along with strolling by probates (pledges). Reviewers noted the influence of black feminism on Beyoncé's performance, including her sampling of Nigerian authorChimamanda Ngozi Adichie'sTED Talk on feminism and the aforementioned appearances on stage of former collaboratorsKelly Rowland andMichelle Williams of Destiny's Child as well as her sister Solange; writing inCosmopolitan, Brittney Cooper read Beyoncé's decision to involve these black women in the landmark performance as a gesture of sisterhood.[15]
Homecoming: The Live Album was met with widespread critical acclaim. AtMetacritic, it received a weighted average score of 95, based on 6 reviews.[16]
Writing forLos Angeles Times, Sonaiya Kelley namedHomecoming: The Live Album as "one of the greatest live albums ever", with Makeda Easter adding that the "album is a piece of black history".[24]Bernadette Giacomazzo ofHipHopDX called the album an "artistically-sound triumph" as well as a "cultural touchstone and, quite possibly, the live album of a generation". Giacomazzo describes that what makes the album "so classic is that Beyoncé makes clear" that she is "Black Excellence, personified — and in her performance, she makes the audience believe that they, too, are Black Excellence personified".[18]
Writing forRolling Stone, Brittany Spanos described the album as "triumphant" and "awe-inspiring". She noticed that the live album successfully felt like a greatest hits collection (reimagined to fit the college homecoming theme and marching band) due to its lack of connection to any specific album.[22] In a review forPitchfork, Danielle Jackson praised the album as a "stunning" preservation of Beyoncé's Coachella performance, commending its focus on historical black artists. She wrote that the performance showcased Beyoncé at her vocal and physical peak, while celebrating "complex, diasporic blackness". She also applauded the album's mixing and engineering, and concluded that the "wondrous, rapturous collage" could serve as one of Beyoncé's most important albums.[20]AllMusic's reviewer Neil Z. Yeung had similar sentiments, concluding that "Homecoming is a master class in technical prowess, crowd pleasing, and soulful substance. Channeling the spirit of African queenNefertiti (whose image she adopted for this show), Beyoncé proved to be a ruler in her own right, lording over Coachella for two career-defining nights."[17]
Homecoming: The Live Album debuted at number seven on the USBillboard 200 with 38,000album-equivalent units (including 14,000 in album sales) from only two days of tracking activity. It is Beyoncé's eighth solo US top 10 album.[48] The following week, it rose to number four, earning 57,000 album-equivalent units (including 8,000 album sales).[49] After the album's release, the studio version of "Before I Let Go" peaked at number 17 on theBillboardR&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales Chart[50] as well as number 3 on theBillboard R&B Digital Song Sales Chart.[51] In the beginning of May, "Before I Let Go" debuted at number 75 in the USBillboard Hot 100 chart issue dated May 4, 2019. It peaked at number 65 in the USBillboard Hot 100 issue dated May 11, 2019.[52]
Homecoming: The Live Album has been said to have set a trend of musicians releasing albums with complementary film projects on Netflix.Lonely Island'sThe Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience,Thom Yorke'sAnima,Sturgill Simpson'sSound & Fury, andKid Cudi'sEntergalactic are all cited as examples of projects that have followed the precedent thatHomecoming: The Live Album set.[53] Sheldon Pearce forPitchfork wrote thatHomecoming kickstarted the "ongoing uprising" where "black women have been demanding ownership of their outsized impact on culture";Jamila Woods'LEGACY! LEGACY! andRapsody'sEve, as well as exhibitions such as "Black Women: Power and Grace" and "Posing Modernity", are mentioned as later works that constitute the "formative syllabus" that started withHomecoming.[54]
Frankie Beverly, who originally sang "Before I Let Go", praised Beyoncé's cover of the song inHomecoming: The Live Album, saying "It's a blessing... She's done so much, this is one of the high points of my life."[55] R&B legendAnita Baker also commented on Beyoncé's cover, describing Beyoncé as "Queen keeping R&B alive".[56]Rolling Stone reported that the famed New Orleans bandRebirth Brass Band "gained new admirers" after Beyoncé sampled their song "Do Whatcha Wanna" on the track "Welcome".[57]
Music directorDerek Dixie called working onHomecoming: The Live Album a "blessing", adding that being nominated for anEmmy Award means that "I've kind of accomplished something for the home team and family." Dixie also said "It was just months and months of prep work, making it sound authentic. She has tons and tons of classic records that when putting the show together, you have to maintain the classic feel of the record but make it feel like you're in a stadium at homecoming."[58]
A 9-feet-tall statue of Beyoncé as seen on theHomecoming: The Live Album cover was unveiled atMercedes-Benz Arena inBerlin.[59]
The "GO FIGURE" data visualization series explored the words and phrases that Beyoncé repeated throughoutHomecoming and their impact on the viewer, with Semmi W. writing that Beyoncé "plants seeds of positive self-talk rather than doubt. Whether I was catching the subway or cleaning my apartment, her edict between my ears this weekend was cause for royal jubilee. In under two hours, Queen Bey kept declaring that we are all enough. In 162 sentences she told us to love, hustle, and claim what's yours. She repeatedly affirmed my intrinsic worth as a black girl-turned-adult."[60]
Through the tribute to HBCU culture inHomecoming: The Live Album (such as on the track "So Much Damn Swag"), Beyoncé increased people's interest in HBCUs. Students citedHomecoming as the reason that they were considering attending HBCUs,[61] andGoogle searches for "HBCU" reached an all-time high afterHomecoming: The Live Album was released.[62]
Credits adapted from Beyoncé's official website.[63]
All songs are produced by Beyoncé and Derek Dixie, except "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing", "So Much Damn Swag (Interlude)", "Bug a Boo Roll Call (Interlude)", "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing (Blue's Version)", which credit no producers, and the bonus tracks, "Before I Let Go" and "I Been On", that were produced byTay Keith & Beyoncé andTimbaland & Beyoncé, respectively.
"Let Me Try", written by Frank Tirado, and performed by Kaleidoscope;
"Collection Speech/Unidentified Lining Hymn" and "Stewball", fromAlan Lomax andJohn Lomax Sr., performed by Prisoner "22" at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman;
"Swag Surfin'", written by Alviticus Bryant, Jared Rice, Keishaun Watts, Kevin Michael Erondu, Michael Gordon Jr. and Sedarius Spearman, and performed byFast Life Yungstaz;
"Everybody Mad", written and performed byO.T. Genasis;
"Dirt off Your Shoulder", written by Shawn Carter and Timothy Mosley, and performed by Jay Z.
“Flawless / Feeling Myself” contains elements of
"SpottieOttieDopaliscious", written by Andre Benjamin, Antwan Patton and Patrick Brown, and performed by OutKast;
“Trophies”, written by Aubrey Graham,Chauncey Hollis Jr., Noah Shebib, Marvin Thomas, Raymond Martin, Bernard Gérard, Sharon Abshire, and performed by Drake;
“Awwsome”, written byMarquis King and Manuel Alvarenga, and performed by Shy Glizzy;
"Crown", written by Shawn Carter, Jacques Webster, Mike Dean, Kirk Bennett, Ebony Naomi Oshunrinde, Miguel Orlando Collins & Bobby Dixon, and performed by Jay Z.
"No More Play in G.A.", written and performed byPastor Troy;
"Hay", written byGeorge Clinton, Ralph Leverston, Corey Johnson, Marrico King, Wondosas Martin, Grace Hazel, and performed byCrucial Conflict.
"Run The World (Girls)" includes elements of
"Pon de Floor", written by Thomas Pentz, David Taylor, Nick van de Wall and Adidja Azim Palmer, and performed by Major Lazor, Vybz Kartel and Afrojack;
"California Love", written byTupac Shakur,Roger Troutman, Larry Troutman, Mikel Hooks, Norman Durham, Ronald Hudson, Woody Cunningham, Joe Cocker, Chris Stainton and James Anderson, and performed by 2Pac andDr. Dre;
^A.D. Amorosi; Jem Aswad; Andrew Barker; Jazz Tangcay; Roy Trakin; Chris Willman (September 6, 2020)."Give These 50 Live Albums a Listen".Variety.Archived from the original on September 7, 2020. RetrievedSeptember 7, 2020.
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