Beyonce “Run the World (Girls)” Billboard Music Awards 2011

Alright. So let’s do it. Let’s talk about how Beyonce slayed all haters last night.

Sidenote: I shall not be retracting my previous post that Beyonce is indeed Whack as Hell, but I’ll slightly modify that sentiment by saying Beyonce presents a lot of Whack as Hell tomfoolery. And after last night? I’m even more mad at her for coming with the Weaksauce time after time, because she is completely capable of blowing all minds consistently.

OK. Video first. Talk later. Fast-forward to 3:00 if you just wanna see the performance. But Lady Obama’s eyebrows are kind of a must-see occasion. I don’t think I’ve ever—EVER—said anything even halfway sideways about Miss First Lady Ma’am, but those eyebrows are just too Chonga Sharpielicious for my life. Don’t do that again, Michelle.

Epic of epicness. Best Beyonce performance ever. Obviously you can see how totally Boss Ass Fabulous that was, so I’ll just address the detractors:

The performance was good, but the song is still whack.
I’m not gonna disagree with that too much because music is a “to each his/her own” but even people who hate the song have to agree that she is at least trying something different. Out of every 60 minute radio block, 45 minutes of it sounds exactly the same. Kudos to Bey for switching it up and giving me a different sound. I’m not a huge fan of Beyonce’s music without the visuals anyway. I didn’t hate the song before, but I LOVE it now, and it takes a powerful performing presence to be able to make the musical experience visual enough to change your mind on a track.
It didn’t even show off her vocals.
That wasn’t the point. I would actually *prefer* Bey to lipsync more. We already know she sing. I don’t go to a concert to watch somebody sing; I came for a production. And that’s what she gave.
Lorella Cuccarini already did that exact same intro.
Don’t care. It’s not like Lorella INVENTED that. She more than likely saw it somewhere and made her own performance out of it, or the guys who designed it came up to her and proposed it as a stage setting. Bey saw it and got the same guys. They’re super-similar, but the same guy did do both stagings after all. It’s like when Ryan Tedder (and other producers, but he’s the most glaring example) basically sends out the same track over and over to different singers. The artists make it different. Beyonce killed the choreography and made it more than just standing in front of a powerpoint presentation.

So yes. Beyonce is 100% capable of putting on an amazing show. I just wish she’d do it more often as opposed to walking around the stage screaming at me all the time.

PS: I’m almost positive that was Danyale up there on Beyonce’s right during the performance. I sure hope she put that little nugget in her backup dancer cadre again because she BROUGHT IT in all of the B’Day videos. Can anyone confirm/deny?