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Emily Henry

Professor Babcock

ENGL 137 Section 011

7 October 2018

A Clear Picture of Reality: A Look at Political Outcries in the Music World

Historically, the oppressions and injustices of the world are often ignored by the masses

who refuse to accept that real problems exist in society. Because the idea of a less-than-perfect

society is an uncomfortable thought, these issues are cast aside. However, when references to

oppression and injustice find their way into popular music, they are difficult to ignore, causing a

large amount of backlash but also accomplishing the goal of bringing to light what has been

beneath the surface the entire time. In the year 1939 when racism was prevalent throughout

society and African Americans faced the danger of being lynched, singer Billie Holiday became

the first of many Black artists to speak out through her music by performing her song Strange

Fruit. Decades later, in a country where white police officers can shoot and kill innocent Black

men with no real consequences, Beyoncé followed suit, using her music video Formation as her

call to action. Taking advantage of their popularity in the music world, both Billie Holiday and

Beyoncé spread messages of protest for the unfair treatment of African Americans, inspiring

controversy and attention towards the injustices of the world.

Prior to inserting political awareness into their music, both Billie Holiday and Beyoncé

had built reputations for themselves as well-known women in the music world: Holiday as a jazz
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club singer, and Beyoncé as a world famous pop artist. Because of their backgrounds, their

surprisingly political songs gained quite a lot of attention as they were not what these women

built their careers around. Billie Holiday borrowed the lyrics from a 1930’s poem called Strange

Fruit, set them to music and sang them in front of a night club full of people. With its chilling

lyrics that painted a clear and disturbing picture for its audience, Strange Fruit “forced a nation

to confront its darkest impulses” (Margolick). People were shocked and appalled that Billie

Holiday, who had previously been known as nothing more than a jazz singer, had somehow

opened up an entirely new realm of possibility for the world of popular music. In the modern

world, Beyoncé built her career as a pop diva, gaining fame worldwide for her music. With

attention already following her career’s every move, Beyoncé had the perfect platform for

making people listen to what she had to say. Formation was released the day before Beyoncé

was set to perform at the 2016 Super Bowl, where she debuted it to the public. In an ever-

evolving world of musical expression, Beyoncé’s mode of political outcry was not found in the

lyrics to her song, but rather in the music video, where the injustices she sought to point out

could actually be visualized. Both of these women had the perfect ethos for an act such as this

because releasing political statements while already being known as a political musician would

attract a fraction of the attention, but transforming an entire career built on harmless popular

music into one with political awareness brings in an overwhelming amount of attention. They

took advantage of the perfect opportunity to speak out on injustice and to be heard.

Clear protests to the treatment of Black people in the United States are recognized

throughout both of these artists’ masterpieces. In Strange Fruit, Billie Holiday sings explicitly

about lynching. The line “Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze” is particularly

disturbing and gives the audience an obvious clue that the song is more than just typical jazz
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music. Holiday’s use of these eerie lyrics is designed to draw feelings such as guilt, fear, anger,

and even sadness from the audience. She targets those people who have decided to overlook the

lynching of African Americans, forcing a clear picture of reality into their minds. This was truly

revolutionary, as it was the “first to shoulder an explicit political message into the arena of

entertainment” (Lynskey). Billie Holiday not only brought to light the issues that she felt were

not receiving enough attention, but she also paved the way for other musicians to do the same.

Being one of those future musicians, Beyoncé used her music video to facilitate the depiction of

her message. The Formation video shows real footage of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, a

situation in which the government’s response to a devastating natural disaster was delayed to the

point where countless citizens of New Orleans- the majority of which were African American-

were left without food, water, and shelter for days after the hurricane ended. Another scene in the

video shows a Black child dancing in front of armed white police officers, who put their hands

up in response to him. The camera then pans over a wall of graffiti which reads “stop shooting

us.” The act of putting hands up in the air is an allusion to recent events in which Black teenager

Mike Brown was shot and killed by a police officer after supposedly putting his hands up to

show he was unarmed. The phrase “stop shooting us” serves as Beyoncé’s plea to stop police

violence. Paired with the use of a child dancing in front of police, this scene utilizes pathos to

evoke pity and anger from the audience. Beyoncé’s target audience is likely more general than

Holiday’s; Beyoncé is interested in the universal application of her message and a widespread

resonance on all who view it, not just one particular group (Macpherson).

The events surrounding these artistic statements show the clear kairotic motivations that

these women had to produce both Strange Fruit and Formation. Billie Holiday sang her outcry in

the midst of racist killings going unnoticed and unpunished, seizing the opportunity to send out a
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message when it mattered most. Beyoncé released Formation not only right before she

performed at the Super Bowl, but also in the middle of police brutality towards Black people

existing with little to no consequence, not to mention the fact that it was during Black History

Month. These women took advantage of the opportunity to force people to listen when there was

actually something to be done, rather than waiting until the moment had passed and it was just a

part of the nation’s history. By releasing these songs, the artists each showed their respective

ideologies and how recent events had not satisfied them. For Billie Holiday, she believed that

African Americans deserved the right to live peacefully. She saw the brutal treatment of her

fellow Black Americans, and decided that horrific nature of the situation deserved to be

broadcasted to the public by whatever means necessary. For Beyoncé, her ideology was that

under law enforcement, Black people deserved to be treated just as fairly as white people.

Amongst the excused acts of police brutality towards Black people, she felt that this was not the

case. These women were motivated by the unfair treatment of Black people, and believed that

the only way to make a change was to force people to face the ugly truth that these simple

standards were not being met in society, regardless of the backlash that was sure to follow.

These songs were met with heavy controversy for putting political messages into

entertainment, which had, prior to Billie Holiday, served as a sort of no-man’s-land when it came

to politics. Strange Fruit was essentially blacklisted by the masses due to its unsettling lyrics,

and in fact rather than serving as a piece of history it is still controversial today. Rebecca

Ferguson (a Black singer) was asked to perform at President Trump’s inauguration, and agreed

to as long as she was allowed to perform Strange Fruit (Fox). Ferguson did not perform at the

inauguration, which highlights the lasting effect and the timelessness of the disturbing message

almost ninety years later. When Billie Holiday first performed the song in 1939, everyone in the
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club was supposedly completely silent as she finished (Margolick). People did not know what to

think, as a concept such as putting social issues into music was completely foreign. Still today,

many people do not approve of political messages in their music. It is interesting to note that

Beyoncé was heavily criticized for being too political by performing Formation in the Super

Bowl, when the reason she was asked to perform in the first place was likely political. It is

suspected that organizers thought that they needed to include a Black performer as part of the

show (Downs). When Beyoncé turned her career around and switched from being a “normal”

singer to someone with a message to share, many of her fans could not accept it. People become

offended and uncomfortable when they feel that they are forced to hear about or see

controversial messages, so they criticize those who force it on them. However, in reality this is

exactly the response that Beyoncé had wanted, as that was the way to ensure the greatest amount

of attention towards her statement.

Billie Holiday transformed the music world, and Beyoncé followed in her footsteps as

both artists weaved in their messages about racism in America. These women used their large

spectrum of influence as a catalyst for the spreading of these messages. Billie Holiday was the

first of many protest songs in popular entertainment, with not only Beyoncé but many other

artists following her lead still today. Although controversy was certainly a consequence of both

Strange Fruit and Formation, the haunting lyrics and shocking pictures they possessed still

managed to achieve their goal of widespread awareness. Whether people like it or not, these

songs have inspired awareness for the injustices and revolutionized the music world in support of

equality for African Americans.

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Works Cited

Downs, Jim. “‘Say My Name’: The History Behind Beyoncé's ‘Formation.’” We're History,

We're History, 10 Feb. 2016, werehistory.org/beyonce/.

Fox, Kara. “Rebecca Ferguson Says She'll Sing at Trump Inauguration under One

Condition.” CNN, Cable News Network, 3 Jan. 2017,

www.cnn.com/2017/01/03/politics/rebecca-ferguson-trump-

Lynskey, Dorian. “Strange Fruit: the First Great Protest Song.” The Guardian, Guardian News

and Media, 16 Feb. 2011, www.theguardian.com/music/2011/feb/16/protest-songs-billie-

holiday-strange-fruit.

Macpherson, Alex. “Beyoncé's Formation Review – a Rallying Cry That Couldn't Be More

Timely.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 8 Feb. 2016,

www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/feb/08/beyonce-formation-review-super-

bowl-rallying-cry-black-consciousness.

Margolick, David. “Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Cafe Society, and an Early Cry for Civil

Rights.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2000,

archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes. com/books/first/m/margolick-

fruit.html?TB_iframe=true&height=921.6&width=921.6.