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Beyoncé explains why she stopped making videos
In a rare and insightful interview with GQ magazine, Beyoncé opened up about her decision to limit music videos for her recent albums, explaining that she wanted the focus to remain on the voice and the music itself rather than visuals.
“I thought it was important that during a time where all we see is visuals, that the world can focus on the voice,” she said.
Beyoncé emphasized that her latest records, which aim to highlight the often-overlooked contributions of Black musicians to genres like house, disco, and country, needed to stand on their own. “The music is so rich in history and instrumentation. It takes months to digest, research, and understand,” she explained, adding, “The music needed space to breathe on its own.”
For her Renaissance album in particular, she noted that the live concert experience was more important than filming music videos. The album, released in 2022, was born out of the pandemic and served as “a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world.” The accompanying tour, and its subsequent tour film released in cinemas, aimed to create a sense of community and emotional release for her fans.
“The fans from all over the world became the visual,” Beyoncé told GQ. “We all got the visual on tour.”
In the interview, she also touched on the importance of shielding her family from the public eye, saying, “One thing I’ve worked extremely hard on is making sure my kids can have as much normalcy and privacy as possible, ensuring my personal life isn’t turned into a brand.”
Acknowledging the pressures of celebrity life, she added, “It’s very easy for celebrities to turn our lives into performance art. I have made an extreme effort to stay true to my boundaries and protect myself and my family. No amount of money is worth my peace.”