As if she wasn't already accepted as the queen of show business, the trailer for Beyonce's new world tour gives further evidence that Mrs. Carter is running the world, and she looks great in the empress's new clothes.
The video showcases the triple-threat walking through a palace, with servants waiting on her and an ensemble fit for a queen. Beyonce is covered head-to-toe (fingernails included) in rich gold and the same beautiful regal blue that Queen Elizabeth forbid her servants from wearing in the 16th century.
At the beginning of the video, she is fitted into a golden corset embellished with shimmering rhinestones and beaded fringes, a 1997 vintage Thierry Mugler piece. The designer already collaborated with Bey on her Sasha-Fierce costumes for her I Am... World Tour. Around her neck is a bejeweled medallion, custom-made by Manik Mercian and featuring a locket-sized photo of her husband, Jay Z.
The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour will be Beyonce's fourth concert tour and will be a precursor to her fifth solo album. It will kick off in Belgrade, Serbia, on April 15 and will continue circling the globe until an August finale at the Barclays Center in New York City.
Choosing to name her tour after her marriage is an interesting decision which, it turns out, isn't completely out of character. Beyonce has been known to use, and in some ways, reclaim the retro-vibes of a '50s housewife in her public image and her lyrics. Her latest album, 4 , was essentially a long love letter to her husband and partner of 11 years. However, to think that a woman who has acquired so much power on her own would deem herself queen and name her kingdom after her man seems like a step backward in feminism. But those contradictions make Beyonce's career all the more interesting.
The superstar has always shaken up the strict opinions of what a powerful woman should be. Can you ask "Question: Tell me how you feel about this/You try to control me, boy, you get dismissed" and still be with a man who writes "Get your own dog, ya heard?/That's my bitch"? Can you pose almost naked on the cover of GQ and still speak against the patriarchal notion that men define what is sexy? Can you be the queen of the world while wanting to play the stereotypically-feminine role in a relationship, cooking dinner in heels for your adoring husband?
It turns out, you most definitely can. In this teaser trailer, Bey encourages us to continue asking questions about female power, what it means to be independent, and what society says women can and cannot do to be considered independent and powerful. The Queen B may just sing and dance, but each time she loosens the modern woman's corset a bit more.
