# Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé

Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé is a 2019 documentary concert film about American singer Beyoncé's performance at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. She wrote, executive-produced, and directed the film. It was released on April 17, 2019 by Netflix, alongside an accompanying live album. The film is an "intimate, in-depth look" at the performance, revealing "the emotional road from creative concept to a cultural movement".
Beyoncé's headlining performances at the 2018 Coachella festival took place on April 14 and 21. She was the first Black woman to headline the festival and her performance immediately received widespread critical acclaim. Many in the media described the show as "historic," while The New York Times proclaimed it as "meaningful, absorbing, forceful and radical." The performance was internally nicknamed "Beychella", and was name-checked as such for the audience.
Her performances paid tribute to the culture of historically black colleges and universities, featuring a full marching band and majorette dancers, while incorporating various aspects of black Greek life, such as a step show along with strolling by pledges. The productions were also influenced by black feminism, sampling black authors and featuring on-stage appearances by fellow Destiny's Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, her husband Jay-Z, and her sister Solange Knowles.
Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé was released to widespread critical acclaim, with several publications naming it one of the greatest concert films of all time. The film won Best Music Film at the Grammy Awards and Best Music Documentary at the IDA Documentary Awards. It was also nominated for six awards at the Primetime Emmy Awards.

## Background

On January 4, 2017, Beyoncé was announced as a headlining act for the April 2017 Coachella festival. However, on February 23, 2017, she postponed her performance until the following year, due to doctor's concerns regarding her pregnancy with twins (born in June 2017). The secondary (resale) market for tickets to the festival that year fell 12% after the announcement she was postponing.
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) and Björk (2002 and 2007). Even prior to Beyoncé's performance, the nickname "Beychella" emerged for the 2018 festival. Tina Knowles, mother of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, later said that prior to the show, she had expressed reservations about the performance Beyoncé had planned, worried that the largely white audience at Coachella might not understand a show so steeped in black culture, particularly black college culture. Tina recounted that Beyoncé replied saying that given the platform she had achieved in her career, she felt "a responsibility to do what's best for the world and not what is most popular."

## Themes
### Musical styles

Writing in The New Yorker, Doreen St. Félix described the musical style of the performance as an "education in black expression [... and] musical history – a mélange of New Orleans and its horns, Houston and its chopped and screwed beats, Brooklyn and its rap velocity, Kingston and its dancehall, and Nigeria and the legacy of its dissenter, Fela Kuti [...] underscoring not only [Beyoncé's] Southernness but the global
Black vernacular that continues to shape her." Near the beginning of the set, Beyoncé sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing," colloquially known as the "Black national anthem". The Wiz, one of Motown's most notable motion pictures, was also sampled in the horn arrangement that heralded Beyoncé's return to the stage after her first costume change.

### Historically black colleges and universities (HBCU)

The performance has been credited as paying a strong tribute to the HBCU experience. A full African-American marching band played during much of the set, accompanied by majorette dancers. 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 of gospel and go-go music. Journalists also noted that the set incorporated various aspects of black Greek life, such as a step show along with strolling by neophytes (also known as pledges). School Daze, a notable Spike Lee film, is also referenced. Beyoncé's first outfit was a yellow sweatshirt with the Greek letters ΒΔΚ which reads Beta Delta Kappa. Later, she came out in a shirt with a shield designed with Nefertiti, Black Panther, black power fist along with a bee, which outlets such as The Washington Post credited as a reference to the shields each black fraternity and sorority have signifying the important values of the particular fraternity and sorority.
Following the show, Beyoncé announced the expansion of her HBCU scholarship fund, BeyGOOD Initiative's Homecoming Scholars Award program (previously known as the Formation Scholars Award program, announced on the one-year anniversary of Lemonade). In the program's second year, it will support one student at each of eight HBCUs: Texas Southern University, Morehouse College, Fisk University, Grambling State University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Wilberforce University, Tuskegee University and Bethune-Cookman University.

### Black feminism

Reviewers noted the influence of black feminism on Beyoncé's performance, including her sampling of Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED Talk on feminism and the appearances on stage of former collaborators Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child well as her sister Solange; writing in Cosmopolitan, Brittney Cooper read Beyoncé's decision to involve these black women in the landmark performance as a gesture of sisterhood.

## "Beychella" performances

Performances were held at the Coachella festival on April 14 and 21, 2018. Onstage appearances includes an ensemble of dancers, her sister Solange, her husband Jay-Z, and her former girl group Destiny's Child joined Beyoncé on stage. On April 21, 2018, she was joined by J Balvin for "Mi Gente" in which his verse was sung first, though this was not included in the film. She played a 26-song set to 125,000 concert-goers in attendance. The set sampled Malcolm X and Nina Simone among others. Beyoncé wore five different costumes through the two-hour performance, designed with Olivier Rousteing of French fashion house Balmain.

### Reception

Beyoncé's performance garnered 458,000 simultaneous viewers to become the festival's most viewed performance to date and the most viewed live streamed performance of all time, with the entire performance having 41 million total viewers from around the world, 75% more than the previous year.
The performance received universal critical acclaim. In The New York Times, music critic Jon Caramanica wrote: "There's not likely to be a more meaningful, absorbing, forceful and radical performance by an American musician this year, or any year soon, than Beyoncé's headlining set" at the festival. "It was rich with history, potently political and visually grand. By turns uproarious, rowdy, and lush. A gobsmacking marvel of choreography and musical direction." In Variety, Chris Willman wrote, "The show served as testament...to Beyoncé as the premier musical performer of our time." The Washington Post, CNN, NBC, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard all described the performance as "historic".

## Release

On April 3, 2019, it was reported that Beyoncé was working on new music, and also a collaborative project with Netflix which would be tied to her Coachella 2018 performance with additional footage. On April 6, 2019, Netflix officially teased the project by posting on social media a yellow image with the word "Homecoming" across it, and also the release date of the film. The film's trailer was eventually released on April 8, and was viewed over 16.6 million times across all Netflix social media accounts and Beyoncé's Facebook page within the first 24 hours. Upon the film's release, Beyoncé released a live album entitled Homecoming: The Live Album. Homecoming had 757,000 interactions across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter over its first week. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé is the first of three projects Beyoncé has committed to Netflix, on a reportedly $60 million deal.
Nielsen reported that the film was watched by 1.1 million in the US in its first day, excluding views on mobile devices and computers, which Variety noted may have resulted in a sizeable undercount of views due to the "youth-skewing makeup of the 'Homecoming' viewership." 55% of viewership in the first seven days came from African-Americans, higher than any other original streaming series or film tracked by Nielsen to date, ahead of Bird Box, which had 24% African-American viewership. According to Netflix, Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé was the fourth most popular documentary offered on the platform in 2019, being the only concert film to appear on the list.

## Critical reception

Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé received widespread critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 98% based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The website's critics consensus simply states: "Beychella forever." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 93 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Several publications named Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé as one of the greatest concert films of all time, including RogerEbert.com, The Washington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Refinery29, Chatelaine, The Guardian, and Chicago Sun-Times. Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic called Homecoming "one of Beyoncé's masterpieces", adding that the film's "combo of well-edited stage spectacle and behind-the-scenes segments—intimate, hard-fought, occasionally tense, politically explicit, personally specific segments—make it a career-defining document." David Ehrlich of IndieWire wrote that "Beyoncé managed to fit the whole spectacle into a euphoric, triumphant, and exhaustingly fierce documentary that should help see Beychella enshrined as one of the definitive pop culture events of the century."
Tobi Oredein of Metro described how Homecoming "reminds us that Beyoncé isn't just the greatest entertainer of all time, but the most exciting visionary in entertainment today." Andrea Valdez and Angela Watercutter of Wired named Homecoming as a "once-in-a-lifetime performance by one of the world's greatest living artists that our hyperconnected world allows everyone to celebrate together." Danielle Cadet wrote for Refinery29 that the film showcases Beyoncé's "world-class talent and work ethic, proving no one ever has nor ever will do it like she does."
Barrett Holmes of BBC described the film as "much more than a film about the first black woman to headline the Coachella music festival," saying "through including quotes and audio from black leaders and intellectuals, Homecoming displayed the beauty of black culture, and gave people the chance to celebrate the necessity of black education.....It is a celebration of black American culture with education, specifically Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), serving as the foundation of her message." Judy Berman of Time magazine stated that the film "recontextualizes the show in a way that claims the most influential live music event in North America for black culture."

## Accolades

Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé was named the greatest documentary of 2019 by The Daily Dot. The film was also included in Paste's list of the 15 best documentaries of 2019. Decider journalist Claire Spellberg placed Homecoming at number two on her list of the best in television and film in 2019. Homecoming was also named the third best movie of any genre of 2019 by both Thomas Atkinson for The Skinny and Ken Bakely for Film Pulse, while Decider named it seventh best. Homecoming ranked at number 1 on Metacritic's list of the best miniseries, TV movies and specials of 2019, and at number two on Rotten Tomatoes' list of the Best Reviewed TV & Streaming Movies of the same year. The Los Angeles Times ranked Beyoncé's Coachella set and Homecoming was placed at number 1 on its "The Millennium 200" list chronicling the greatest pop culture moments of the first 20 years of the millennium. Homecoming was declared by Letterboxd as the fourth greatest documentary or non-fiction film of the decade (2010s). Homecoming was included in Insider's list of the "21 Netflix originals everyone should watch in their lifetime, according to critics".
The film won Best Music Film at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, marking the second winner in this category to be directed or co-directed by the artist, and the first individual African-American female artist to win since Janet Jackson in 1989.
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
| 2019 | Black Reel Television Awards | Outstanding Television Documentary or Special | Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Derek Dixie | Nominated |
| 2019 | Cinema Eye Awards | Broadcast Film | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Nominated |
| 2019 | Cinema Eye Awards | Broadcast Editing | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Nominated |
| 2019 | Cinema Eye Awards | Broadcast Cinematography | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Won |
| 2019 | Grierson Awards | Best Arts or Music Documentary | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Shortlisted |
| 2019 | IDA Documentary Awards | Best Music Documentary | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Won |
| 2019 | International Online Cinema Awards TV Awards | Variety, Comedy or Music Program | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Won |
| 2019 | National Film & Television Awards | Best Documentary | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Nominated |
| 2019 | Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Variety Program | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Nominated |
| 2019 | Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Direction of a Reality or Non-Fiction Program | Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Derek Dixie | Won |
| 2019 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Nominated |
| 2019 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Programming | Marni Senofonte, Olivier Rousteing and Timothy White | Nominated |
| 2019 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special | Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Ed Burke | Nominated |
| 2019 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Music Direction | Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Derek Dixie | Nominated |
| 2019 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special | Ric Lipson, Rachel Duncan and Andrew Makadsi | Nominated |
| 2019 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special | Beyoncé Knowles-Carter | Nominated |
| 2020 | BET Awards | Best Movie | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Nominated |
| 2020 | Grammy Awards | Best Music Film | Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Ed Burke and Dora Melissa Vargas | Won |
| 2020 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Variety (Series or Special) | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Won |
| 2020 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Documentary (Television – Series or Special) | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Nominated |
| 2020 | NME Awards | Best Music Film | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Nominated |
| 2020 | Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best Non-Theatrical Releases | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Won |
| 2020 | Talk Film Society Awards | Best Documentary | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Nominated |
| 2020 | Visionary Honours | Documentary of the Year | Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé | Nominated |

## Set list

The following songs were performed during both sets, and included in the film.
* "Welcome" (musical introduction) (contains elements of "Ffun", "Humble", "Family Feud" and "Emerald City Sequence")
* "Crazy in Love" (contains elements of "I'm a Hustla", "Dance (Ass)" and "Back That Azz Up")
* "Freedom"
* "Lift Every Voice and Sing"
* "Formation"
* "Sorry" (contains elements of "Me, Myself and I" and "Kitty Kat")
* "Bow Down" / "I Been On"
* "Drunk in Love" (contains elements of "Crank That", "Lilac Wine" and "Swag Surfin")
* "Diva" (contains elements of "Irreplaceable", "Dirt off Your Shoulder", "Headlines" and "Everybody Mad")
* "Flawless" / "Feeling Myself"
* "Top Off"
* "7/11"
* "Don't Hurt Yourself"
* "I Care"
* "Partition" / "Yoncé"
* "Mi Gente (Remix)" (contains elements of "Mine" and "Standing on the Sun")
* "Baby Boy" / "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)" / "Hold Up" / "Countdown" / "Check on It" (contains elements of "Fever", "Freaks", "Broccoli" and "Bam Bam")
* "Déjà Vu" (with Jay-Z) (contains elements of "Green Light", "Zombie" and "Soul Makossa")
* "Run the World (Girls) " (contains elements of "End of Time","Can You Feel It", "We Should All Be Feminists" and "Girl")
* "Lose My Breath / "Say My Name" / "Soldier" (with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams) (contains elements of "Girl" and "Say My Name (Remix)")
* "Get Me Bodied" (with Solange Knowles dancing)
* "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
* "Love On Top"