Becky With The Good Hair

2016

Date: 23 April 2016 · Place: HBO; Twitter · Figures: Beyoncé, artist · Warsan Shire, poet whose lines anchor the album · Rachel Roy, accused (denied) · Rita Ora, accused (denied) · Iyanla Vanzant, speaker on the audio collage · Tags: BlackTwitter, Pop, Lyric 01. Sorry Outro Beyoncé's visual album Lemonade premieres on HBO at 9 pm Eastern on 23 April 2016. The track Sorry closes with the line he better call Becky with the good hair. Twitter spends the next 72 hours trying to identify Becky. Rachel Roy's vague Instagram about good hair draws thousands of bee emojis to her replies; she denies and locks the account. Rita Ora's choice of necklace the same week draws the same swarm. The phrase becomes a Black Twitter shorthand for the white-coded other-woman in any betrayal narrative. Becky as racialised proper noun is older; Lemonade fixes it in the meme economy. "He better call Becky with the good hair." — Beyoncé, 'Sorry', Lemonade, 23 April 2016 02. Bee Emoji as Warrant The Beyhive's bee emoji becomes a public summons. To be bombed by bees on Instagram is to be accused of being Becky. The harassment is severe enough that several outlets run pieces against it within the week. Lemonade is the case study for one album release as one meme event. Every track surfaces a phrase; every phrase moves the timeline for a full week. The album is the year's most-tweeted entertainment release. Sources • Beyoncé, Lemonade (Parkwood/Columbia, 23 April 2016) • Doreen St. Felix, 'On Beyoncé, Becky, and Black Women's Rage', Pitchfork, 26 April 2016 • New York Times, 'Becky With the Good Hair: Decoding Beyoncé's Lemonade', 25 April 2016