Beyonce’s New Video And Its Failed Controversy

Just a day before her highly anticipated apparition with Coldplay at the Super Bowl halftime show, Beyonce released a new video for her surprise new single ‘Formation’… Can you imagine better timing? No but Beyonce is all about timing and perfection of course.

The video is certainly making people talk, and it’s everything people like, there’s a lot to see, it moves fast, there’s a lot of different scenes flashing fast for this low-attention span generation, there are energetic dances and some badass postures by the woman who has today’s best body, and the music is hip hop pop with Beyonce doing new things with her voice. Add to this a pinch of social consciousness, vintage old south décor, a few dirty lines, a classic car and some New Orleans whore outfits to spice up the gangsta look and you have the new Bey video, captivating and sexy… you can do whatever you want with it, admire the spectacle, consider it as a social commentary or a political statment or even blame Beyonce to use the Katrina-devastated city as a pretext to her hip gyrating dances,…actually it could be very good if it wasn’t so calculated. Beyonce has even launched a tour as soon as the video was released with the merchandize already ready to be sold

But a video like this one doesn’t come without some controversy. Director Abteen Bagheri and producer Chris Black got upset, arguing that scenes from their mini-documentary, That B.E.A.T., were ripped without credit in Beyoncé’s video, which was directed by Melina Matsoukas.

‘New Beyonce video used hella clips from the doc I produced and directed’ tweeted Chris Black… ‘I guess it’s flattering that people fuck with the things you’ve created but also frustrating when they wanna use it like it’s theirs.’ He continued explaining that ‘there was a talk to use it but then it just ended. Not sure what else they did to get permission.’

‘I’m not mad. It’s the sad reality of the music business. Doesn’t affect my friends’ and my work, but not cool,’ also tweeted Abteen Bagger.

Of course, the queen Bey responded through her rep and EW, with the declaration that ‘The documentary footage was used with permission and licensed from the owner of the footage. They were given proper compensation. The footage was provided to us by the filmmaker’s production company. The filmmaker is listed in the credits for additional photography direction. We are thankful that they granted us permission .’

So, It’s not even a controversy? However, it’s unclear why the directors were complaining and hadn’t been noticed, were the credits added afterward? Complex has stills from the video and That B.E.A.T. side by side, check them out, you can’t say the short movie was an inspiration, it’s a total copy…