The Billboard music awards has had its history of talented performers like Shawn Mendes, Khalid, Ed Sheeran, BTS, and even the princess of pop, Taylor Swift. Just as real royalty has recently been exposed for cheating on another one of their own, the pop industry’s princess is being criticized for cheating off of somebody in her own realm of notoriety. Taylor Swift’s performance at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards appeared as a total rip off of the Queen of pop’s Coachella performance.
Beyoncé practiced her choreography and vocals for 115 days before the show debuted on April 14,2018. Clearly, she put her everything into it, for she also did this right after giving birth to two twin babies. The incredible feat was given a huge spotlight when the singer featured it on Homecoming , which was released on Netflix just April 17 of 2019. As a result, it seemed more than just a coincidence that Swift’s performance on May 1 of 2019 featured huge concepts present in Beyoncé’s Netflix special.
Taylor’s execution of the routine was dubbed as “Mayochella” by fans of both the artists on twitter, as Beyoncé’s was earlier nicknamed as “Beychella”. Both Mayochella and Beychella opened with sets of similar pink toned lights, high school stadium – like bleachers/risers, and a drum line of extras. The beehive was furious as their idol put her blood, sweat, and tears into an over hour long performance to sing hits like “Sorry”, “Formation”, “Drunk in Love”, etcetera , whereas the Swifties’ idol only used the concept for a mere three minutes performing a rather mediocre single “Me!”.
Fans took to twitter to write to not only Taylor, but an audience of the whole world. The comments, however, were not the usual petty, dramatic ones. Many preached of how the successes of black women are often ignored, and in this case, allegedly stolen by more privileged persons.
However, many Swift fans quickly retaliated, tweeting links of Taylor performing with a drum line during her 2009 tour for her second album Fearless . It was also noted that many other celebrities like Gwen Stefani, Madonna, and Prince, have used similar concepts. The color scheming and the setting, however, keep the beehive unmoved. This instance has taught many a valuable lesson about the disadvantages black women face in the music industry, if not the world.
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