Entertainment

This Isn't Beyoncé's First Time Supporting Clinton

by Courtney Lindley

At this point, if you asked Beyoncé, "Who should run the world?" it's pretty clear she'd answer, "Hillary Clinton, of course." On Friday night, Beyonce and Jay Z officially took the stage at the Clinton campaign rally in Cleveland, solidifying the couple's now very public approval of HRC. The presidential nominee stood between Jay Z and the living goddess, Beyoncé, and as a result, the world shined a little brighter. Though this display of honor should be enough to give Clinton a bump in the polls and concretize Bey into a living deity, it's not the first time she's stood behind our possible future president. In fact, Beyoncé has been supporting Clinton for a while, but until now, she's kept it more under the radar.

Beyoncé was supposed to be a surprise performer at Jay Z's Get Out the Vote rally, but since no one can keep quiet on her ability to make lemonade out of lemons — especially if it's happening at such a crucial point in the election — rumors about her attendance leaked earlier that day. Following her husband's performance of his own hits, Bey took the stage and performed her own flawless musical battle cry. After she got in formation — decked out in a polka-dot pantsuit to pay homage to Clinton's sartorial sensibilities — Beyoncé implored the voters to think about the particular impact of this election as women, men, and citizens of the world. "I want my daughter to grow up seeing a woman lead our country, and know that her possibilities are limitless. We have to think about our daughters," she told the crowd.

The foundation for this overt approval has been brewing since May 2015, when Beyoncé was seen at Clinton's fundraising event in New York. Over Labor Day weekend this year, when Bill Clinton was spotted looking buddy-buddy with Jay Z and Beyoncé at Philadelphia’s Made in America music festival, fans were anxious for some sort of huge endorsement from the singer. Last week, after remaining pretty quiet, Bey issued a call to action via Instagram (though she didn't say anything about Clinton directly). "The right to use our voice at the polling stations this Election Day is not a privilege that should be taken lightly," she wrote. "Throughout history, from the women’s suffrage movement to the Civil Rights Movement, this is a right that we had to fight to obtain ... make sure your voice is heard at the polls on November 8th."

Though this rally was the biggest stamp of approval the singer has given Clinton thus far, it doesn't come as a surprise. Looking at Beyoncé's art highlights just how much her ideologies align with this campaign. As she performed "Run The World," a quote card with some of Clinton's words appeared behind her. "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas. But what I decided to do was fulfill my profession," Clinton so famously said when asked about being First Lady in 1992. Clinton decided to to make impressive career out of cookies and tea (i.e. lemonade out of lemons), a concept that Bey can get behind.

"Remember," Clinton told the crowd before quoting a Jay Z song. "Jay memorably said something we should all recall: Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walk. And Martin Luther walked so Barack Obama could run. And Barack Obama ran so all the children could fly."

Beyoncé sang to a crowd of people in Ohio so Clinton could better her chance to run the world, and it was an unforgettable, powerful move that was a long time in the making.