Beyonce in her new music video. She is set to give this year's Super Bowl a political edge. Photo / Beyonce / YouTube
Beyonce in her new music video. She is set to give this year's Super Bowl a political edge. Photo / Beyonce / YouTube
Beyoncé will perform a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement at the Super Bowl a day after releasing the new song.
The 34-year-old surprised fans at the weekend by dropping a video to Formation, which features flood-ridden New Orleans and a line of white cops facing a hooded little boy.
"Let's get in formation... Prove to me you got some coordination," she chants before the camera pans over graffiti that says: "Stop shooting us."
Within minutes of the video's release, Twitter was awash with reactions to the fiercely political lyrics and scenes - and a cameo role from the singer's four-year-old daughter with Jay Z, Blue Ivy.
It was still trending worldwide as the Super Bowl - the most watched TV event of the year - approached.
Beyoncé is expected to perform Formation at half time - three years after sending shock waves around the world in her last Super Bowl performance with a backdrop sign that read: "FEMINIST."
The video opens with a warning: "Parental advisory... explicit lyrics."
It then cuts to Beyoncé croutching on top of a flooded New Orleans police car, seemingly pointing to the state of law enforcement in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
A hooded figure runs towards a line of police officers, who put their arms up. Photo / Beyonce / YouTube
At the end of the video, the singer is seen drowning on top of the same police car. A row of police officers in riot gear also appears throughout the video. It looks like a hooded figure is running towards them. When the camera turns round it turns out to be a little hooded boy dancing in front of them. At the end, they raise their hands up in the gesture of people under arrest; the camera then turns to graffiti on the wall that says: "Stop shooting us."
Fans were also excited by the appearance of Blue Ivy, Beyoncé's daughter with Jay Z.
The adorable four-year-old looked angelic in a long white dress as she danced around with two other young girls and posed for the camera.
Beyonce definitely seems to be striking while the iron is hot as her online store was loaded with several new pieces of merchandise related to the song including hats, shirts, mobile phone cases and scarves.
The Single Ladies hitmaker may be debuting the song live for the first time on a huge stage as she was rehearsing Formation during preparations for the halftime show according to a Saturday report from Rolling Stone.
Though it has not been confirmed whether or not she will be performing it, Beyonce will be a special guest at the Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show headlined by Coldplay on Sunday night.
