“Music Moguls of the Year: Beyoncé and Jay-Z Make Records and Break Them

“Music Moguls of the Year: Beyoncé and Jay-Z Make Records and Break Them - Variety” plus 1 more

Music Moguls of the Year: Beyoncé and Jay-Z Make Records and Break Them - Variety

Posted: 28 Aug 2019 08:20 AM PDT

"Damn, look at us now … we came, and we saw, and we conquered it all," the music industry's ultimate power couple proselytize on "LoveHappy," the song that caps their 2018 Grammy-winning album, "Everything Is Love." A more fitting title might have been "Everything Is Money," because the collection was also an ode to the Carters' combined wealth.

While Beyoncé and Jay-Z have problems just like every married couple, no other husband-and-wife team has mined its relationship woes for a musical trilogy (including separate solo albums "Lemonade" and "4:44," respectively), adding to an already formidable nest egg in the process. Clearly, things have changed since 2003's "Crazy in Love," the pair's first collaboration, which features a video shot on the grimy streets of downtown L.A. Last year, they shut down the Louvre to film the clip for "Apeshit," an apt symbol for just how far the Carters have come. Beyoncé may rap, "My success can't be quantified," on the song "Nice," but Forbes says she has a net worth of $400 million. Along with Jay-Z, a newly minted billionaire, they are among the richest couples in the nation. Queen Bey and Hov — along with daughter Blue Ivy and twins Rumi and Sir — are arguably the equivalent of America's royal family.

Among the innumerable things that extreme wealth affords is the freedom for Jay-Z to throw shade at the likes of the commander in chief ("Your president tweeting about Hov like he knows us," he spits on "Salud!") and the Recording Academy ("Tell the Grammys fuck that zero-for-eight shit," he declares on "Apeshit"). Beyoncé, too, has been inspired to dis, taking a swipe at Spotify ("If I gave two fucks about streaming numbers / Would have put 'Lemonade' up on Spotify," she sings on "Nice" — although three years after its release, she did.) The Carters even have their own streaming service, Tidal, of which Jay is the primary owner, but both have stakes. They also share a passion for giving back with individual charities — BeyGood and the Shawn Carter Foundation — and joint donation of scholarships for 11 high school students to attend college in the fall.

Beyoncé has nothing bad to say about Netflix, however, having earned $60 million for a three-project deal that kicked of with the Emmy-nominated "Homecoming" documentary of her 2018 Coachella performance. Or Disney, for that matter: The performer was reportedly paid $25 million for her multifaceted role in the live-action remake of "The Lion King," which included recording and curating the movie's sort-of soundtrack album, "The Gift." It may prove to be the gift that keeps on giving this awards season: An Oscar nom for her original song "Spirit" could put her one step closer to membership in the exclusive EGOT club.

Jay-Z, meanwhile, has bolstered his fortune through liquor (he owns Armand de Brignac Champagne and partners with Bacardi for D'Ussé Cognac); real estate (New York City penthouse? Check. East Hampton mansion? Check. Bel Air palace? Check); an art collection valued at d $70 million (including pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Damien Hirst); the sports and entertainment management firm Roc Nation (its client roster features Rihanna and Shakira as well as superstar athletes); and stakes in companies such as Uber. And while he has taken shots for his recently announced controversial partnership with the NFL (which he had harshly criticized for its stance on Colin Kaepernick's protests over police brutality and racial injustice), a social-change element is built into the deal, along with a check for an undisclosed but doubtless enormous amount.

On top of their individual solo tours, the Carters' two international treks together — "On the Run" in 2014 and last year's "OTR II" — made a combined total of more than $350 million, proving that the popularity of these married moguls continues to grow along with the size of their family. As Beyoncé puts it on the song "Boss": "My great-great-grandchildren already rich / That's a lot of brown children on your Forbes list."

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Tibetan Monks Secretly Inspired Beyoncé’s Coachella Wardrobe - Vanity Fair

Posted: 27 Aug 2019 12:00 AM PDT

In Homecoming, Beyoncé gives fans a glimpse at the work that goes into being Beyoncé. The Netflix documentary-slash-concert film, nominated for six Emmys, shows the making of the Grammy-winning singer's headlining Coachella set, a dazzling tour de force that took months to execute. But even though Homecoming takes viewers behind the curtain, there's a lot that the film didn't capture. Just ask longtime Bey stylist Marni Senofonte and wardrobe supervisor Timothy White, as well as Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing, the team behind the show's costumes. Their duties included outfitting Beyoncé, as well as about 200 dancers and musicians.

"I don't think people realize the process of what she goes through, and why her shows are so good," said White. He and Senofonte, who have worked for Beyoncé for 17 and about 10 years, respectively, don't simply have brainstorming sessions with the singer; they make formal presentations for individual items of clothing, like the bright yellow hoodie emblazoned with shimmering Greek letters the singer wound up sporting for much of the show. "We don't just say, 'Hey, we're thinking of a sweatshirt,'" said Senofonte. "We build it. We build the concept because she has to see it."

If the singer likes their presentation, they'll put the piece on a double, who will wear it onstage so Beyoncé can literally visualize it in a performance. Then she gets into the costume and films herself wearing it onstage. She'll make a final decision only after reviewing the footage.

"It's a lot of steps to get one item on a stage with her," White said.

Wardrobe discussions began about six months before the April 2018 show, with Senofonte bringing Rousteing into the fold. The scale of the show was intimidating to the team's new addition: "It was a huge challenge for me because I never dressed so many people in my life," the French designer said. "But that's what she wanted; that's what we went for." Once the concepts were ready—inspired by the culture of historically black colleges and universities—he had about two months to actually assemble all the top-secret looks. Though Beyoncé wound up wearing 12 different costumes, Rousteing made dozens of looks for her, just to be safe.

During that six-month planning period, Senofonte started building mood boards, putting together binders of ideas (12 full ones by the end of production), and looking everywhere for inspiration, including photo books and Pinterest. Above all else, all three stress that color was extremely important to Beyoncé. The hue of the bright yellow hoodie ultimately selected for Weekend 1 of Coachella was deemed "monk yellow" by Team Bey, because the singer was inspired by the yellow robes often worn by Tibetan monks. "We had so many Pinterest images of inspiration of that color on these huge groups of people, and it looked so beautiful," Senofonte said. Even so, there were initially other color contenders: "She also loved electric blue, and loved purple," Senofonte said. Beyoncé also, at one point, considered mixing yellow and pink together, but nixed the idea once she saw the colors together onstage.

The team also had to grapple with the technical aspects of making costumes that looked structural but were loose-fitting and flexible enough for Beyoncé and the dancers to move in (and for the band to play their instruments in). The outfits also had to be breathable enough for steamy Coachella weather; according to White, they cycled through countless different versions of the costumes that ultimately ended up onstage.

In Homecoming, you get brief glimpses at all three costumers; Senofonte is the one you hear when Beyoncé realizes that she can fit into her old costume, and excitedly calls Jay-Z. In a later, deeply mesmeric scene, Beyoncé recounts the tiny details of this performance she oversaw, giving an explicit shout-out to Rousteing—who's given precious screen time in Homecoming. But the designer had no idea he would end up getting featured in the film; upon seeing his surprise appearance, he said, "I [had] tears and goosebumps."