7 of Beyoncé’s Instantly Iconic Moments

Grammy Awards (2004) 
It’s not everyday that you have the opportunity to sing alongside The Purple One! Opening the 46th Annual Grammy Awards in 2004, Prince performed a four-song medley with Beyoncé, which has gone on to be one of the greatest live performances of all time. A seismic night for Beyoncé, she won five out of six Grammy awards for which she’d been nominated (including best R&B song with ‘Crazy in Love’).

‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’ (2008)
The music video that would become a pop culture phenomenon, Beyoncé’s ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’ is still a global anthem. Inspired by a Bob Fosse dance routine from the 1960s (Fosse was a legendary American dance choreographer), Bey’s black and white clip was also the context for Kanye West’s notorious interruption of Taylor Swift at the 2009 Grammys… but that’s another story!

‘7/11’ (2014)
While Beyoncé’s music videos typically feature lavish productions with big budgets, her 2014 visuals for ‘7/11’ showed us she’s also a master of DIY. Shot on an iPhone in a messy hotel suite, the clip features everything from human pyramids, to sword fights with wrapping paper rolls. (Bonus points if you spot the Blue Ivy cameo!). 

Lemonade (2016) 
Everybody knows where they were when Lemonade dropped (well, they should!). A tour de force from start to finish, the LP was accompanied by a 65-minute HBO film that contained some of the most visceral visual language of the 2010s. Sparking intense internet sleuthing the world over (who on earth was ‘Becky with the good hair’?), the real story lay in Beyonce’s complex portrayal of race, class, and gender in America, and is unequivocally one of Queen Bey’s best albums to date.

Twins! (2017)
Stop the press! Beyoncé blew up social media in 2017, when she announced that she was expecting twins via her Instagram account. Sharing a photograph to her 92.4 million followers, Beyoncé collaborated with artist and photographer Awol Erizku for the project. Cradling her baby bump, Beyoncé is clad in a sheer viel and surrounded by blooming flowers – Botticelli, anyone? 

The image racked up over seven million likes, within a matter of hours. 

Beychella (2018)
In 2018, Beyoncé headlined Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, becoming the first female African American performer to do so in the storied festival’s 23-year history. Unofficially and affectionately dubbed ‘Beychella’ by awestruck fans in California, the 105-minute set went down in Coachella folklore.

A transcendent celebration of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the thumping performance later arrived on Netflix for posterity, offering us an insight into the blood, sweat and tears that went into the production. Beychella was simply Beyoncé at the height of her powers.