Beyonce Delivers a Loving Ode to Blackness

Beyonce's single, "Black Parade," which dropped on Juneteenth, was just a peek at what was to come—a "celebratory memoir for the world on the Black experience," according to Disney+. With Black Is King, her new visual album released exclusively on the platform, comes "a global sense of Blackness, within and beyond the US," per NPR. Filmed in New York, Los Angeles, South Africa, West Africa, the UK, and Belgium, the visual album is based on the soundtrack album The Lion King: The Gift and includes videos for "Already," "Brown Skin Girl," "Mood 4 Eva" and "My Power," per CNN.

"Footage of Black families around the world are interspersed with sequences in which Beyonce traverses a beach, reciting details of a generations-spanning spiritual journey," notes Pitchfork. "From the film's breathtaking landscape views to the gifted actors and performers it shows, the biggest takeaway from 'Black Is King' is the unmatched beauty of Africa," per People. Beyonce directed and served as executive producer for the project, which includes appearances by Jay-Z, Kelly Rowland, Naomi Campbell, Lupita Nyong'o, and other Black stars. It follows the release of Beyonce's first visual album, Lemonade, on HBO in 2016. (More Beyonce stories.)