Even the First Lady is a fan of the Queen—Queen Bey that is.
First Lady Michelle Obama wished Beyoncé a happy 34th birthday like, well, most of Twitter today. (You’d almost think it was a national holiday.)
Happy birthday to the one and only, Queen 🐝! Thank you for being a role model for young girls around the world, @Beyonce. -mo
— First Lady- Archived (@FLOTUS44) September 4, 2015
Everyone else is just hopelessly gazing with the hashtag #BeyDay but America’s most powerful women have been friends for years (much to the dismay of some Christian moms and conservative pundits). And Michelle has stated time and again, as she did in her tweet, that she’s glad her daughters Sasha and Malia have a role model like Beyoncé.
At the first inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, Beyoncé serenaded the First couple with the Etta James classic “At Last.” In 2011, Bey provided the official soundtrack of Michelle’s “Let’s Move” campaign, to fight childhood obesity through fitness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYq0zAQ3lHY
Michelle and Sasha were caught in a fan’s selfie at a 2014 concert, not the first one they’d attended. And back in August, Michelle even announced that, if she’d had to take another career path, she’d definitely be Beyoncé. (Wouldn’t we all, Michelle?) The media likes to document their mutual admiration and they provide plenty of opportunity.
While some expect the First Lady to be more concerned with her image given Beyoncé’s flashy style and provocative lyrics and dance moves, it’s easy enough to understand what they see in each other. In 2012, Beyoncé penned a hand-written note to Michelle, praising her for being “the ULTIMATE example of a truly strong African American woman.” The singer went on to express how proud she was to have her daughter, Blue, grow up in a world where there are women like Michelle to look up to. Aww.
Both women are accomplished, successful, community-focused, and working hard to make a difference in a world that hits black women with both sexism and racism.
As Mark Anthony Neal, a Duke University professor of black popular culture, stated in this Washington Post article:
“From the standpoint of black America, we would be hard-pressed to think of another time when we’ve had two such examples of what it means to be a successful black woman on their own terms.”
One of those terms seems to be friendship, in public and unapologetic. That’s something we should all look up to, especially since women trend toward being harder on each other than men do.
Happy birthday, Queen Bey. We all hope it’s a good one.
Photo via Asterio Tecson/Flickr
