Beyoncés Homecoming: The 4 Most Illuminating Moments

Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé is a rare glimpse into the life of a superstar. The special, released by Netflix on Wednesday, is a deep dive into the performers headlining Coachella set in 2018, a visionary display that made Beyoncé the first black woman to headline the mega-music festival. As its trailer, released a little over a week before the films premiere, showed, Homecoming gives a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the rigorous show, interspersed with views of Queen Beys personal life. From revelations about her difficult pregnancy to a series of nitty-gritty production details, here are a few of the most fascinating secrets contained within the thrilling movie that gives fans everything they wanted.

The Origin of Beychella

Homecoming was conceived as a tribute to historically black colleges and universities. At the start of the film, Beyoncé explains that she was inspired by her Houston upbringing, visiting Texas HBCUs like Prairie View A&M University, and rehearsing at Texas Southern University.

“I always dreamed of going to an HBCU,” she adds. Thanks to her bustling music career, though, she had to eschew that dream: “My college was Destinys Child. My college was traveling around the world, and life was my teacher.”

The theme also held symbolic meaning; Beyoncé viewed the show as a return to her performance home, the stage.

The Production

Though the film doesnt give all the nuts and bolts away, Homecoming is a fairly thorough look at how Beychella came together. It took months to script the show, Beyoncé says at one point, to say nothing of the effort involved in getting its distinctive choreography and musical arrangements just right.

The production process involved three cavernous sound stages, which Beyoncé would walk between—observing the band, the dancers, and the creative staff, respectively. Theres ample footage of her lecturing her creative team about the tiniest details—including, but not limited to how to properly capture audio of the dancers in the bleachers. “Until I see some of my notes applied, it doesnt make sense to make more,” the perfectionist says at one point—perfect fodder for certain YouTube compilations. The lecture ends on a personal note, when Bey reveals its her and Jay-Zs anniversary.

Beyoncé also says in the film that she, unsurprisingly, personally selected several elements of the show—including each dancer, the lights, the material used on the steps of the bleachers, and the height of the pyramid.

The Personal Glimpse

Throughout the film, there are a handful of thrilling glimpses at Bey and Jay-Zs children—Blue Ivy (who can frequently be seen dancing, adding to the fun Beyhive theory that Blue is the real dance captain on set), Rumi and Sir—who were occasionally brought to the set of the production. And the singer also offers more than that. At one point, she opens up about having to skip Coachella in 2017, due to her pregnancy. While there have been ample rumors that she and Jay-Z used in-vitro fertilization to have Rumi and Sir, Beyoncé subtly addresses and denies those claims in the film.

“I got pregnant unexpectedly and it ended up being twins,” she says, a statement dripping with subtext. Beyoné is also candid about how difficult this pregnancy was; she had high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia, she says, and weighed 218 pounds by the time she gave birth. In order to get fit for Coachella, she cut out dairy, carbs, alcohol, and a whole host of other things, while also juggling motherhood. “I would dance and go off to the trailer and breastfeed the babies,” she says. “There were days I thought Id never be the same.”

The Aftermath

After Beychella originally aired, it was essentially scrubbed from the internet, with all the livestreamed footage presumably getting locked into a vault at Parkwood. Until now: Homecoming offers up the original footage with layered, never-before-seen clips from both the first and second weekend of Beyonés headlining set. Now that the film is out, Beyoncé has also released the official live album version of her Coachella set, including brief audio of Blue Ivy covering the Black National Anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (which can be seen in Homecoming) and an official cover of Frankie Beverly and Mazes “Before I Let Go.” Its a classic Beyoncé move—give fans everything they want, and then some.

More Great Stories from Vanity Fair

— Game of recaps: Easter eggs, references, summaries, reunions, title-sequence-giveaways, and more from the epic first episode

— The demons, drugs, philandering, mutual love, and masterpieces that endured in Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdons unconventional relationship

— Review: Why Our Planet should be mandatory viewing

— Loughlin and Huffman: A tale of two P.R. strategies

Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hollywood newsletter and never miss a story.

Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:Eye-Catching Vanity Fair Oscar Party Looks Through the YearsPreviousNext