Beyoncé doesn’t do interviews.
Once upon a time she did interviews, but not anymore. The last one she did, with Elle Magazine for the launch of her activewear label Ivy Park, was straight-up written by Bey’s publicist. Her Vogue cover for the vaunted September issue (2015) was accompanied not by an in-depth interview that gave us a behind-the-scenes look into the icon’s life, but by an essay from Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Margo Jefferson.
But what she does do is interviews where she’s the one asking the questions.
Specifically, she interviewed her sister Solange for Interview Magazine, and whoever got that one happening deserves to just phone it in for the rest of 2017.
“After interviewing my mother and father for ‘A Seat At The Table‘ [Solange’s groovy new album] it feels like full circle to have chosen my sister to interview me for @InterviewMag,” Solange posted on Instagram. “Spoke about womanism, growing up in a hair salon, and choosing between ‘I could fall in love’ and ‘No Me Queda Mas’. It is one of my favourites to date.”
Obviously when you have two people who grew up together on either side of the interview table (or phone call, as it were), you have a little more room to ask the personal questions and get some real stuff back.
BEYONCÉ: You write your own lyrics, you co-produce your own tracks, you write your own treatments for your videos, you stage all of your performances, all of the choreography … Where does the inspiration come from?
SOLANGE: It varies. For one, I got to have a lot of practice. Growing up in a household with a master class such as yourself definitely didn’t hurt. And, as far back as I can remember, our mother always taught us to be in control of our voice and our bodies and our work, and she showed us that through her example. If she conjured up an idea, there was not one element of that idea that she was not going to have her hand in.
The interview covers everything from Solange’s experience making the album (three years, wrote all the lyrics, produced all the vocals, friggin’ baws), to her experience as a black woman in America, to the misconceptions of being a strong woman and to her no-holds-barred love for ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta‘.
It also provides us with this really, really cute moment that’ll make you want to call your sister asap.
BEYONCÉ: And, honestly, growing up, how did I do as a big sister?
SOLANGE: You did a kickass job. You were the most patient, loving, wonderful sister ever. In the 30 years that we’ve been together, I think we’ve only really, like, butted heads … we can count on one hand.
BEYONCÉ: I was expecting something funny, but I’ll take it. Thank you.
As you can probably imagine, people have some feelings.
Beyoncé interviewing Solange is probably one of the purest, holiest things to happen in my lifetime. https://t.co/wxaPQwGyqk pic.twitter.com/mFOf2P7l7L
— broke but woke (@NotAgainBen) January 10, 2017
whoever got beyonce to interview solange deserves a goddamn EGOT
— Jenna // Wortham (@jennydeluxe) January 10, 2017
beyoncé interviewing solange is the best thing to happen in 2017 so far
— yung deepthroat™ (@thekidmoon) January 10, 2017
If Solange wins her Grammy along with Beyoncé that night…..Wig will SOAR! Y’all know how dope that would be? I’m shaking at the thought.
— Ray (@_BluRay__) January 10, 2017
And let’s all just take a minute to appreciate how Interview Mag acknowledged Beyoncé’s accomplishments at the end of the piece, the same way they would any other interviewer.
Damn straight.
Photo: Getty / John Brasted.
