Leave it to Beyoncé to bring the drama for her first public performance in two years. Queen Bey opened the 2022 Academy Awards with “Be Alive,” her contribution to the King Richard soundtrack. The track earned Bey an Oscar nomination this year for Best Original Song.
Queen Bey dialed in to the broadcast from Compton, the old stomping grounds of Venus and Serena Williams. Beginning with an interpolation of Tupac’s “California Love,” and with her daughter Blue Ivy Carter dancing in the front, the pop titan established a level of quality that the rest of the Oscars might strain to match, and she did it all dressed in fluorescent tennis ball green. Check out the performance below, and stay up-to-date on the full winner’s list here.
King Richard is a biopic that follows Richard Williams (Will Smith) as he raises and coaches his young daughters who would grow up to be two of the greatest athletes of all time: Venus and Serena Williams. Beyoncé has some professional ties to the Williams family, too, having recruited Serena to appear in the 2016 visual album Lemonade.
“Be Alive” is Beyoncé’s first original new music since her Juneteenth 2020 charity single “Black Parade” and the deluxe edition of The Lion King: The Gift, her companion soundtrack to Disney’s 2019 remake of The Lion King. Watch her Oscars performance below.
Last September, Beyoncé covered Audrey Hepburn’s beloved standard “Moon River” from 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s as part of her ongoing campaign for Tiffany and Co. with Jay-Z. That same month, she was also one of many contributors contributed to Janelle Monáe’s protest anthem “Say Her Name (Hell You Talmbout).”
Performance completa de Beyoncé no #Oscars cantando “Be Alive”.pic.twitter.com/4dIzMAPkTB
— Beyoncé Daily (@beyupdate) March 28, 2022