Ya, ya, it’s true: fans turned up the sound on Christmas Day while Beyoncé took the stage during the halftime of the Houston Texans versus Baltimore Raven game.
The show marked the first time the artist performed any of the music from her country album, “Cowboy Carter,” in front of a live audience. Beyoncé entered the stadium on a white horse performing “16 Carriages.”
The performance was streamed on Netflix, which played host to the NFL’s two marquee games on the holiday. Mariah Carey kicked off Netflix’s Christmas NFL doubleheader with a recorded performance of her holiday hit, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Netflix described the concert as the “Beyoncé Bowl” in a post on X. Several people who appear to be at the game posted photos on social media of light-up bands that they said were distributed ahead of the game.
In the month leading up to game day, Beyoncé teased her performance in her Houston hometown in various social media posts, which were cross-promoted by the streaming giant.
In one video posted Christmas Eve, the artist appeared to poke fun at the streaming issues that Netflix has had during previous live events. The X account for Netflix subsequently temporarily changed its profile bio to read: “roasted by beyoncé 12.24.24”
“Cowboy Carter” released March 29 and debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, as well as the chart’s Top Country Albums. She’s the first Black woman to lead the country album list.
It’s also Beyoncé’s eighth straight studio album to reach No. 1 on the Hot 200 chart, according to Billboard. That means every solo record she’s released since departing from Destiny’s Child has topped the chart.
“Cowboy Carter’ garnered 11 Grammys nominations, including nods for the coveted album of the year and record of the year awards.
Billboard named Beyoncé the greatest pop start of the 21st century, followed closely by Taylor Swift. The two women both launched global tours last year and attended each other’s concert film premieres, but Billboard noted that Beyoncé has “exemplifying greatness in every form imaginable” since before Swift’s own music debut in 2006.
The artist broke the record for the most certified titles for a female artist earlier this month, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
“Texas Hold Em,” the first single from her country album this year, went double platinum.
As a mother, Beyoncé also had a special memory come from this year. She attended the premiere of Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” alongside her 12-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, who was cast as the voice of Kiara.
Beyoncé, who voices Nala, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that it was hard to focus as she got emotional hearing her daughter’s voice in character.
“She did such a beautiful job and I cannot believe how natural she is,” the singer said. “And I’m just so proud of you … and I’m proud that she’s gonna represent so many young brown girls all over the world.”
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