Beyoncé Celebrates 40 Years of Excellence for Harper's Bazaar, Lensed by Campbell Addy

Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is revered worldwide. As she prepares to celebrate her 40th birthday on September 4, the star is ready to listen to her own inner voice.

During the years of making herself a star music talent, businesswoman, activist, Black cultural hero, philanthropist, mother to four-year-old twins Rumi and Sir and nine-year-old Blue Ivy, and wife to JAY-Z, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter learned the power of putting in the work. “Vision and intention weren’t enough; I had to put in the work,” Beyoncé explains in the September 2021 Harper’s Bazaar US cover story.

The September issue of Harper’s is the first time in a decade that Beyoncé has appeared on the cover of the magazine.

For the majority of her life, including her childhood, the mega-talent had not only ambition and a desire to create excellence in her life. Beyoncé had standards — the highest standards for herself. She explains:

If something wasn’t helping me reach my goal, I decided to invest no time in it. I didn’t feel like I had time to “kiki” or hang out. I sacrificed a lot of things and ran from any possible distraction. I felt as a young Black woman that I couldn’t mess up. I felt the pressure from the outside and their eyes watching for me to trip or fail. I couldn’t let my family down after all the sacrifices they made for me and the girls. That meant I was the most careful, professional teenager and I grew up fast. I wanted to break all of the stereotypes of the Black superstar, whether falling victim to drugs or alcohol or the absurd misconception that Black women were angry. I knew I was given this amazing opportunity and felt like I had one shot. I refused to mess it up, but I had to give up a lot.

Beyoncé wears key looks from her upcoming IVY PARK x adidas Rodeo collection, celebrating the American heritage of Black cowboys and cowgirls and her own Texas roots. Samira Nasr and Marni Senofonte styled her, choosing backup looks from Alberta Ferretti, Balmain, Bottega Veneta, Dior, Givenchy, Gucci, Valentino and more for the photo shoot by Campbell Addy [IG].

Tiffany & Co jewelry is worn throughout the fashion story ‘The Once & Future Beyoncé. With her husband JAY-Z , the couple have been named new faces and ambassadors for the luxe jewelry brand. LVMH, Tiffany’s new owner, is now an equal owner with JAY-Z of his champagne brand Armand de Brignac, aka ‘Ace of Spades’.

Beyonce tells Harper’s Bazaar that her wish is for the next decade to be “fun and full of freedom.”

“I want to feel the same freedom I feel on stage every day of my life. I want to explore aspects of myself I haven’t had time to discover and to enjoy my husband and my children. I want to travel without working. I want this next decade to be about celebration, joy and giving and receiving love. I want to give all the love I have to the people who love me back,” she said.

“I want to continue to work to dismantle systemic imbalances. I want to continue to turn these industries upside down. I plan to create businesses outside of music. I have learned that I have to keep on dreaming.”

Beyoncé’s narrative for Harper’s is illuminating and deeper than others we’ve read. She tells a wonderful story about agencies and “formulaic corporate companies” that’s truly wonderful. She’s always sought to surround herself with creative, innovative thinkers, but sometimes there’s just no escaping sterile, corporate thinking.

Like there was the time this agency told her that her audience didn’t like black and white photography. It had to be color. ‘And how do you know that,’ Beyoncé wondered to herself. ‘Market research’ was the answer, and the modern music icon wasn’t having it. She was beyond aggravated:

It pissed me off that an agency could dictate what my fans wanted based on a survey. Who did they ask? How is it possible to generalize people this much? Are these studies accurate? Are they fair? Are all the people I’m trying to uplift and shine a light on included? They’re not. It triggered me when I was told, “These studies show…” I was so exhausted and annoyed with these formulaic corporate companies that I based my whole next project off of black and white photography, including the videos for “Single Ladies” and “If I Were a Boy” and all of the artwork by Peter Lindbergh for I Am…Sasha Fierce, which ended up being my biggest commercial success to date. I try to keep the human feeling and spirit and emotion in my decision-making.

In one of the biggest compliments an advanced-spirit woman can pay herself, the star says she is done competing with herself. Nor does she look back into how or why she behaved a certain way in the past.

Ending on part of this absolutely-worth-the-read story from Harper’s Bazaar, she concludes: “I feel many aspects of that younger, less evolved Beyoncé could never f*** with the woman I am today. Haaa!”

Forge on with her to learn more at Harper’s Bazaar.