It may not be Part 2, Part 3 or Part 5 of her new album ‘Renaissance,’ but Beyonce has dropped a new project: At last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, Gatorade released a new ad honoring Serena Williams narrated by the singer.
The video, directed by Jake Nava – who directed Beyonce’s ‘Crazy in Love’ video – was released as the tennis superstar headed to the US Open one last time late Monday night. Williams announced she was “playing away from tennis” earlier this month.
The extended version released this morning sheds light on Williams’ career. The “Break my Soul” singer’s narration begins: “When the world writes it in history, we will begin where it began. To love.
He continues: “It is a love that we will remember through the generations, a love that started a movement, a movement to always love exactly who you are and who you can be. To be so in love with your identity that your very essence cannot be contained.
Beyonce’s voice continues as the video is intercut with young women competing in other sports and other highlights of Williams’ coronation moments.
The narration reads poetically: “To be so in love with your identity that your very essence cannot be contained. Loving that sound of your own voice and the way you move. To cherish every muscle and every curve of your body. Feeling like a queen, shameless, with the crown on forever. Always love being a proud black woman, a mother, a dreamer. Loving to always be you – a whole you, the real you. To always love you.”
Underneath the video, titled “For Serena, with love,” the sports drink company that has sponsored Williams since 2009, wrote: “Serena Williams showed us the power of love – for yourself and for all that you do. Her self-confidence was an inspiration to everyone, but especially young women of color. She started a movement – to realize that you can do anything if you have self-love. .
Beyonce and Williams have a long history together: Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z attended many of her matches, Williams appeared in the “Sorry” video and joined Beyonce on stage during the “Lemonade” tour finale in 2016 (pictured above), and Beyonce wrote the song “Be Alive” for the Williams family biopic starring Will Smith “King Richard.”
Watch the video below.
