Hello and welcome back, my Body Language Buddies! today, in Episode 39, the big question is,
what does Beyonce and Jay Z's body language reveal about their relationship?
And to solve this riddle, we will be looking at that elevator video.
You know which one.
We'll decode Beyonce's facial expressions to find an important body language quirk,
and watch how Jay Z's nonverbal expression reveals about how he truly feels about her.
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you can find right in the description.
And thank you for supporting my channel! all you have to do is like this video, subscribe
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My Name is Jesús Enrique Rosas, I'm the Body Language Guy, and together we'll uncover the
secrets that people try to hide from us.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z may be one of the most powerful celebrity couples in the world, but
even they’ve faced challenges over the years.
One of the most well known facts is that they prefer to keep everything about their relationship
private.
Even back in 2003, when they were dating, she is clear about her music doing the talking:
- Now, it's been rumored that you've beed dating Jay Z, right?
- Yeah.
I don't actually talk about whu I'm dating or who I'm not, because I think it's important
to concentrate on the music, and when you start talking about those things, then they
get bigger than they really are.
That's the way it's been ever since.
You can see that when talking about Jay-Z she's smiling broadly, she likes him a lot,
but immediately she says that she doesn't like to talk about those things.
And of course it's hard with hundred of millions of fans wanting to know what's going on behind
closed doors.
And that's why the infamous elevator video became so viral.
On May 2014 at the Met Gala, Jay Z, Beyoncé, her sister Solange Knowles and a bodyguard
stepped in an elevator.
As soon as the doors closed, Solange began punching and kicking Jay.
There is no audio recording of the event but in no doubt, Beyonce's sister could have been
screaming too.
There are many theories about what caused this attack; that Solange was angry at Jay
Z for him cheating on Bey, or that she was having a mental breakdown.
The most relevant body language clue to clarify things here is that despite Solange's actions
there is no visible reaction from her sister.
It looks like she's frozen.
Now, this kind of non-reaction could happen due to two different reasons.
Either Beyonce was in shock or terrified about what was going on or she was so used to these
anger displays from her sister, that it was normal for her.
But either way, the fact that she doesn't even flinch, deserves further analysis.
And for that, it's relevant to define how is the relationship between the two sisters.
Solange and Beyoncé have their own musical careers, and the former has earned her way
through the music industry.
Any kind of jealousy between the two was prevented by their mom at a very young age, as she brought
both siblings to therapy so they could learn to manage any hard feelings they could have
to one another.
They also have a great professional dynamic.
Solange has written songs for her sister, Beyoncé has made clear statements that she's
her biggest fan, they had no trouble babysitting for each other and that relationship has been
maturing over the years.
This is important, because there's also the anecdote of Solange being bullied at school
when Destiny's Child, which was Beyoncé's former group, was starting to explode on the
radio.
Well' Destiny's Child, the group, made presence at the school looking to deal with the menacing
bully.
Now that would be a great REboot for the High School Musical saga if you also add Tarantino
as a director.
But this should be enough to understand how protective are both sisters of each other.
So, if Solange attacked Jay Z because he cheated on Beyoncé, there's something really hard
to understand.
You're a successful man, married to a successful woman, both parents of a little girl at the
time.
What went wrong?
We need to go to the source and analyze the exact words he used to explain his behavior.
He blamed his infidelity on the way he was raised and said he was forced to go into “survival
mode.”
Well, it's even harder to picture the term 'survival mode' when your net worth at that
time is three hundred million dollars.
But, Okay.
Money isn't everything, right?
As he explained: “You have to survive.
So you go into survival mode, and then what happens?
You shut down all emotions.
So even with women, you gonna shut down emotionally, so you can’t connect…
And then all the things happen from there: infidelity.”
So you basically shut down for everything except for p***y.
I think that's something that Jude Law would approve.
But then, what happened in that elevator becomes clearer.
But we still don't know why Beyoncé didn't react when Solange used Jay Z as a punching
bag.
And here it's important to notice the way she talks that will reveal something about
her personality.
And you'll catch that clue in the next clip:
- And I would not be the woman I am if I did not go home to that man.
And he just give me such a foundation...
- On so many levels.
You know, we were friends... first.
For a year and a half, before we went into any date...
You already notice that she doesn't like to be talking abut her relationship.
She's extremely private about it.
But at the same time, those stops, those pauses that she takes between words is a staple of
how she talks in interviews.
She's got extreme self control and that could be one of the reasons why she had to resort
to an alter ego to completely express herself on stage.
Sasha Fierce was basically Beyoncé in beast mode transforming into a third Daft Punk member.
That was the nickname she adopted for her third studio album, and having an alter ego,
or a second personality, is also really common for any kind of artist that not only feels
trapped in the same rut but also need to channel one side of their personality that they want
to express.
Like Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman or David Bowie becoming Ziggy Stardust, Sasha
Fierce was part experiment, part Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so Bee had a way to express something
on stage that of course, was not her personal, controlled, even introvert self.
That being more in control of her emotions is what helped her to stay calm in the elevator.
Of course, that was not Sasha Fierce, because according to Bee herself, she had "killed"
her alter ego four years earlier.
For some reason she thought that her husband deserved that beating.
And only when she realized that Solange could hurt herself, she stepped between the two.
But then, two years later, Bee dropped "Lemonade", and the line that got millions talking was
"Becky with the good hair".
So, everybody was asking:
"Who's Becky?"
There was a lot of speculation about the real identity of the woman referenced in that song,
or if that woman existed at all, but all clues point in the direction of Rachel Roy.
She was at the Met Gala that night, some say that Solange had shouted at her earlier, that
Jay Z was a bit flirty with her, that they already had some kind of argument.
But the fact is that Rachel never expressly denied that she was the responsible to spark
that altercation in the elevator.
Maybe she was enjoying the free publicity, who knows?
But the fact is that if it wasn't for the elevator video, the world would have next
to zero input of the personal life and struggle of Beyoncé and Jay Z.
And fans will always want to know what are those personal journeys and struggles and
rifts.
But the one who really got the short end of the stick was the woman that was talking to
Jay Z at a basketball game.
Immediately, the beehive army noticed that her queen was upset with her.
This woman was Nicole Curran, the wife of the owner of one of the teams, and she had
invited them to the game.
She was just asking what they wanted to drink.
But if you've been following me, you'll know that body language split second intepretations
could be really wrong.
Now, Bee was genuinely upset at that moment.
She didn't like Nicole's gesture of going over her, but Nicole had no option because
you can imagine the noise at the moment.
There's a very simple explanation, is that most people don't like an invasion of their
personal space.
And it's obvious that in Beyonce's case she was less than thrilled to have a woman right
over her.
Much less touching her.
So Nicole had to restrict her Instagram because she received not-so-subtle death threats.
But it was not their only NBA moment.
There's also the Beyoncé glitch, when she was talking with Jay Z, and at some point
you know that the topic was something that upset them both, because he was holding his
hand against his neck and alongside his chain.
That's a pacifying gesture, just like Bee rocking back and forth, something that we
do when we want to reduce stress.
It's just that in this case it looks like she's listening to the Wii menu music in her
head.
But seriously, she usually has a very natural way of speaking like in this clip:
- You know, love is the foundation of everything... everything I do.
Is inspired... um, my music is inspired by love, from my family, from my husband, from
my sisters.
It gives me this security and the confidence that you see on stage.
You notice the same pauses and she uses the word "foundation" again.
looks like a term important to her.
Have something solid that she can rely on.
I think that the conspiracy theories that put them right in the middle of the illuminati
are just that people are not used to celebrities of this magnitude that are not sharing every
aspect of their life on social media.
And that could be seen, wrongly, as being selfish.
And I think it's just a couple that wants to have some kind of a private life.
He is a super successful businessman and a great entertainer, and she's a super successful
entertainer and a great businesswoman, so it's only logical that with everything that
they're actively doing with their lives, they want to keep a safe haven for their kids.
I think he respects her a lot.
For example, in this clip they're both accepting an award.
He talks first and he leans into the mic.
When it's her turn, he takes a small step back like presenting her and putting a hand
on her back.
His body language is saying that she's the star.
But we know that he wasn't like this all the time.
Yes, Jay Z cheated on Beyoncé.
He recognized it and she forgave him.
And there's this clip from an interview with David Letterman that it's important to watch:
- Like you, I'd like to think that we're in a better place today but still working and
communicating, and growing.
And... proud of the father and the husband that I'm today.
Because all the work done.
Pretty much like Beyoncé, he doesn't usually address personal or family issues unless they
feel absolutely comfortable.
In this case he had good chemistry with David, David spoke about his own cheating so that
invited him to open up.
That lip pressing at the end, that nervousness gesture, those are signals that he still doesn't
feel totally comfortable talking about this.
In most interviews, Jay Z talks soft toned, sometimes funny, sometimes serious.
But he gives the nice guy vibes.
But I think he knows that Bee has had a lot of patience with him so he had to make the
decision to apply the same work ethic to his marriage, and it seems that it paid off.
All relationships demand constant work and dedication.
It's something that you nurture every day, no matter what.
I think what happened with Bee and Jay-Z at the start is that they had different value
sets.
This is something that I mention every now and then, but it's really important that before
going further in any relationship, you compare your own values to your partner's.
What are your non negotiable values versus theirs.
It's ideal that at the very least both value sets complement each other.
But in most cases people just don't pay attention to that and when subtle differences appear,
they just say, "Hey, opposites attract, right?" but it's not that simple.
I think Jay-Z realized that he had to work on a huge shift in character so he could earn
his wife's trust again.
But sadly, trust is like a thousand pieces puzzle.
If you lose just one piece, it will never be the same again.
By now, it seems that they managed to close that chapter and overcome his cheating.
What do you think?
One More Thing:
- The hardest thing is seeing pain in someone's face that you caused, and you have to deal
with it yourself.
So you know, most people don't wanna do that.
You don't wanna look inside yourself, so you walk away.
Remember that I've got a gift for you: my 100+ Body Language tips in a single free PDF
that you can download right in the description.
And don't forget to subscribe if you don't want to miss any of my Body Language Episodes
and Tips.
See you Next Time!