It’d be beyond our wildest dreams if Queen B ever graced our campus with her majestic presence, and while we at the Clog never say never, we’ve realized we might have to stick to daydreaming on this one. However, our imaginations got us thinking, and we wondered exactly what Beyoncé’s song inspirations would have been like if she attended Berkeley.

(In)Formation

This may not be widely known, but when Beyoncé sings, “let’s get in formation,” she actually intended for the “in” and “formation” to be one word– “information.” That’s right, Beyoncé is actually telling us to go to class and take in as much knowledge as we can. As she herself is a huge advocate for education, it’s now even more obvious that Bey has placed this subtle double meaning within a song she knows will be constantly played on repeat. Next time you want to skip lecture, just jam to “Formation” and have Beyoncé remind you exactly what you should be doing.

End of Time

If Beyoncé went to Berkeley, it would be quite obvious as to what inspired her to write this song. It’s without a doubt that Bey must have been taking her Music 20A midterm when she heard her professor shout out the dreaded words, “That’s it, end of time!” Scarred for life, she did what she knew best, expressing her feelings through song. In fact, when she says, “Take, you away, from here … I won’t let you go,” she’s referring to the moment when she insisted on finishing the sentence she was writing, not “sorry” her professor was impatiently waiting for her to hand in the exam.

XO

What’s really interesting about this one is that the “x” and “o” don’t actually represent the commonly believed “kiss” and “hug.” Rather, when Beyoncé got her exam back, she saw a big red cross, followed by a zero. That’s right, “XO” is in fact a terrible grade she received on an exam, something we Berkeley students can deeply sympathize with. Before the midterm, Bey remembered thinking, “I’ll give you everything,” but a good grade was the best thing she never had.

Ego

Beyoncé, like most of us, would’ve barely make it through the week’s assigned readings. And just to add insult to injury, her section was full of those annoying know-it-alls, hands shooting up at every question, unable to contain their egos. “He talk like this ‘cause he can back it up / He got a big ego.” Yup, her lyrics are pretty self-explanatory on this one.

I Was Here

These words, “I Was Here,” were a simple message she saw on the back of a door in a Dwinelle bathroom stall. This one sentence suddenly set off an existential crisis and got her thinking about the faceless crowd that she and everyone else unconsciously belongs to, each following the status quo like sheep in an aimless flock. For the rest of the day her mind was full of questions, wondering if society would accept her if she was a boy, allow her to run the world as a woman, respect her as a single lady and listen to her sweet dreams. She then went to see the philosophy adviser, considering a change in major.

Luckily for us, Beyoncé stuck with music, and we couldn’t be more grateful that she has blessed our lives with her talent. Whether she will ever pay a visit to our campus is up for debate, but we at the Clog are convinced that her songs do indeed have double meanings.