Beyonce's "Black Is King" really is "The Gift" that keeps on giving.
On Monday, Beyonce released the star-studded music video for "Brown Skin Girl" from "Black Is King," the Disney+ visual companion to her "Lion King" album, "The Gift." The video, featuring cameos from Kelly Rowland, Lupita Nyong'o, Naomi Campbell and Beyonce's daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, is now available to watch for free on YouTube.
"Brown skin girl," Beyonce sings in the chorus before sharing sweet moments with Campbell and her former Destiny's Child bandmate Rowland. "Ya skin just like pearls / Your back against the world / I never trade you for anybody else / Brown skin girl / Ya skin just like pearls / The best thing in the world / I never trade you for anybody else."
Dedicated to her 3-year-old son, Sir Carter, Beyonce's "Black Is King" debuted last month on Disney+ to a rave reception from critics and fans about a year after the live-action "Lion King" _ starring Donald Glover as Simba and Beyonce as Nala _ hit theaters. Like "The Gift" soundtrack, "Black Is King" includes soundbites from the 2019 film.
Beyonce's mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson; husband, Jay-Z; and twin children Rumi and Sir Carter also appear in the visual album, which Los Angeles Times TV critic Lorraine Ali called "a 90-minute reclamation of heritage and power."
"The message _ explore and embrace the rich legacy of your ancestors because it's part of you _ may sound simple, but in Beyonce Knowles-Carter's hands, it's hardly a rudimentary platitude," Ali wrote in her review.
"With 'Black Is King,' she creates a pageant of sight and sound honoring the Black diaspora, weaving a collection of vibrant, profound and defiantly creative scenarios into one abstract and mostly cohesive narrative."
Within hours of its YouTube release, the video for "Brown Skin Girl" _ featuring the vocals of Blue Ivy, SAINt JHN and WizKid _ has already amassed more than 787,000 views.
"It was so important to me in 'Brown Skin Girl' that we represented all different shades of brown, and I wanted every character to be shined on in a regal light," Beyonce told "Good Morning America" Monday. "It was important that we're all in this together, and we all are celebrating each other."
