GRAMMY-WINNING artist Beyonce.  PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BEYONCE.COM
SHOW

The ‘Thank you, Beyonce’ trend explained

Alex Carlos

TikTok is flooded with the “Thank you, Beyonce” trend.

Some thank the music icon after sneezing, scoring high on a test or even after someone lends them money. But really, what’s with all the fuss?

Well, there are two sides of the coin. The first has a darker ring, as it involves conspiracies linking the singer and her husband, Jay-Z, to rapper P. Diddy’s charges.

Saying thank you to Beyonce is said to ward off bad luck. Being in the good graces of the singer is believed to save famous figures’ careers from going downhill. For instance, Adele profusely thanked Beyonce after her 2012 six-Grammy win. She also broke her award during the event, which is believed to have been done to share the Grammy with the American pop icon. Adele became the second woman to win the most Grammys in one night, following Beyonce, who achieved this two years earlier.

Other artists, such as Britney Spears, Lizzo and Kanye West — with his iconic interruption of Taylor Swift’s VMA speech — have notably acknowledged the singer on stage at award shows too.

Those who go “against the graces” of Queen B seem to have misfortune follow them. Netizens theorized about the occurrence, which gave birth to the “She Knows” meme, originating from J. Cole’s song of the same title.

She knows

The third verse of J. Cole’s song goes, “Rest in Peace to Aaliyah / Rest in peace to Left Eye (Left Eye)/Michael Jackson, I’ll see ya / Just as soon as I die.” Netizens noticed a peculiar pattern — all of the mentioned artists died on the 25th day of the month.

Internet conspiracy theorists claim that Jay-Z and Diddy were behind the deaths of these musicians, with Bey fully aware of the entire ploy. It’s worth noting that the song title has a similar ring to Beyonce’s last name, Knowles. She and her husband were allegedly seen at Diddy’s infamous parties.

Thanking the Queen B

On the lighter side, netizens hopped on the trend by making a meme out of “She Knows” and “Thank you, Beyonce.” This escalated to mentioning Bey’s name during mundane activities, with some even theorizing that skipping a Queen B song on music-streaming apps is taboo.

The American pop star is subject to many conspiracy theories, the most popular alleging that she is a member of the Illuminati and that her alter ego, Sasha Fierce, is a demon.