Unless you’ve been unplugged from all pop culture news and haven’t looked at social media since there was snow on the ground, you are well aware that it’s a Beyoncé summer. The global icon is in the midst of her Cowboy Carter world tour—fresh off wins for Album of the Year and Best Country Album of the Year at the 2025 Grammys. This weekend, Bey will perform in her hometown of Houston, no doubt dressed in the type of high-fashion western attire she’s stunned in throughout the tour. As we watch her take the stage—both in real life and via the countless TikToks and Instagram reels dedicated to her performances, we’re reminded of her 2013 Vogue cover profile, written by Jason Gay. At the time, Beyoncé was a newish mother to daughter Blue Ivy, born in 2012, and as Gay noted, had “long ago achieved mononym status, but along the way she did something bigger: She accelerated beyond simply making music and an occasional movie and became less of a pop comet than a carefully curated brand.” Beyoncé, for her part, had fully come into her own. “I don’t feel like I have to please anyone,” she said. “I feel free. I feel like I’m an adult.” Gay asserted that Beyoncé was, “about to embark upon perhaps the craziest stretch of her career.” Though true at the time, looking back now, she was just getting started. |
.jpg?format=original "Image may contain: Beyoncé, Clothing, Hat, Accessories, Sunglasses, Glasses, T-Shirt, Adult, Person, Jewelry, and Necklace")
