This blog is both my reflection today and a continuation of what my dear friend Grace Wong-Si-Kwie wrote for iloveinspiration.nl back in 2018, when APESHT* first shook the culture. Her words captured the urgency of that moment. Mine carry it forward into a divine frequency.
Every time I play APESHT*, my body changes. The bass shakes my chest, my breath deepens, and I feel my spine straighten. It’s not just a song — it’s a portal into power. A frequency that flips a switch inside me: you are here, you are sovereign, you are art.
Yes, it’s my hype-up anthem. The track I put on when I need to remember who I am. But APESHT* is more than soundwaves. It carries a deeper vibration — one of reclaiming, rewriting, and re-centering.
The Louvre as a Mirror
When Beyoncé and Jay-Z filmed APESHT* inside the Louvre, they did far more than create a video. They turned the museum into a mirror — forcing us to see what was never meant to be reflected back. Those marble halls, once consecrated to kings, queens, and saints of European history, suddenly pulsed with a different presence: Black bodies, Black love, Black power.
Reclaim classical beauty
The Mona Lisa looks on, but this time, she is no longer the centerpiece. Beyoncé eclipses her, becoming the living masterpiece — flesh, movement, divinity. In that moment, the hierarchy collapses: the static symbol of European mastery gives way to the embodied brilliance of Black womanhood.
The dancers, in skin-tone garments, echo Greek marble sculptures. But where marble was cold, lifeless, and whitened, these bodies are warm, breathing, sweating, alive. They reclaim the aesthetic of “classical beauty” by revealing its roots: the body as divine, not as stone.
It’s a reversal. Where European art once immortalized power through staged portraits and fabricated wealth, APESHT* re-centers the truth: power is alive, embodied, undeniable. The art is no longer on the walls. The art moves. The art speaks. The art is Black.
For me, watching this is fuel. It tells me: walk your life like it’s a museum. Let the world pause and witness you as the exhibit. Don’t shrink, expand.
The Divine Couple
Jay-Z in faraonic cloth, Beyoncé as goddess in couture — together they channel Isis and Osiris, Oshun and Shango. They’re not just a couple, they’re a myth reborn. Their presence says: we are not playing by your script, we are writing our own gospel.
And when I see that, I feel it too. It reminds me that partnership can be power, that love itself can be art, and that stepping into divine union (with another or with myself) changes the whole atmosphere.
Lyrics as Spellwork
On the surface, the song is flexing: checks, Lambos, diamonds, the Louvre rented out for the night. But underneath, it’s code.
“Give me my check, put some respect on my check” → Ownership. Recognition. Refusal to be underpaid, unseen, undervalued.
“I said no to the Super Bowl: you need me, I don’t need you” → Detachment from old power structures. The true power is within.
“I can’t believe we made it” → A mantra. A chant of gratitude, survival, victory. An incantation for the collective.
When I hear it, I don’t just listen. I chant along. Because these are affirmations dressed as lyrics.
The Museum Illusion
European historic museums have always felt elusive to me — pure propaganda and PR for white rulership. Portraits fabricated as symbols of power, wealth painted into permanence, much like today’s influencers who curate false images of luxury online. Narratives carefully crafted to glorify one version of history while silencing every other culture.
Meanwhile, Black excellence was denied entry, even when it was right there. The Louvre holds fragments of Kemet — ancient Egyptian history — yet it remains taboo to acknowledge Egyptians as Black Africans. A rewriting of history designed to sever roots, to keep power whitewashed.
And this is why Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s presence is so powerful. They don’t just walk in as a power couple, they walk in with purpose.
Just as my best friend ‘Grace wrote in her article back in 2018, their purpose is to shift perception. To bridge past and present. To say out loud what the museum whispers but never names.
A Legacy of Inspiration: Grace Wong Si-Kwie’s Words
Back in 2018, when the clip first dropped, it also sparked something in one of my best friends, Grace Wong-Si-Kwie. She wrote about it for our original platform, iloveinspiration.nl, capturing what the Carters ignited in that moment.
‘ The Carters Help You Change Perspective
by Grace Wong-So-Kwie, originally published on iloveinspiration.nl, June 18, 2018
The album Everything Is Love was released unexpectedly on Saturday, June 16, 2018. With it, Beyoncé and Jay-Z also launched the music video APESHT*, filmed inside the Louvre. In this track, The Carters address the power imbalance between Black and white. At the same time, the duo highlights the role that art continues to play in these still-relevant themes.
Art, power structures, and women’s emancipation are brought to the forefront in APESHT*. The video shows how classical artworks remain central to these conversations. One example is Portrait d’une négresse (Portrait of a Black Woman), painted in 1800. This portrait was created six years after the abolition of slavery in the French colonies, during the French Revolution. The French artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist broke with the convention of portraying people of color in exotic costumes and backgrounds. The painting, instead, symbolized the emancipation of people of color.
The video also connects to contemporary issues, such as Taking a Knee. In the United States, football players knelt in protest against police violence and racism. In the clip, we see the ancient sculpture of Hermes tying his sandal while kneeling. In the next shot, Black men kneel in the same way before Hermes. With this imagery, the duo creates awareness of the shifting dynamics of power.
Beyoncé, the Mona Lisa of our time, and Jay-Z attempt through this work to shift people’s perspectives — bridging past and present, art and activism, history and now.
Carrying It Forward
Reading Grace’s words again reminds me how APESHT* was never just spectacle. It was scripture. A cultural ritual reframing art, history, and power.
Her analysis from 2018 still echoes in me today, except now, I feel it as a deeper frequency. For me, APESHT* isn’t just hype, it’s initiation. It’s what pulls me into alignment with abundance, sovereignty, and legacy.
It tells me:
You are not small.
You are not a visitor here.
You are the art, the center, the masterpiece.
And sometimes, the most radical act of all is to show up like that — loud, unapologetic, radiant — in a world that once told you to stay invisible.
Love, Mara
