Church of Bey, anyone?
To describe the Beyhive, the community of hardcore Beyoncé fans, as worshippers of Queen Bey wouldn’t be that much of an exaggeration. Beyoncé is something else and her international parish of devout followers treat her as such. So it’s fitting (if not a bit of a stretch, but bear with us) to discover that Beyoncé has recently purchased a church of her own.
According to reports by TMZ, Beyoncé is the proud new owner of a beautiful old church in New Orleans, where she and sister Solange already own properties. At more than 100 years old, the 7,500 square ft church has long been out of use for worship on account of many of its members having sadly passed away.
Now, I like to think we know Beyoncé pretty well – well, as well as the notoriously private and impressively skilled secret keeping superstar wants us to – and it would be a bit much for Beyoncé to go and open up her own church. She’s way too humble for that, mom Tina Lawson definitely wouldn’t allow it and the Church of Beyoncé is one of those rogue things that would happen organically at the hands of her busy Beyhive *insert prayer hands emoji here*. Which is why we’re all the more eager to know what exactly Beyoncé intends to do with the space.
Lucky for you, we have some educated (ahem, read: speculative) guesses. Here’s what we think might go down behind those sacred walls.
Scroll below to see what we think Beyoncé will do with her new acquisition plus photos:
A rehearsal space
One would imagine that finding a location to rehearse all of those elaborate, headline-making shows and performances is pretty difficult when the secrecy involved is as much a part of the end result as the actual show. So it wouldn’t be that crazy to discover that Beyoncé had just taken the hassle out of location hunting and purchased a place that was entirely under her control (and open long enough to house 11-hour rehearsal schedules). Think how much time and money she’d save on NDAs!
A community centre
From scholarships for HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) to the BeyGOOD initiative’s involvement in the likes of Houston after the destruction left by hurricane Harvey, Beyoncé is no stranger to using her platform and resources to support communities. A Beyoncé funded centre for young people aspiring to pursue the arts wouldn’t be out of place either…
A home
I don’t personally think that a century-old church in New Orleans really fits the Carter-Knowles aesthetic, but let’s not rule out the possibility that this could be an extensive renovation project for Beyoncé’s family of five to move into.
WATCH: Inside Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s $69 million former rental pad
A music studio
Can you imagine the acoustics in that place? Acoustics worthy of a recording studio, one might even say. The church brings memories of Jay-Z’s confessionary 4.44 music video in which Beyoncé and daughter Blue both starred, which may explain why we’re leaning towards a music-orientated reason behind Beyoncé’s latest property purchase.
New project set location
Remember when we mentioned that Solange Knowles owns a home in New Orleans, too? Well, we’re praying that this church is somehow going to lend itself to the extended Beyoncé x Solange collaboration that we couldn’t get enough of at Coachella. Because we reckon Beyoncé would totally buy a space close to her sister just to make the whole process a little less of a hassle. Also, let’s not forget the visuals for Beyoncé’s Lemonade heavily featured references to New Orleans too. We may be clutching at straws, but don’t pretend not to be at least a little bit excited for the Lemonade 2.0 ft Solange that we’ve just decided is happening.
Scroll below to see inside Beyoncé’s new purchase:
