In April 2020, Cole Cuchna and Dr. Titi Shodiya (Dope Labs) came together to examine Beyonc 's 2016 masterpiece Lemonade as the hosts of the Spotify Exclusive podcast Dissect. This week, the pair returns to the podcast for a surprise seven-episode miniseries that celebrates Beyonc and commemorates her prolific summer 2020 project, Black Is King.
In this series, Cole and Titi dive into an in-depth academic exploration of the lyrical metaphors, historical anecdotes, and nods to African spirituality embedded all throughout the project-as well as the verbal and visual commentary on the reclamation of Black culture in Black Is King. For the Record spoke to Dissect host Cole Cuchna on the creation and impact of the surprise series.
Why did you want to dissect Black Is King? Having learned so much from our analysis of Beyonc 's Lemonade for Season 6, I think we were all very eager to unpack Black Is King for that same reason: education. Through the many symbols, themes, and lyrics of the film, you really get a substantial history lesson paired with a practical life philosophy. We originally planned to do just one bonus episode, but it ended up being seven episodes, just because there was SO much to discover in the film. It really is a work of art.
Given the landscape of 2020, can you elaborate on Black Is King's impact? For me, it provides important historical context to issues still affecting the world today and puts them into a narrative form that has incredible emotional impact. Stories and music are two of the most transformative forms to communicate and to inspire human beings to act. In an ugly time in our history, Black Is King was a refreshing presentation of the beauty, glory, and rich history of Africa-the place every human being can trace their lineage back to. It's that sense of global and humanitarian unity that is desperately needed right now.
How long did it take to create this season, from listening to dissecting the lyrics to writing the script and recording? We began working on the series the moment Black Is King was released on July 31, 2020, and we worked on it all the way up until the week of releasing our series. So almost six months. We had a great team on this, including writers Maggie Lacy and Femi Olutade. We were also able to speak directly to the film's creatives, including co-director Kwasi Fordjour, stylist Zerina Akers, and music director Derek Dixie. That's a first for Dissect, and they were able to lend incredible insight to the themes and process behind making the film.
What were some of the images, scenes, or songs that resonated with you most that you were excited to dissect? For me, it's the entire last act of the film, because that's when many of the symbols and images from the beginning of the film show up again, creating this full-circle effect and tying directly into the circle of life theme that centers the film. Just the thought and execution of that kind of structuring shows how much attention to detail was given to this project, where seemingly everything we see and hear has an intended meaning, message, or purpose.
What was something you learned through dissecting Black Is King that surprised you or gave you an ah-ha! moment? I think the biggest ah-ha moment comes when we see the basket floating down the Nile river in the song Otherside. It falls down a waterfall, and then the film cuts to adult Simba falling underwater. It's there, underwater, that we see Simba grab the king chess piece that he lost earlier in the film as a child-symbolizing that he has rediscovered the kingship inside him from birth. That fact that this occurs underwater implies that this is a kind of baptism, a rebirth, which is the first thing that we saw in the film's opening scene. So it comes full circle. It's also during this moment that Beyonc says the word Bigger, which is the first song we heard in the film, too. The layers! The connections! Ah!!
Black Is King is similar to Lemonade with the visual component. Did this have an impact on breaking down the music? Yeah, I would say we actually spend more time dissecting the visuals in this series than the music. It's really brilliant the way the music and visuals interact to tell the story. That's what we tried to focus on most: how Beyonc and her team were really creating a new storytelling medium where we see this unique interaction between not only the music and visuals, but also the ensembles, dances, set pieces, and colors. Everything contributes to the storytelling and theme. It's really spectacular.
Stream the Dissect special series Black Is King below.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
In April 2020, Cole Cuchna and Dr. Titi Shodiya (Dope Labs) came together to examine Beyonc 's 2016 masterpiece Lemonade as the hosts of the Spotify Exclusive podcast Dissect. This week, the pair returns to the podcast for a surprise seven-episode miniseries that celebrates Beyonc and commemorates her prolific summer 2020 project, Black Is King. 
