Will believed it could be a huge female empowerment anthem in the same vein as Beyoncé's 2008 song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", with the track being about women getting in line with the men they are in relationships with.

[12][13][14] Regina N. Bradley for The Huffington Post wrote that the synth effect sounds like a tweaked electronic banjo from the bayou, which positions Beyoncé "squarely in the middle of a messy Black South".

[18] Beyoncé employs multiple delivery styles on the track, with the introduction being delivered in a hoarse, whispered tone that switches into a half-rapped, half-sung cadence as the song progresses.

[10][14][19] Lauren Chanel Allen of Teen Vogue commented that Beyoncé used "a lazy trap flow" instead of "her superhuman vocal range", which acts as a refusal to code-switch and an embracing of blackness.

[20] The Guardian's Alex Macpherson characterized Beyoncé's delivery as "playful" and "carefree", noting the "amused drawl" of the opening line and the "sudden giddy exclamation as she lands on the word "chaser" in the chorus".

[14] Sheldon Pearce of Pitchfork described how Beyoncé raps on the track, implementing enunciated syllables, "hard-cracking consonant sounds and precisely-measured alliteration" that make the lyrics satisfying to recite.

[22][23] Focusing on the theme of black pride, Beyoncé extols her Texan, Alabamian and Louisiana roots and notes how she has remained closely connected to her heritage throughout her mainstream success.

[44] Following the album's release, the song also debuted in the top 40 of several international singles charts, including the UK,[45] Canada,[46] Australia,[47] France,[48] Spain,[49] Hungary,[50] and Sweden.

[52] Pitchfork named the song "Best New Track", with Britt Julious describing it as one of Beyoncé's "most instrumentally-dense and trend-forward productions" which is made specifically for black women, "an audience that might not receive the sort of mainstream, visually and sonically-enticing wisdom that Bey has perfected".

"[53] Similarly, Q's Shad characterized the song's lyrics as "deeply personal and political" and praised Beyoncé for celebrating her black Southern roots on a global stage.

[54] Writing for The Guardian, Daphne A Brooks described the "brilliance of the single's sonic arc", with the tension from Beyoncé's "restrained, raspy" vocals exploding in a "euphoric release" as she expresses her pride in black identity and culture.

[59][60][61][62][63] Rolling Stone's Robyn Mowatt described the song as "one of the 21st century's most thrilling and bracing pop music statements", as a rallying cry and call to arms with global impact.

[60] USA Today's Melissa Ruggieri described it as one of Beyoncé's "most consequential musical creations",[62] while Entertainment Weekly's Lester Brathwaite wrote that it "marked a seismic shift in the culture" as the "new Black national anthem".

[61] Time's Raisa Bruner wrote that the song was "flawless", as a "seminal work" that reflected sociopolitical sentiments in the U.S.[64] In the annual Village Voice's Pazz & Jop mass critics poll of the year's best in music in 2016, "Formation" was ranked at number one.

[128] The music video is set in New Orleans, exploring interpretations of the city's past, present and future in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, in turn forming a celebration of black pride and resilience.

[133] Beyoncé is seen embodying several archetypal Southern black women that span time, class, and space,[134][27] which artist and author Ryann Donnelly viewed as being nine distinct personas that recur throughout the video.

The video cuts to a wall graffitied with the phrase: "Stop shooting us", echoing the demand of the Black Lives Matter movement for reform in policing and criminal justice.

[145] Beyoncé performed the song as part of a guest appearance during the Super Bowl 50 halftime show, which was headlined by Coldplay at the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California on February 7, 2016.

[148][149] Rolling Stone described the performance as "awe-inspiring",[58] while Jon Caramanica of The New York Times wrote that Beyoncé is the only artist capable of "walking the cultural tightrope of delivering a song with such potent declarations of black pride on a stage that prefers studied neutrality".

[160] "Formation", its music video, and the performance at the Super Bowl received criticism from some conservative figures, law enforcement organizations and social media users over perceived anti-police, anti-American and anti-white racist messages.

[168] Conservative TV host Tomi Lahren directed a rant towards Beyoncé, accusing her of "ramrodding an aggressive agenda down our throats" and concluding: "Your husband was a drug dealer.

[161][172] As part of the campaign, an anti-Beyoncé protest was held on February 16, 2016, outside the National Football League headquarters, citing the "hate speech & racism" in Beyoncé's performance, which encouraged a counter-protest to be organized.

[173] In order to stoke unrest as part of the Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency placed adverts on Instagram urging people to attend the protests.

"[184] On The Daily Show, Jessica Williams defended Beyoncé and responded to commentators who said her performance was not "wholesome" enough, saying she did not realize singing about race was the equivalent to Janet Jackson's Super Bowl controversy.

[187] The Atlantic's Spencer Kornhaber wrote that this was also a statement that Beyoncé was unwavering in her beliefs, which directly acknowledges "the people she's alienated and telling them she doesn't want them to come back".

[191][192] Puja Patel, editor-in-chief of Pitchfork, wrote that the song was "an awakening for a country in crisis" at first, and it has since evolved to "live on as a reminder of the slow, persistent, daily work of organizing and the power of resilience and protest".

[10][199][200] Tamara Winfrey Harris explained how "music has a powerful ability to shape social values and beliefs", with "Formation" following in the footsteps of songs that provide "the support and soundtrack for civil rights", such as Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit", Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam", Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" and Aretha Franklin's "Respect".

[204] Writing for Vice, University of Waterloo professor Naila Keleta-Mae commented that Beyoncé went from "manipulating the pop culture music industry machine to usurping it" with "Formation", setting the blueprint for how artists can explore political issues while holding mainstream attention.

[206] Yale University professor Daphne A Brooks agreed, writing for The Guardian that the song has ushered in a new "golden age" of protest music, as an "inspired, insurgent assault" that "challenges us to ask how we can all make cultural forms work for us and not the other way around".

[247] The opening notes of "Formation" play on a loop during the 2016 off-Broadway production of Suzan-Lori Parks's The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz.