Today is Beyoncé’s birthday, and while we hope she’s relaxing after yachting in the sun last week, the flawless now-34-year-old has gone and given her loving fans a #BeyDay gift—a Spotify and iTunes release of the sultry, sexy “Crazy in Love” remix from 50 Shades of Grey. Slowed down and sexed up, it’s the perfect tune to slide into a hot and sweaty long weekend.
With Bey gearing up to perform in Philly this weekend at her husband Jay Z’s curated Made in America festival, the rest of the world is celebrating what has become the annual phenomenon known as #BeyDay. Few are the celebrities who inspire such rabid fans as Bey. Even fewer manage to get a loving, emoji-d tweet from the First Lady of the United States on their special day:
While the cynical could argue that promoting a celebrity’s birthday, no matter how beloved, as a national holiday is much the same as Disney’s marketing department’s successful hashtag holiday for #ForceFriday—ultimately just a barely concealed consumption Trojan horse to pillage our wallets via our hearts—there has always been something about Beyoncé that commands a little more respect and adoration. Perhaps because she’s an artist and is assumed to put so much of her own heart and soul into her art, aka the product, that it feels much more organic to celebrate her existence than it does to shovel plastic crap into a shopping cart for future nostalgia’s sake.
Besides, everyone loves a celebration, right? And celebrating we are.
Beyond all the obvious participants—media outlets hoping to make an eyeball grab with hastily crafted odes to the singer (ahem) and less famous artists doing a little kissing up—Mrs. Carter’s kingdom of fans are rallying to celebrate, raising more of an Internet cacophony of Bey-praising than usual. On Twitter alone the singer has been trending for more than 24 hours, despite having not sent a tweet of her own in over two years. There are, of course, parties scheduled in almost every region with a population above “middle of nowhere,” and what better way to kick off Labor Day weekend than by being drunk in love?
Don’t feel like hitting the town but still want to get down in honor of Beyoncé? Don’t sweat it—her official site has a playlist of songs dedicated by members of her family that “narrate their most cherished moments with her.”
Highlights include daughter Blue Ivy’s “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. Jay Z’s pick, Coldplay’s “Yellow,” is touching lyrically but feels admittedly phoned in. Do you really choose Coldplay to commemorate your partner in the most admired romance of our time? Well, to his credit, Jay does have a history with the band. And hey, there’s a reason it’s gotten 75 million plays on YouTube, right?
The only person sad about Beyoncé’s birthday is DJ Mark Ronson, who happens to share the same September 4 date. Although, as one does, he turned this mishap into a subtle humblebrag on MTV UK, noting that every year Beyoncé’s people try to book him for her birthday party, and every year he has to refuse because, well, it’s his day, too.
Sorry, Ronson, but the rest of the world knows there’s only #BeyDay.