Katie Mettler

SHE EMERGED onstage at the Grammys on Sunday wearing little more than her pregnant belly, a statement in itself, even for Beyoncé, as society continues to grapple with what maternity looks like for working women.

“They never showed my pregnant belly when I sang my nominated Save the Best for Last,” Vanessa Williams tweeted, referring to her 1993 Grammy performance in a far more modest black billowing dress. “Oh how times have changed! Kudos Beyoncé!”

Her proudly and prominently displayed pregnancy wasn’t Beyoncé’s only nod to maternal empowerment, however. Ebbing between live shots of the singer standing on stage were prerecorded projections of Beyoncé with her mother, Tina Lawson, who introduced her performance, and her five-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy – three generations adorned in yellow.

The whole lady love fest lasted nearly 10 minutes and featured a fully-flanked female cast, Beyoncé portrayed as the Virgin Mary (and possibly Jesus?) and some creatively precarious chair choreography.

It was described as “ethereal,” a “sci-fi fertility ritual” and just plain “weird”. But what those unfamiliar with her Grammy-nominated album Lemonade may have missed was that the gold and glitz on display were serving a greater purpose. Beyoncé was teaching.

As in Lemonade and her pregnancy announcement photos released earlier this month, the singer’s Grammy performance was packed with artistic nods to African, Hindu and Roman goddesses who signify the womanhood Beyoncé has been reflecting in her most recent work.

It was a projection image of Beyoncé that first appeared on Sunday night, the singer barefoot and dressed in a gold string bikini, a long yellow-gold silk drape behind her – as if she were in water, as