Sydney Hardeman and Beyoncé
The Texas Story Project.
Sydney Hardeman is a nineteen-year-old born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She is studying Criminal Justice at St. Mary’s University where she also plays college basketball. At age 13 she found her inspiration and a person she is aiming to be like, Beyoncé. Beyoncé is a worldwide famous pop singer and artist born in Houston, Texas. In first years of her career, she was a part of a girl group called “Destiny’s Child.” Sydney’s favorite song from that period is “Say my Name.” From solo albums, some of her favorite songs are “Me, Myself & I,” “Suga Mama,” “Hello,” and “1+1.” When Beyoncé released Formation, Sydney remembers, she was a sophomore in high school and wherever she would go she would sing and dance to the song whether in class, in the mall or in a coffee shop. She also said that she learned the chorography the same day the song got released.
I asked her why she likes Beyoncé so much and she answered that in her opinion, “She is the greatest performer of all time because of her stamina, work ethic and just sheer talent, creativity and her vision for a music is unmatched. She has the full package. She can sing, dance, and run a mile at the same time.” During our talk, I could see with how much passion she has. She added that Beyoncé started working in music industry in the 90s and since than she was always on the top list of music artists. She is always improving and working hard and that is another thing she really likes about her.
One of the greatest moments in her senior year in high school was a talent show. She was performing as a Beyoncé in front of thousands of people. She did a whole show, she got a backup dancers and costumes. She said it was a big deal for her and she and her group rehearsed a lot. As you can see on the picture she won first place and she was really happy about it.
She went to three of Beyoncé’s concerts. The first one was during a Formation world tour in 2016. It was in Arlington. It was also “a very dramatic experience” for her as that was the first concert she went to and she got tickets for the first row. She felt overwhelmed and said it was a magical night. Second one was at Coachella in California in 2018. The first person who got through the gates was Sydney. “I took off running through the gates. Her main stage was a half of mile from the entrance so it was a long run and it was hot outside,” she said laughing. They came in front of the stage at 11am and waited for twelve hours for the concert to begin at 11pm. She mentioned that there were a lot of other people waiting and camping there and that it was a lot of fun because she was surrounded with all the other people who loved Beyoncé. The third concert was during the “On the Run II” Tour in Miami also in 2018. “That was also the last time she was touring and next time she will be touring I’ll be there too,” said Sydney.
In 2019, Beyoncé released a movie about her performance at Coachella Music Festival where Syd was. It premiered on Netflix on April 17. In San Antonio, it was 2am when it got released and she was very excited to see it. In the fourth minute of the film, she saw herself and they really zoomed at her facial expression. She recorded that part with her phone and posted it on Twitter. Her post went viral, she got thousands of likes and retweets. She also got interviewed by Oprah magazine, she was on EBC Network and all over the social media. She got a lot of attention and she said it was fun. Also, if you google her name, Beyoncé’s name pops out.
Sidney’s ultimate goal in the future is to meet Beyoncé. “That would be like a dream come true.”
Tonia Bilić is a freshman Finance and Risk Management major at St. Mary’s University. She is an international student from Zagreb, Croatia. Tonia is a part of a St. Mary’s basketball team and this is a story of her teammate.
Posted March 10, 2020
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TAGGED WITH: St. Mary's University, stmarytx.edu, Texas Music, Women's Experience, Popular Culture - 21st Century
