by Oge Okonkwo

The much anticipated fifth album of Beyonce Knowles-Carter’s solo career is finally out. The self -titled album which was  released yesterday, December 12 came as a surprise to everyone and is sold exclusively on iTunes.

The ‘Beyonce visual album’ (there is a video for each song) features Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on track 11, though the ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ did not appear in the video.

Adichie gave an inspiring feminist speech at the beginning of the track, before Beyonce sang.

Her words:

“We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller

We say to girls – you can have ambition, but not too much

You should aim to be successful but not too successful otherwise you will threaten the man

Because I am female I am expected to aspire to marriage

I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important

A marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support

But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same?

We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or for accomplishments,

Which I think can be a good thing

But for the attention of men

We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are

Feminist: A person who believes in the economic, social and political equality of the sexes.”

The 14-track album also features the pop diva’s husband Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy Carter, Drake and Frank Ocean.

Watch the video below: