Spoilers forward for Swarm Episode 1. Prime Video’s Swarm begins with an uncommon disclaimer (or, anti-disclaimer). “This isn’t a piece of fiction,” reads a card at the beginning of the collection, which dropped on March 17. “Any similarity to precise individuals, dwelling or useless, or precise occasions, is intentional.” Naturally, the textual content invitations viewers to check the present to real-world popular culture. Some shocking references seem later within the collection, however there’s a reasonably large one launched throughout the first couple of minutes. Swarm’s protagonist is Dre, a super-fan of Ni’Jah, a pop star with many similarities to Beyoncé.
Apparently, the present begins in Houston, Texas, in April 2016 — a reasonably important setting for Beyoncé followers. The “Break My Soul” singer is famously from the Texas metropolis, and she or he started her Formation World Tour in April 2016. Dre is seen making an attempt to attain tickets to Ni’Jah’s Evolution Tour, which shares an analogous thematic title.
The opening scenes of Swarm are intercut with clippings of Ni’Jah’s media protection, furthering the comparability to Beyoncé. One article titled “World Dominion” contains a picture of “world music energy couple” Ni’Jah and Caché, posing loads like Beyoncé and Jay-Z of their “Apesh*t” video, all the way down to the coordinating outfits.
There are even faster, blink-and-you-miss-it Easter eggs that you simply may miss on a primary watch. For instance, an on-screen Spotify bio web page reveals that Ni’Jah was found on a expertise present referred to as Star Search and helmed the R&B group XLLENT earlier than going solo. Beyoncé, after all, carried out on Star Search with Ladies Tyme, which later developed into Future’s Baby. Ni’Jah can also be listed because the No. 32 artist on the earth — and Beyoncé is, too. The artists even joined Twitter on the similar time: April 2009.
The episode names are important nods to Queen Bey, too. “Stung” and “Honey” evoke Beyhive imagery, as does the buzzing of bees that may be heard (and typically seen) all through the present. In fact, the very title of the present, Swarm, can also be very Beyhive-coded. Later, some episode names are extra overt references to Beyoncé’s discography, like “Lady, Bye” (a spin on the lyrics to “Sorry”).
These Easter eggs are only the start, although, and also you’ll probably uncover extra as you watch Swarm. Janine Nabers, who co-created the collection with Donald Glover, advised Leisure Tonight that the present “is 100% taken from actual occasions and actual web rumors and actual different issues.”
Nabers explicitly mentioned a kind of occasions in an interview with Shondaland — citing a girl who was rumored to have died by suicide on the night time of Lemonade’s launch, “as a result of it principally confirmed {that a} very highly effective man was dishonest on one of the vital extremely lovely and profitable pop stars of our time.”
The rumor served as a “catalyst” for the collection, Nabers added. “That’s once I researched all of the loopy tales that we’ve heard on-line or which have existed in the true world revolving round this explicit musician and the way might we carry these points to life and make them our personal.”
In case you or somebody you realize is experiencing suicidal ideas, name the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or textual content HOME to the Disaster Textual content Line at 741741. You can even attain out to the Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860, the Trevor Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386, or to your native suicide disaster heart.