Harmonyx get in Formation with their latest concert

This week has been filled with lemons, but on Friday night, Harmonyx will be making lemonade.

At 7 p.m., Harmonyx will perform their own interpretation of Beyoncé’s visual album, “Lemonade.” 

The concert will incorporate 12 themes from the album, including intuition, denial, anger, apathy, emptiness, accountability, reformation, forgiveness, redemption, hope and formation. 

The concert will include songs by Beyoncé, but it will also include songs from a variety of other artists including Rihanna, Lauryn Hill, The Weeknd and Drake. 

“The songs really fit the concert’s themes,” senior and Harmonyx member Ryan Byrd said. “They also really show the group’s variations and styles and our creativity.”

Dani Nicholson, the Harmonyx president who was recently crowned Miss UNC, said she wants the concert to be a space for people to take a break from the intense atmosphere of the past week.

“However this week has felt to people, whatever it may be, this concert is about turning your lemons into lemonade,” Nicholson said. “Hopefully Friday night will be the lemonade for everybody.”

Nicholson said the results of the election have had an effect on the group, and although they have been very busy practicing for the concert, she had a short discussion with them about it on Wednesday.

“I said, ‘No matter what your feelings were today, right now at 7 (p.m.), you’re with your family — you’re doing something you love," she said.

Junior Michelle Brown has been a fan of Harmonyx since she saw them perform at Carolina Kickoff at the start of her first year at UNC. 

She has attended all of their concerts since.

“The main thing that I like about Harmonyx is that they focus their act on black songs and black artists,” Brown said.

She said although other a cappella groups cover songs by black artists, it’s not the same.

“It’s so different coming from a predominantly black group,” Brown said.

Brown said the "Black National Anthem" Harmonyx performs at the beginning of their concerts also means a lot to her.

"We all stand and sing that together at the beginning of every concert," she said. "That national anthem matters. It matters to be able to sing the black national anthem with a body of people of color."

Brown said she is looking forward to the safe space that the concert will provide for people of color.

“Everyone will be there together,” she said. “Being around people of color and being around allies that support you, that matters."

@KyleyUnderhill

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