Beyoncé says chopping her hair off in 2013 was an act of rebellion against society's expectations

Beyoncé revealed that "the liberation of becoming a mother" made her want to cut off her hair. “It was a physical representation of me shedding the expectations put upon me. I just wanted it off," she said of the bolder sense of self that she gained after the birth of her first daughter, Blue Ivy, in 2012.

“I remember the day I decided to just cut all my hair off. I didn’t have a particular style in mind. It wasn’t an aesthetic choice, but it was a very big emotional transformation and metamorphosis that I was going through,” she told Essence magazine. “So much of my identity as a performer has been connected to flowing hair. Cutting my hair off was me rebelling against being this woman that society thinks I’m supposed to be... I just got the scissors and chopped it off. It was very intentional. And it was what I needed to do".

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ESSENCE (@essence)

Speaking further of how the unexpected pixie cut affected her, she added: "I became super brave. It was the first step to many more audacious decisions I made in my life and my career that have led to who I am now.”

Beyoncé recently announced the follow-up to her 2022 album, Renaissance. Following the release of her seventh studio album, she broke the record for the most Grammys won by an artist in the award show’s history. The announcement of the forthcoming album was accompanied by two singles, "16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em”.