Beyoncé Once Shared Why She Refused to Make Direct Eye Contact During a Live Performance

Beyoncé often needs to be in a specific headspace when she goes on stage to perform. One of her habits during her preparation process was not making direct eye contact.

How Beyoncé gets over nerves before doing live shows

Although Beyoncé has performed in front of several large crowds in her career, it can still be nerve-racking. This is one reason why the artist preferred doing shows with her Destiny’s Child bandmates to on her own.

“I love performing with my band. They are all female. They give me so much energy it’s like a spirit and they make me feel so much better. Performing songs for the first time is always scary. Mainly because I always come out with up-tempo numbers so I always have more room where something could go wrong. I just get nervous,” she once told Movies.IE.

To make the process easier on herself, the singer has adopted a few habits to help calm her nerves. One of which is avoiding any eye contact with her audience.

“Oh yes. I get so terrified before I go on stage. My secret is no eye contact. I find that if I don’t look directly at people and just concentrate completely on the singing and dance moves, then I can get through. But when I take that initial step onto the stage, the butterflies just go crazy,” she said.

Beyoncé also shared that her typical pre-show ritual usually took several hours to complete.

“I say a prayer with everyone in the band, then we do a stretch,” she confided to Vogue. “I sit in my massage chair while they do my hair and make-up, and I have an hour of peace, and I have a playlist that I listen to every day.”

Beyoncé famously created an alter-ego to help her perform on stage

Aside from rituals, Beyoncé took her preparation a step further by creating another personality that made performing less daunting. She famously dubbed her alter ego Sasha Fierce, who was capable of doing everything on stage that she couldn’t. In an interview with Oprah, Beyoncé revealed that this alter-ego only surfaced during her performances.

“She doesn’t do interviews,” Beyoncé said.

But being Sasha Fierce went beyond just adopting a different name. Beyoncé would dress and act differently to further immerse herself in this character.

“It’s kind of like doing a movie. When you put on the wig and put on the clothes, you walk different,” she said. “It’s no different from anyone else. I feel like we all kind of have that thing that takes over.”

Beyoncé also shared what usually triggered Sasha’s appearance at these events.

“Usually when I hear the chords, when I put on my stilettos. Like the moment right before when you’re nervous,” she added. “Then Sasha Fierce appears, and my posture and the way I speak and everything is different.”

Although, in an interview with Allure (via Vibe), Beyoncé shared that Sasha Fierce wasn’t a thing anymore.

“Sasha Fierce is done. I killed her,” she said. “I don’t need Sasha Fierce anymore because I’ve grown, and now I’m able to merge the two.”

Beyoncé quipped that her feet would bleed while performing on stage

Beyoncé confided that performing could be as physically taxing as it was mentally. Because she found herself constantly on the move when on stage, it often took a toll on her feet. But the Grammy winner usually didn’t know how much she was hurting until after she was done performing.

“Sometimes they’re numb. Sometimes they’ll bleed,” Beyoncé once told ABC News. “It’s just like a ballet dancer, but I don’t even think about it. I’m just usually so focused on the stage and the connection with the audience that I don’t even feel my feet until I leave the stage. Then I’m at home and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God.'”