Beyoncé's Dad Mathew Knowles Posted a Rare Photo of Blue Ivy

The World Premiere Of Disney's "THE LION KING"

(Image credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez)

published 8 January 2020

Tuesday marked the 8th birthday of the icon herself, Blue Ivy Carter, oldest daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z. And to celebrate the occasion, Bey's dad, Mathew Knowles, posted the sweetest video on Instagram, featuring a heretofore unseen photo of Blue. "Happy Birthday to my beautiful and oldest granddaughter Blue Ivy," Knowles wrote, signing off, "Love, Papa G." Adorable!

In the photo, Blue wears an outfit that puts my childhood ensembles to shame: cut-out shoulder sweater, cherry print skater skirt, and a backpack large enough to fit all her current and future trophies (more on that below).

A post shared by Mathew Knowles (@mrmathewknowles)
A photo posted by on

It seems more than fair to assume that Blue Ivy will achieve big things in the year ahead, eight-year-old or no—after all, she did an awful lot at age seven. Allow me to refresh your memory, should you be in any (blasphemous) doubt about Blue's icon status. As E! reports, she made her debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart last July with "Brown Skin Girl" from Beyoncé's album The Lion King: The Gift, alongside her mom, SAINt JHN, and Wizkid (plus, she made an extremely important appearance in the "Spirit" video.)

What's more, Blue secured her first ever songwriting award for "Brown Skin Girl," winning the Ashford & Simpson Songwriter's Award at the BET Soul Train Awards in November, alongside her parents. That's an award-winning songwriter at seven years old. And it's not even her only track—remember "Blue's Freestyle," first released on Jay-Z's 2017 album 4:44? When Blue was five? Please accept my apologies if I've made you feel extremely inadequate this morning, friends.

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Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.