In Defense of Avoiding Spoilers

Avoiding Cowboy Carter Tour Spoilers like the plauge

May 02, 2025

Ever since I was a child, I have always loved surprises. The same feeling people get when they ride rollercoasters1 is how I feel when I am surprised. For that reason, I have always hated spoilers and shows or movies being spoiled for me. My mom would always roll her eyes and say it wasn’t that big of a deal, but it always bothered me.

It feels like someone is taking away an experience from you that you can never get back. I have a memory in high school of me pushing someone down the stairs because he ruined what Gossip Girl was for me when I was watching it for the first time.2 I also went off on one of my friends because I thought they spoiled the book Of Mice and Men for me. Clearly, I had some unchecked anger issues, but either way, these people were not respecting my boundaries for not wanting spoilers!

I even take it a step further and don’t want spoilers for movies or shows that are old or came out years ago. Some people feel that it is excessive because if I am upset about Star Wars, for example, that has been out for decades and has been referenced in countless TV shows and songs.3 However, for certain more niche things, I feel that it’s fair. Not everyone has seen the same popular movies or TV shows! That being said, those are easier to avoid than a tour that is actively happening.

When Beyoncé went on Tour for Renaissance, I deleted all my social media for 3 months to avoid spoilers. I am so glad that I did that and wish I could do that again, however, I have to keep my social media for my job. Therefore, I posted on my Instagram that I didn’t want anyone to send me anything from the tour. So far, only one person has sent me something, but I think he got confused because I posted something about the tour that I saw. After all, it was flooded on my feed, and it was inescapable.

That being said, I know that it is extra and a bit overkill to ask my friends who are just a big of Beyonce fans as me not to talk about the tour with me. I understand friends who just want to tell me a minor part of the tour because they don’t think it’s a spoiler. However, I am of the mind that any part of a movie, TV show, tour, etc., that is told to me is a spoiler. I have a very active mind, and the reason I ask to be told ANYTHING from the piece of media is because if I figure out a small part of it, I can usually infer and figure out a larger part of it. It’s a protection against my mind. Many people laugh at this, but every time I say it’s okay, I regret it because I always end up figuring it out.

For example, someone I used to be friends with told me that for the Renaissance world tour (months before the date I was supposed to see her) that “people were mad because she’s not dancing.” Upon hearing it, I was really upset 1. because I asked him not to tell me 2. that didn’t even seem like Beyoncé 3. Even if she wasn’t, I’m sure she would have had a good reason, as we knew that she had just gotten knee surgery for something that happened during the Beyoncé experience many years prior. However, it made me think about why she may not be dancing and what she would be doing instead of dancing. I predicted that she would be singing more songs that showed off her vocal ability, versus dancing to. Ultimately, as we know, she did dance4, and that person was just being annoying. Instances like that always piss me off because why did you need to tell me so bad? Many people just want to get a reaction out of me for their own enjoyment, and that is so aggravating and unfair.

Obviously, being on the internet and social media, I am bound to be spoiled by SOMETHING from the Cowboy Carter tour. I have seen a few things just by the nature of literally every single person and account talking about it. I can’t delete my social media, but I have been significantly limiting my time on there to avoid spoilers. Even if I did delete my social media, it would only be for a few weeks since I see her at the end of the month. So I am still considering it.

My real frustration with avoiding concert footage and spoilers is that it is virtually impossible. Even if I unfollowed every Beyhive member, fan account, and music page, there will always be an unexpected account posting about it. For example, Lowe posted about it today because she wore one of their costumes last night. I didn’t freak out because I’m not worried about seeing outfits. After all, they change every night. But so many outlets are going to write about the tour, and I have to constantly look at news and culture news outlets for my job. From what songs she is singing or changing each night. To surprise with guest appearances. It’s just the name of the game. I have been trying not to get too upset if I see something because ultimately it’s just a concert.

But, I do long for the days when you went to a concert and it was about experiencing it in the moment. No one is looking through their phones, no footage will be all over my timeline the next day, and it will take outlets a couple of days to a week to write their review. I do take videos at concerts just in case I decide to write a review of it or mention it in a letter. However, I am of the curse of having tons of concert videos sit in my photo album to never be seen again.

Why is our society so obsessed with not being in the moment? Reliving things? Sometimes things lose their special quality if we are oversaturated with them. That is not the case with Beyoncé because I can watch her perform a million times and not be tired. But when it comes to other media, why is it that every person, publication, and account has to try and capitalize on it? Why have we allowed social events to become social currency? And why do we not respect the wishes of others who wish to be excluded from that experience?

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