Remember that time when Beyoncé wasn't opinionated, feisty and making statements through her music? No? No one remembers that because it's never happened. From Independent Woman in 2003 to Pretty Hurts a decade later, it's clear we are dealing with an artist who has long been commenting on societies ills.

So, why is Piers Morgan claiming; in his article on her latest visual album; that he preferred the "old Beyoncé", according to him, the "less inflammatory, agitating one"?

I'll hazard a guess: female singers' political and intellectual remits begin and end with sassy hair flicks and sexy outfits, right? A female pop-star couldn't possibly care about racial inequality because she's too busy shakin' her booty to a mainstream beat, right?

Wrong.

The album Lemonade may be too "serious" for the TV host but to millions of people it is a boisterous, riotous message of support. It is an album that screams I'm with you. I understand. There must be change. It's Beyoncé speaking to a throng of women striving for empowerment in a world of pervading gender-inequality; it's Beyoncé pushing social consciousness through beats, riffs, body-pops and poetry. By reaching out to a ginormous audience in an engaging way she's making her fans sit up and take notice. Isn't that basically what a shrewd politician does?

Beyonce's desire to highlight the injustices faced by the black community isn't a case of "shameless exploitation" as Morgan cries. The women featured in the song 'Forward' are the mothers of the Black Lives Matter movement. Were they forced to sit in front of a camera holding up pictures of their dead sons or are they willingly contributing to an ever-growing narrative of global protest in which people are waking up to social transgressions? Suggesting they're being exploited robs them of their power. This is exactly what Beyoncé is railing against. She uses the Malcolm X quote - "The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman" - to add oomph to her already mighty message. She wants to challenge a system that marginalises the black community in ways deep, complex and varied.

The world doesn't need fewer people highlighting injustice - it needs many, many more. We can't pick and choose who is suited to fighting a cause or question someone's beliefs simply because it disturbs our internal sense of status quo. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is - amongst other things - an artist, a mother, a businesswoman, a philanthropist and she can be a political activist too. In the track 'Don't Hurt Yourself' - a raging, head-thrashing anthem to female independence - she snarls "Who the f**k do you think I am? You ain't married to no average b*tch boy".

Case closed.

Ria Chatterjee is an ITN journalist. Follow her on Twitter: @RiaChatter

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLjApqauqp2WtKLGyKecZ5ufY8Kse8Crq6KbnJp8s7XAZpqhmaSpsrO2xJ5krZmcoMBursSypqeblWK5prnOp5idnQ%3D%3D