FEATURE:
Beyoncé at Forty
PHOTO CREDIT: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for TIDAL
The Influence and Cultural Impact of a Modern Superstar
___________
AS the incredible Beyoncé…
PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew White/Parkwood Entertainment and Disney+, via Associated Press
turns forty on 4th September, I am putting out a series of features exploring her work and impact. There is no denying that she is a hugely influential artist who has made an impression on so many others. It is not just the music that marks Beyoncé out as a superstar. I am going to source a few articles that highlight why she is such a phenomenon – from her fashion choices to the way she keeps things fresh and brings Black cultural and conversations to the forefront. No doubt, on 4th September, the world will mark the birthday of an artist whose previous album, 2016’s Lemonade, must rank among the best and most important of the past decade. In 2015, the BBC published an article stating why Beyoncé is the voice of a generation. There are a few sections that I want to spotlight:
“The woman that every woman aspires to be.” That’s how one of my university peers describes Beyoncé. And she speaks for many. Few musicians today have inspired a genuine cult of personality. But Beyoncé, the undisputed wearer of pop music’s crown, has done just that. “All hail Queen Bey!” cry her horde of devoted fans, who call themselves the BeyHive, an apt name for the followers of a star who generates such deafening buzz. When she dropped her self-titled album out of the blue in December 2013, I witnessed the spectacle of ‘Beyoncé syndrome’ first hand.
On a tense night during final exams, I watched in awe as my fellow students set aside term papers and study guides to get drunk – ‘drunk in love’, that is. Students swarmed to every computer in the library to watch Beyoncé gyrate across a beach and profess her love for her megastar husband Jay-Z. As an outside observer, I marveled at the new video album’s infectious effect and wondered about its cause. What makes Beyoncé so gripping? Why is her voice – in song, speech, and even silence – so resonant for so many, especially millennials?
Beyoncé is a true Renaissance woman: a musician, a business mogul, a feminist, a mother, and a brand whose cultural gravity seems to emanate not from any one of these talents but from all of them in concert.
The business behind the art
In an American corporate world disproportionately governed by men, Beyoncé distinguishes herself as the founder and CEO of her own record label and production company, Parkwood Entertainment. According to Forbes, her personal earnings more than double those of her husband. He is a shrewd entrepreneur in his own right who famously declared himself “not a businessman but a business, man.” Beyoncé’s self-titled album sold a staggering 617,000 copies in three days following its release, doing Kanye West the poetic justice of swiping an iTunes Store sales week record from Taylor Swift. That number is an almost unfathomable feat for a $16 (£10) record dropped at a time when the digital single is supposed to have supplanted the album in importance.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z have been dubbed the Barack and Michelle Obama of pop culture – but unlike the US president and his wife, they have no limit on their term. The scope of their power and influence was on display in December at the Barclays Center, where Prince William and Kate Middleton came to see the Brooklyn Nets, of which Jay-Z is a partial owner. To the tune of God Save the Queen, the royal couples met courtside.
A new feminist icon
In 2014 Forbes declared Beyoncé to be the world’s most powerful celebrity, and she has leveraged her global brand in support of gender equality through her influential charity, the #BeyGood Project. Her hit single Flawless samples from a TEDx Talk called We Should All Be Feminists by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Beyoncé belts the anthem’s first verse and then cedes the floor to Adichie, who relays the definition of a ‘feminist’ as “the person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes”.
Greater than the sum…
“She’s the fantasy woman for a generation that’s obsessed with having it all,” says Maerz. The central value that Beyoncé represents – across her art, entrepreneurship, activism, and family devotion – is boundless potential, a message particularly appealing to millennials. What can’t she do? Maybe there have been better albums released in recent years, people who have made more money, feminists more ardent and consistent and mothers whose sacrifice was greater. But can anyone else approach Beyoncé’s breadth across all of these realms? She’s the total package, a Renaissance woman with a cult so vast and devout it’s inescapable – but hardly unjustified”.
Some say that Beyoncé’s influence has been overstated. There are many who feel that her cultural significance is overstated. I would argue that. Whilst some of her albums are underrated, her body of work – as a solo artist, with Destiny’s Child and other projects – has been full of hugely moving and incredible work! The next feature that I want to introduce is from The Rider Online. Last year, they explained why Beyoncé’s cultural influence is huge:
“She then kicked off her solo career with her debut album Dangerously In Love, featuring her future spouse Jay-Z. The album featured many genres of music and showed off her musical variety. This debut album broke records and won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album and the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Album – Female.
From 1999 to the present, Beyoncé has continued to receive nominations and awards for her performances. Achieving Grammy Awards’ Best Urban Contemporary for Everything Is Love, Lemonade and record and song of the year in Formation. Beyoncé is the most Grammy-nominated female artist in history and has received at least one Grammy nomination every year except 2003 since 1999.
Beyoncé implements messages to the black community through her various works like her release of Formation. Not only did the music video and song cover female empowerment but also covered the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Her release of Lemonade highlighted the personal struggles of the artist herself and black women throughout history.
She then released a documentary named “Homecoming on Netflix,” also with a release of a surprise album with her feature as the first black woman to headline for the Coachella Festival. However, the documentary highlighted much more than the festival. She quoted and used audio from many famous leaders like Malcolm X and famous authors like Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou as a means to empower the black community and provide awareness of their struggle for equality.
“Homecoming’s” real message stood as a celebration of African American culture with education, specifically Historically Black Colleges and Universities. “Homecoming” displayed the beauty of black culture and gave the chance for the black community to celebrate the need for black education in a country where it has not been a focus.
Beyoncé also made her collage “This is Black History ” honoring black icons that don’t receive coverage in media and history for Black History Month. Her reason for the collage was to not only recognize and celebrate black history with famous icons but to also bring up people who are building the future of black history in America. Her message for this piece wasn’t to celebrate the past but to celebrate the future of the black community.
While we know her as an icon for pop and music, Beyoncé is truly an advocate for the advancement of the black community in America. The platform she built with her countless wins and appearances is used rightfully as a way for her to spread her messages of equality and strength. She invests a large majority of money into giving back to her community and the various charities and causes she’s invested in. Beyoncé uses her music to shed light on serious topics, self-empowerment and inspire hope for her fans and community”.
There are a few more articles that I feel will add weight as to why Beyoncé is so significant. Teen Vogue marked her thirty-fifth birthday in 2016. They underlined some reasons as to why Beyoncé is so important. I have selected a couple:
“With Destiny’s Child, she redefined what it meant to spearhead an all-girl pop group.
Destiny’s Child is one of the most memorable girl groups of all time — and Beyoncé is one of the most crucial reasons for their success. When their self-titled debut album was released in 1998, they shifted the meaning of what it means to be modern R&B female artists. Destiny’s Child’s discography was a refreshing mixture of empowering anthems, outspoken affirmations. and the occasional love ode. They also wrote their own songs and video treatments. In terms of aesthetics, Destiny’s Child made their own lane when it came to fashion. They garnered attention for their eclectic outfits, courtesy of Bey’s mother Tina Lawson. (When she accepted the CFDA Fashion Icon Award earlier this year, Beyoncé said it was because “high-end labels didn’t really want to dress four black country curvy girls.”) Even though she inevitably struck out on her own, Destiny’s Child laid the groundwork for the grandiosity with which Beyoncé has become synonymous.
2013’s Beyoncé ignited the release of the surprise album—and changed the way artists share their work.
Beyoncé released her eponymous fifth album without warning. There were no previously announced release dates, no promotional videos or singles, no reports that Beyoncé was even possibly working on an album. In addition, each song on Beyoncé was accompanied by a video, making it her first visual album. Until Adele's 25, it was the fastest selling record in the history of iTunes and incited the trend of artists dropping projects out of the blue. Two of the most prominent examples of this include Drake’s 2015 surprise mixtape If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late and Kendrick Lamar’s untitled unmastered project that came out earlier this year.
Beyoncé is an unapologetic feminist and uses her platform to showcase intersectionality.
Although Bey has always been a feminist, she embraced the title most notably during her 2014 Mrs. Carter World Tour. During a performance of “Flawless” at the 2014 VMAs, the word (which is defined in the song via an iconic quote from author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) served as a larger-than-life flashing backdrop and has become a term that Beyoncé has become very vocal about using. In a recent interview, she proclaimed that “We need men and women to understand the double standards that still exist in this world, and we need to have a real conversation so we can begin to make changes.” As a black woman, Beyoncé refuses to adhere to stereotypes and uses each of her albums as tool for both evolution and reinvention. She owns her sexuality, culture, and heritage —concepts that are explored in depth on Lemonade especially. Not only is the album her magnum opus of sorts, it displays the complexity of black womanhood and it calls out our oppression. In essence, Lemonadeperfectly captures what we love about Beyoncé: her ability to showcase our unmitigated beauty, brilliance, and strength, while changing the game, and our conversations”.
Insider named Beyoncé as one of their artists of the decade in 2019. It is intriguing to read about how they see Beyoncé as having transitioned into a living icon:
“Beyoncé is one of the very few artists who doesn't need to care about sales
While Beyoncé's had fewer top 10 hits this decade than last — she's had six No. 1 singles in her career, but only one of them was released in the past 10 years (and it included Ed Sheeran) — part of that has to do with the fact that she stopped caring about sales.
She made this clear when she rapped on "Nice" from "Everything Is Love," her and husband Jay-Z's collaborative album: "If I gave two f----, two f---- about streaming numbers/ Would have put Lemonade up on Spotify/ F--- you, f--- you, you're cool, f--- you, I'm out (ah!)"
But the other part is that she stopped being her usual palatable, humble self, and leaned into her earned cockiness — unapologetically so.
Beyoncé has always been a talented artist, but over the past decade, she's become an entity, a living icon. Someone who people and other artists have come to both respect and envy. So in terms of accolades and chart-topping, she might not be No. 1, but when it comes to changing the culture and challenging others to catch up to what she's doing rather than keeping pace with everyone else, she reigns supreme.
Over the past couple of weeks, people on social media have noticed that Beyoncé's been unusually quiet. She released the "Lion King" soundtrack in July and has attended events here and there, but other than that she's been MIA. Judging from her past breaks, that usually means something is in the works.
And whether it's in the next month or the next year, one thing is for sure: The whole world will be listening when she's ready to make some noise again”.
The fashion side of things is interesting. Even in 2021, Beyoncé is setting fashion trends. Maybe she has not always been a trendsetter and fashion leader. As Allure wrote in 2016, she has definitely brought a number of incredible looks to the mainstream:
“Beyoncé isn't so much a trendsetter as a trend synthesizer. She may not originate, but she brilliantly reinterprets and popularizes—and makes it all look easy and fun. Her taste is impeccable. Case in point: She said in a television interview that the choreography in her most famous video, "Single Ladies," was inspired by an obscure Bob Fosse work called "Mexican Breakfast," performed by Gwen Verdon on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969. Beyoncé, an accomplished and experienced dancer, selects the perfect moves—the hip popping, hand gestures, and yes, that unmistakable downward-punch strut—that are ripe for translation to a new decade. (Her videos' choreography makes for an enduring favorite at dance-fitness studios for women who want to try to acquire some of Beyoncé's swagger.) And more than 400 million YouTube "Single Ladies" views later, this cross-pollination is a proven recipe for success.
That same kind of alchemy is at work in Beyoncé's fashion and beauty choices. And in that realm, it's easier for legions of women, including some very famous ones, to check Instagram and follow her lead. "Beyoncé borrows from fashion, and then fashion borrows from her," says Joe Zee, the editor in chief of Yahoo Style, who has dressed Beyoncé for magazine covers and ad campaigns. "She picks up an idea and makes it more sexy, more feminine—desirable but also accessible."
Whether the trend is bronzed eyes, naked dresses, Flash Tattoos, or curly bobs, Beyoncé's version always rises to the top. So what gives her this special magic? The first answer, simply, is joy. The world has had its fill of sullen celebrities. Beyoncé doesn't scowl or complain. She smiles. Not just with her mouth but with her eyes—the kind of smile you can't fake. Riding a Jet Ski off of St. Barts, she has the expression of a five-year-old at her birthday party just as she catches a first glimpse of the cake”.
I will end things there. Ahead of Beyoncé’s fortieth birthday, I felt it was worthwhile exploring her cultural impact; how she has influenced the music world and why she is a modern icon. I know there is rumour she is releasing new music and we will not have to wait too long. It will be exciting what does come next and whether a forthcoming album reflects some of the turmoil and change that has occurred in America over the past few years. I hope that my feature has helped to show why Beyoncé is…
A modern great.