Beyoncé : The first lady of Music?
What does it really mean to be queen?
About a month ago Beyoncé released her 8th studio album and the second in her three-act project ( personally i call the renaissance Trilogy since she hasn't named the trilogy yet, but feel free to call it as you wish) the long-awaited “Cowboy Carter”. And this album is nothing short of well… unique.
Just to make it clear, this isn't a full on traditional album review, where you'd expect me to review a track after the other. No! Other reviewers do it way better than i ever will. This is more of a Beyoncé review, or to put it more clearly, a review of the concept of Beyoncé and why she shares the same uniqueness with her latest release.
To quote Beyoncé herself “You won't ever see me comin' or goin' but you'll know whenever i'm here”. And that might just be the most truthful thing about her i've ever read. For most of us she has always occupied that center-stage. When a lot of us got into music (generally in our teenage-years) she was starting to be compared to the likes of Michael Jackson (I personally think MJ is one of a kind and no one should ever claim to be able to fit in his shoes) and Madonna. But no one can quite pin point the day she became THE Beyoncé we know today.
★★★★★
“Five stars and nothing less”
That is most probably what i would have said if i was to review Beyoncé as if she was a book or a good old drama movie. But she isn't a book or a movie ( granted, a book/movie about her would certainly receive stellar reviews ). And that is mainly the reason why her path or might i dare say her recipe to success is not as easy to copy as it would be to copy and paste a text from a book.
I can barely fathom what i'm about to say but Beyoncé’s first album was released the year i was born (that’s a proof of her longetivity and perhaps her impeccable skincare routine ). That year, many could have guessed that since Destiny’s child had fallen apart and she was so beloved and known as a member (main member) of the Destiny's child, a solo-career and album wouldn't perhaps make a lot of sense. Well… if in 2003 you had bet your house that her debut album would be a big flop and she will never hit solo stardom, you would have lose your home… and your dignity in the mix.
Fast forward to 2010 she showed us that being alone and not needing someone to hold your hand might actually be beneficial in some cases. She did that by creating her own label which led her from then on owning all her music. And obviously she wasn't the first artist to create a label to own his/her music. Several Artists did that before her, but by doing so she almost turned it mainstream. Before she did it it wasn't that common to have an independent artist, because so many had normalized being bound to a record label. Artists had normalize not owning their music. But after she stepped into the 2010-20 decade showing everyone that not owning your masters isn't the only reality of the music industry, other artists gradually started finding ways to enjoy this new reality.
Lots of artists own their masters nowadays. It has become the new norm. Megan thee Stallion, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift… you name them. I'm obviously not saying that they all thought of Beyoncé as the example to be followed before taking the descision to own their masters. But it would be a lie to say that they didn't all think about the industry templates before going that path. And Beyoncé obviously is the finest template around.
As of me, the album that introduced me to Beyoncé was Lemonade. See… lately i've noticed that the industry has turned risk-averse.
“Let's just do what has proven to be a hit before”.
I'm pretty sure that sentence is heard quite often during recording sessions. Why change a formula that works perfectly. It will never cross your mind to use E=mc³ instead of E=mc² during a test just because you want to freshen things up. No, your answer would obviously be faulty and you'd 100% fail the test or at least that question. The thing is, music isn't math. With music nothing is engraved on stone anyway.
That is what Lemonade was. A refreshing experience that had unfortunately spun off a quite sad experience lived by the artist behind the masterpiece. She adressed everything from haters and their illuminati claims to adultery and further to police brutality against dark-skin people. And she did that by kind of getting all genres in that album, her native R&B sound and much more. It obviously jumped to number one on the billboard charts, proving that she was one like no other. That year she showed me, you and everyone else that she is a lady, a lady that even despite the troubles in her marriage and racial division in her country can come out and make and impact. Yes, that year she showed us that she was THE first lady of music.
In 2019 she once again blurred the lines between greatness and the concept of Beyoncé. With The Lion King: The Gift she embraced her darkness and brought her oldest daughter Blue with her.
“Impeccable taste” The Guardian
“Love letter to Blackness” Rollingstone
“All hail the lion queen” The Telegraph
That is just a drop in the ocean of stellar reviews the album got. I still remember a friend of mine telling me how the track brown skin girl moved her to tears. She has a pretty dark complexion and she had considered bleaching her skin, but after listening to the song her mindset changed completely.
And obviously how could we forget the Renaissance era. After inviting listeners to embrace their skin complexion she invited to do the same with their sexuality. What a time to be alive!
It is definitely worth mentioning that from Lemonade all the way to present days she kept limiting her public appearances. She notably stoped going to the Met gala and other high end public events. She preferred keeping it private, and turned stingy with her presence. From then on it was an honor if Beyoncé showed up at an event of yours. And it more than often turned into a Beyoncé meet-and-greet. The person who said that less is more was definitely right. Fans and even other celebrities kept wanting more of her by seeing her less and less. I definitely think that might probably be the hardest thing to copy about her, because in our current world trends and tastes change so fast. The stardom of celebrities isn't engraved in stones anymore. Now more than ever before celebrities and particularly artist have to constantly be out there doing interviews or doing brand endorsement. Everything that can possibly help them remain on your social media feed and in your Spotify playlist iwt welcomed or else they will be forgetten.
But that strangely doesn't apply to Beyoncé. Being stingy with her presence and art ist so much part of her brand, that a 180° turn in the other direction might just be fatal to her career and her icon status.
And now Cowboy Carter and we are finally talking about it again… the album of the year Grammy. 27 stellar tracks proving that a genre is nothing else but a word bound to a definition in the dictionary. And as i said before when it comes to music nothing is engraved onto anything.
The only question is; will the academy finally dimb Beyoncé worthy of the finest and shinest trophy of the night?
Personally, i couldn't care less…
Listen me out… As Jay-Z said himself “music is subjective” and i totally agree. That's one thing. The second thing is he is equally right when he thinks the math ain't mathing. Having won 32 Grammys in the course of her career is definitely a proof her raw talent. So if we were just to consider the numbers she is according to the Grammys the most talented artists that ever walked this earth. When we see things from this perspective it obviously doesn't make the tinest bit of sense that she hasn't won the top prize yet.
But hold on… with music it's never that simple and no matter what we might say, at the end of the day humans are those who vote for this winners. And humans are flawed and often have biases, hence making this whole concept and discussion subjective.
The reason why i don't care if she wins the Grammy for album of the year is simply because she has already won. The the Grammy of course but something way bigger. She won the prize of having her name among the names the world might never forget
Beyoncé isn't just a person anymore. It's been a while since it became way more. Beyoncé pushed the boundaries beyond what was conceived, hailed the word “blackness” so it could be heard across continents. She shouldn't be campared to légende before her because every legend leaves their unique footprint.
I unfortunately don't remember who said it but a famous person once said in an interview
“You die the day the last person with the memory of you dies”
This are the most suited words to end an article on an everlasting icon.
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