Put the pitchforks down, I just want to talk.
There are times when I just raid an artist’s discography because I want to “hear them.” I want to step into their world for a bit and really try to understand who they are. And of course, I get the urge for Beyonce too.
But it always upsets me cause I find I can’t get that from her. I listen to her music and I still wonder, “Who is Beyonce?”
How should I feel about her? How can I relate to her? What does she believe in?
Now, this is not only a Beyonce thing. I feel like many artists ultimately fail because they never can actually do this. To me, and I know I’m going to sound like a stan, but people like Janet Jackson and Mary J Blige do this really well. You listen to their discography front to back, and you can paint a pretty good picture of who they are.
Beyoncé, I have no idea who she is! And she’s been making music going on 30 years!
With the aforementioned artists, of course we’ll never know who they truly are and why they do the things they do. But because they put out decades of music, we can put things into a certain context.
With Beyoncé, her music doesn’t feel like it’s given us much context into who she is. The general public didn’t even take her super seriously as a “real artist” until self-titled. And most of the fanfare about that is related to its release, not even necessarily its music. There is almost nothing really emotional or even ultra vulnerable from self-titled. In fact that’s her one album that is hardest for me to get through.
The next “breakthrough” that we get is Lemonade. Sure it stirred up discussion, but where do you see “Lemonade Beyonce” in “2026 Beyonce?”. Imagine going back in time and telling your 2016 self that the Beyonce you’re seeing perform “Formation,” “Freedom,” “Sorry,” and “6inch” would be carrying on with the Kushners and Jay-z and his bullshit.
I’m not here to question Beyonce’s personal life, or even demand that she give us a true glimpse into her life. You don’t even have to actually talk about your life at all if you’re that good of a visionary and can tell a good story.
I just feel like there’s a sense of deep contradiction when it comes to Beyonce, in an almost eerie way. It feels like there’s a strong wall between personal and professional life that she will never let slip (Scorpio moon working on that Virgo perhaps!)
But girl seriously, I wish you would let your guard down a little. At the root of most critiques about her, it comes from a fundamental confusion about how people see her. A lot of it is racism, misogyny, and people just being weird, but a lot of it also could be cleared up if you just said even something about it.
People didn’t clown Renaissance for all of its songwriters just out of the blue. People already believe that Beyonce doesn’t write or have deep involvement or ownership of her music. Therefore, to a lot of people, the idea that she just has a bunch of producers writing music for her is not that far-fetched.
Those things are partly rooted in the men she aligns with. Most people do not think Matthew knowles nor Jay z are “morally good” men.
A lot of these things would be remediated if she actually spoke publicly every now and then in a genuinely real way. We don’t know the ins and out of your marriage. And we don’t have a right to know. That’s the social contract we have with you.
But the problem is that your brand is partly your marriage!! She put it on the table for us to consume and she was rewarded for it. Now, there is a push and pull where she tries to get all the benefits and none of the drawbacks.
I say all that to say, I feel like there is an “inauthenticity” or duplicity in her music. And, I think it really does hold her potential back a lot. She just seems really afraid to be her full, weird self. And the reason it’s such a shame for me is that she’s the greatest vocalist and performer ever, so that veil she puts up just makes me feel like it’s her biggest obstacle.
– Virg
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