Friday, January 23, 2009

Why I am Not a Beyonce Fan....




I have been finding myself being asked this for years now and it has always been something I have never really answered it because to me it would be pointless to explain to a hardcore Beyonce fan. As I have been forced to deal with this so here it is. In the late 90's I was a Destiny's child fan and I loved the group because they seemed to be original and new and wasn't trying to be anything more then themselves. I brought albums and sang their songs and watched everything they did. By the second album "The writing on the wall" by the cover it seemed that the group had changed they went from standing together smiling on the first album cover to Beyonce up front and the rest of the group behind her with mugs on their faces. I really didn't pay much attention to it so I pressed on with liking the group and loved the album. One day the rumor mill started say their was trouble in the group as most rumors start when hey get popular and I brushed it off until I saw the video for my favorite song "say my name" where to of the original group members were gone and replaced just that fast. It was mind blowing because it wasn't until that point that this was addressed that Latoya and Latavia were out and Michelle and Fariah was in. As a hardcore fan of Destiny's child this rubbed me the wrong way and I pulled back from their music. As time went by the rumor mill started again saying that the reason they were out was due to management and the way that they were being treated. Not knowing how true this was I decided that not to deal with the drama and move on,Then Fariah was out and immediately did an interview with sister to sister about how it was in the group and how she was treated and how Matthew favored Beyonce to be the lightest one in the group this was identical to what was said before. Needless to say I no longer cared much for the group if they had a song I liked then fine if not then fine. With the release of "Survivor" you saw that this was clearly the Supremes when Florence Ballard was booted out then the name changed to Diana Ross and the Supremes. Beyonce had all main vocals even when they did harmonies Beyonces mic was louder then the other group members (Compare first album to last album you will hear the difference) In Concert it was Beyonce who would move more and the other members would stay still. So it was no surprise when Beyonce wanted to now do movies which was cool with me I loved "Gold member" then came Her solo album "Dangerously In Love" which was a song that was on the "Survivor" album The song's were ok and cool for the club in summer. While this was going on there started the Beyonce PR train. She was everywhere, Winning awards over better artist and her sound wasn't anything special. After that wave Destiny's child got back together for "Destiny fulfiled" which was an ok album I loved the songs where Kelly showcased her vocals such as "Bad Habit". We then learned that Beyonce would play Deena Jones in "Dreamgirls" Which was a part she was born to play. I then noticed that the cult of Beyonce started to emerge. I was familiar with Dreamgirls the stage play and I knew the story from cover to cover so I knew that Effie was the character that the story really was about. Somehow the cult followers thought that this film was about Beyonce's character and trying to explain that it wasn't I was met with words such as "hater" which I didn't understand because liked her and the group at one point but when it came to her as a solo act I wasn't moved at all. The movie came out and as I had said Jennifer Hudson as Effie was clearly the star in that film. They screamed Oscar for Beyonce and I didn't see it because Deena Jones was too much like Beyonce in real life it wasn't a streach for her to play this role. She was nominated for a Golden Globe which I didn't understand but needless to say she didn't win and her father was pissed off that she didn't win and sighted "racism" as to why she didn't win however, Jennifer Hudson and Forest Whitiker won that night. In an interview after the globes Beyonce was quoted to saying when asked about how did she feel about Jennifer's Oscar Buzz she said "I have Grammy's so people already know I can sing. I wish I could have gained 20 pounds to win an oscar" It was clear that she was not as humble as she wanted people to believe. Then came this album "Bday" which featured "listen" in which she claimed to write when this song was nominated for an oscar Beyonce's name was removed which in the rules of the Oscar's if a song has more then 3 writers then it is disqualified. Also what came from this was "irreplacible" in which she was quoted to saying I wanted to write this song for the ladies she didn't write this song all she did was vocal arrangments. From this album also came the song "Still in love (kissing you)" in which she was sued for Copyright Infringement by the writer of the song British singer Des'ree for changing the name of the song and shooting a video for it as well the song came from the Romeo and Juliet movie staring Leo Dicaprio and Clair Danes, Also "get me bodied" in which the concept was taken from "Sweet Charity". The album wasn't a huge selling album for her but did well on the charts. A little later word caught on that Beyonce was playing Etta James, I was confused because I do not think that Beyonce is right for these parts that she wants to play and after seeing Cadillac Records I was still at a lose because knowing what I knew about Etta James she wasn't right to play her. There was Oscar buzz for again No reason. The cast outside of her in the film was great and there needed to be Oscar buzz for Jeffery Wright and Columbus Short in Cadillac Records but no Beyonce. She was nominated for the song "Once In a Lifetime" because she claimed she once again wroted the song and come to find out she didn't write it at all, the song was written before the movie was given the greenlight there was a clip of the writter performing the song almost 2 years ago but has been pulled from youtube since people realized this was the song she claimed to have once again written. She didn't win the Golden Globes. With this new album the video "Single Ladies" where it was clear to a Bob Fosse fan like myself that these were his signature moves and she finaly after a while owned up to where she got it from. So people as I have always said that I didn't have a problem with her before overtime she has proven time and time again that she is just what she is. There is no true artistry to her she shakes alot and she wears lots of hair and make up but if you take that all away what is she? she can not act, Her vocals are ok for more gospel I think and don't take credit for something you had very little to nothing to do with. She plays on here fans lack of exposure. Examples:

Dreamgirls-Most of Beyonce's fans had no idea that this was a stage play because
there would be no reason to think that the story was about "Deena Jones"

Get Me Bodied-Most Beyonce fans have no idea what Sweet Charity is.

BET performance of Get Me Bodied-Most Beyonce fans have no idea that the robot scene came from Kylie Minogue's Fever Tour in 2000, let alone who Kylie Minogue is.

Cadillac Records- Most Beyonce fans have no idea who Etta James is.

I feel that she knows who her audiences is and for the most part it is young Gay Boys and older woman are her target audience. The beat's work for the Girl's (Gay boy's) because all we need is a beat to shake. Older woman need anthems and Irreplacible and Single ladies is something they can chant. There are so many people in this industry that talents dance circles around her and I get annoyed at the fact that people go straight to Beyonce when they say talent i.e. Jill Scott. Now you know my reason and no I'm not a hater go on make your money. However as a person who loves all kinds of music and appriciate true artist that have more then one skill I don't see what the big deal is with Beyonce.
So if you have comments about this which I am sure you all will come with something better then the word "hater" because I'm not hating I am just stating the facts.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

AMEN!!!I am NOT a Beyonce fan, I don't hate her, but I don't see the reason she is SO popular. She is trying SO hard for icon status which she won't get...I mean what songs is she going to remembered for?

Auntie said...

You didn't do to bad. You forgot to add that she was only at the INAUG's by default, let that B known that she was second choice. How stupid is she to campare an OSCAR to a grammy. OSCAR denotes a multitude of talents.

LUV Auntie