This is a guest post by TallahasseeScene’s Whitney Clinkscales
I have been an admirer of Beyoncé since she was strutting her stuff as a budding musician with Destiny’s Child. I’ve purchased every album, attended concerts and even donned a “Crazy In Love” costume for Halloween a few years back. It’s safe to say that I was a big, big fan.
That since has changed.
It all started when a friend of mine played a track called “Bow Down.” My initial response was good. The beat sounded very current, very fresh. They were not the ballads I had grown to love from the queen of pop, but to my surprise the lyrics were far from what I would’ve expected from a woman I had admired for so long. “Bow down, B*tches.” Really? Was she talking to other singers? Fans? Regardless, I remember thinking, “Who hurt you, Bey?” I once thought Bey to be one of the most humble people in the industry, despite her almost overnight solo success, but this song said otherwise.
Via: posh24.com
I let that one slide.
I loved her music so much that I was willing to let that one song go even if I didn’t agree with the meaning. Instead, I continued to praise the female artist who was breaking so many barriers in the music industry. I would even go so far as to say that Beyoncé was like an idol.
A few albums later and I was back on my Beyoncé swag. I bought her self-titled album 10 minutes after it was ingeniously released and jammed out until I got too “Drunk In Love.” Jay Z’s lyrics, “Eat the cake Anna Mae,” a reference to Tina Turner and one that I correlated to glorifying domestic violence, was too much. I remember watching the music video and seeing Bey mouth the lyrics with a smile on her face. I closed my laptop so fast it should have shattered. I talked to my friends about it and they all said I was looking too much into it, being too much of an activist, that I needed to enjoy the lyrics for what they were, just lyrics.
Via: illuminatiwatcher.com
I couldn’t let that slide.
Since when were lyrics just words to a beat? If they had no real significance, then I don’t think music would be as popular as it is today. We Americans and people all over the world find pride in our respective National Anthems. Any filmmaker will tell you that music is just like adding another character in a movie. Music was even a way for people to pass down history that couldn’t otherwise be written. Now, if something is catchy and it rhymes, the meaning behind the words can be swept aside and money can be made.
A few days ago, Beyoncé released a remix of her song “Flawless” that featured the hot commodity Nicki Minaj, and I could not be more disappointed in the direction I see Beyoncé going in. This wasn’t any ordinary release. It made headlines on CNN, The New Yorker and Business week, to name a few. The song referenced the highly controversial elevator fiasco between Jay Z and Solange, but also referenced hoes, thots, and b*tches…a lot. The almost self-proclaimed feminist couldn’t have lost more points in my book. I could’ve expected something like this from Nicki Minaj, who is featured on the second half of the track and who is almost notoriously known for her explicit lyrics and overly sexualized image, but if that’s the route Beyoncé is going to take, then I might have to jump off of this bandwagon.
Via: someecards.com
Artists change over time. They grow. They mature. And with their maturity, their music matures too. But in Beyoncé’s case, I think the music is losing its once meaningful essence. It has become simple lyrics to catchy beats. Not even powerhouse vocals and a dance routine to match could desensitize me to the issue at hand here.
What’s happening to music?
Featured photo courtesy of: WordPress
