Or what? You'll be mad? No, but more seriously, I'm not questioning her intentions, I'm noting a larger trend in how black queer artists are good enough for mainstream artists to involve in the process for cool points and wink-wink nod to the gays in the audience, but rarely if ever good enough to make visible in a way that leaves no room for plausible deniability. Beyonce is being discussed because she offers a recent example, but she's hardly the first or the only, as I myself noted. But also she's a billionaire celebrity, I promise she won't keel over because someone offered what was actually an incredily light, mild critical observation. That said, I appreciate the folks who didn't respond to that post with defensiveness and accusations of malice.
It's probably the way I worded it, but I didn't mean to say Beyonce was the most establishment artist there is (I don't even know how we'd rank that to be honest) - just that she is definitely part of it (stating the obvious here). Beyonce works incredibly hard, is insanely talented and is probably the most captivating artist in pop music today. She also has an estimated net worth of $500 million, and her husband $1.5 billion. That is an obscenity in my opinion because that amount of wealth can only be gained via exploitation. But this is a music forum, not a politics/economics forum, so I'm not going to get into that but one of my absolute faves, Ms Madonna, is even more problematic in that regard, but I still stan regardless.
Not sure how folks feel about reaction videos, but I enjoy this one from a voice teacher who is really great at breaking down and using the more technical terms for the things Beyoncé does so effortlessly. I think what I love so much about Beyoncé's recent vocal performances is that you can tell she is singing from a place of experience, confidence, and not having to prove that she can sing. Of course I love the absolute wailing and vocal acrobatics of Destiny's Child all the way through to the Mrs. Carter World Tour. But you can tell that that younger Beyoncé had a hunger to prove she could really sing and be in conversation with other ~legends~. To the point that she was often criticized for oversinging and thus soulless. But there is something so satisfying, dreamy, and plays with audience yearning and audience desire about 2022 Beyoncé who is more comfortable being one with the music and gives you small tastes of classic belting. And there is always this amazing balance of enough simplicity that we can all sing along, but she is still doing insanely complicated things with her voice that you might miss if you are a casual listener. EDIT: And here is another fun breakdown, that is more specific to some of the vocal runs from O'Neil Gerald
The thing about Beyonce's voice is that it's only gotten warmer and rounder and more full bodied as the years have gone on. She still has it in her, but she doesn't have to be wailing through her entire register to be affective -- she could sing a song with a three note range (as many of our faves often do!) and her tone and delivery enough is enough to make it a vocal masterclass. I'm sure there will be moments on the album where she pops off vocally a bit more, but it's definitely not needed all the time, and I don't really find myself missing it in Break Your Soul.
I don't get the dislike for this song, I think it's great actually and I appreciate the 90's house elements and that it is scaled down and feel spacious yet filled with little nice details. If we look back in the past years there hasn't really been any song like this released from a big name in music, the closest I could think of is Madonna's "Living for Love" and Katy Perry's "Swish Swish". Surely this isn't inventing the wheel, but I don't mind, in fact people were screaming for more "disco"-inspired, but considering the trends in the past years that would be more predictable.
I’ve been streaming Break My Soul, but Get Me Bodied came up on shuffle… those low harmony vocals on the chorus. God. Is she my absolute favorite artist?
I’m obsessed with this song. It’s such a smooth, glorious listen. I’ve been listening to it for hours on end. The sample is done so cleverly. It doesn’t overwhelm the song; it elevates what’s already there. whew!!
It is Metro, but they also had (assumedly planted) information about the single that turned out to be accurate, so it could be something: https://metro.co.uk/2022/06/21/beyo...90s-supermodels-after-break-my-soul-16868479/
Some of these online takes are… Beyoncé has been working since she was a child ddd. It wasn’t a traditional job and she never struggled to make ends meet, but I think she can genuinely relate to burnout.
