Line #70 Music/Beyonce


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4661_2.JPG]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:''Okay, ladies! Now let's get in Formation!'']]
3	[floatboxright:Influences:
4	+ Music/MichaelJackson, Music/JanetJackson, Music/TheJacksonFive, Music/TinaTurner, Music/{{Prince}}, Music/FelaKuti, Music/WhitneyHouston, Music/DonnaSummer, Music/DianaRoss, Music/AnitaBaker, Music/MariahCarey, Music/ToniBraxton]
5	[floatboxright:Influenced:
6	+ Music/ChloeXHalle, Music/ArianaGrande, Music/{{Adele}}, Music/{{Rihanna}}, Music/FifthHarmony, Music/{{Normani}}, Music/CamilaCabello, Music/SelenaGomez, Music/NickiMinaj, Music/CardiB, Music/{{Ciara}}, Music/{{Lizzo}} among many others.]
7
8	Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter (born September 4, 1981), known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer-songwriter, actress, model and businesswoman. Since beginning her career in the late 1990s, she has become one of the most prominent figures in the music industry and pop culture of the 21st century, as well as one of the biggest feminist icons of her time.
9
10	She started off performing in singing and dancing competitions as a child, and later rose to fame as part of the girl group Music/DestinysChild, soon becoming the face of the group. In 2002, she started a solo career (mostly collaborations with rappers but without the other girls), and got her first big hit a year later, "Crazy in Love". Since then, almost every song she's sung has made it to the top of the charts.
11
12	"Crazy in Love" featured Music/JayZ, who would later become her husband; the father of her three children: Blue Ivy (b. 2012) and twins Rumi and Sir (b. 2017); and [[Music/TheCarters group partner]]. The two of them, Beyoncé in particular, are notoriously adamant about keeping their private lives private, which would later prove to be something they strategically subvert in order to clear the air or dispel rumors about them, often with the brutal truth. They also relentlessly protect their children from the spotlight, especially the twins; she’s only showed their faces a handful of times on her own terms, and they’ve never really been publicly photographed.
13
14	She fronted the 2013 UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime show with a reunited Destiny's Child, and in 2016, her and Music/BrunoMars were special guests for Music/{{Coldplay}}'s halftime show, and many have said that the two of them effectively stole the show from the band. Her appearance at the latter show, much like a lot of what she does in some circles, kicked up a lot of controversy, in this case due to her styling herself and her back-up dancers like members of the militant, pro-black civil rights era political group [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement The Black Panther Party]]. She also had the honor of performing the national anthem at President UsefulNotes/BarackObama's second inauguration in 2013. In the near future, she is predicted to become [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Empress of Earth]].
15
16	After four commercially successful albums, Beyoncé released two works that both contained innovations on the modern album format that were nearly unprecedented from a musician of her stature and have been replicated by many artists since. Her fifth album, 2013's ''[[Music/Beyonce2013 Beyoncé]]'', was developed as a visual album, in that it had a music video accompanying ''every'' song[[note]]although Beyoncé had actually done this as early as her 2006 sophomore album ''Music/BDay'' and its accompanying 2007 DVD ''B'Day Anthology Video Album''[[/note]]. It was also released with zero promotion whatsoever, which caused the media and internet alike to collectively piss itself, single-handedly popularized the "surprise album", and pushed the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry to officially change the weekday of worldwide music releases from Tuesday to Friday (the day the album was released). In 2016, she released her sixth album ''Music/{{Lemonade}}'', an album that further cemented her genre mixing[[note]]featuring everything from Louisiana bounce beats to an outright rock song featuring Music/JackWhite, and even a country song[[/note]] and her ambition, as in the complete opposite way of her previous album, she promoted the album's release with a 65-minute film that premiered on Creator/{{HBO}}, giving only a week's notice ahead. The album is {{concept\|Album}}ually rooted in Beyoncé's emotional journey following her husband's infidelity against a generational and racial context, a premise that itself had the world once again losing its mind.
17
18	After taking some time off due to her pregnancy with her twins being high-risk and leading to an emergency C-section, Beyoncé had the honor of being the first female black headliner at the Coachella musical festival in 2018. Her nearly 2-hour set of almost continuous singing and dancing was instantly named a classic, with fans and commentators alike dubbing that year "Beychella". In April 2019, a ConcertFilm of this performance entitled ''Homecoming'' was released as a Creator/{{Netflix}} original along with the audio as a standalone album. It’s part of a three-project deal she signed with the company.
19
20	After a six-year break, her seventh studio album was announced in June 2022. It was released on July 29 under the title ''Music/{{Renaissance\|2022}}'' (or ''Renaissance: Act 1''). The project is much more upbeat than her previous two; sonically, it moves her back from R&B to the pop sphere, but is more dance-inspired than her pop output before her self-titled album. It was announced as the first in a trilogy, but no further details were given when it was released.
21
22	At almost any given time, she is also probably Website/{{Tumblr}}'s resident MemeticBadass.
23
24	She is also the big sister of fellow singer {{Music/Solange}}.
25
26	----
27	!!Solo Discography:
28	!!!Studio Albums
29	[[index]]
30	* ''Music/DangerouslyInLove'' (2003)
31	* ''Music/BDay'' (2006)
32	* ''Music/IAmSashaFierce'' (2008)
33	** "Music/SingleLadiesPutARingOnIt"
34	* ''[[Music/FourAlbum 4]]'' (2011)
35	* ''[[Music/Beyonce2013 Beyoncé]]'' (2013)
36	* ''Music/{{Lemonade\|2016}}'' (2016)
37	* ''act i: Music/{{Renaissance\|2022}}'' (2022)
38	* ''act ii: Music/CowboyCarter'' (2024)
39	[[/index]]
40	!!!Live albums
41	* ''Live at Wembley'' (2004)
42	* ''The Beyoncé Experience Live'' (2007)
43	* ''I Am... Yours: An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas'' (2009)
44	* ''I Am... World Tour'' (2010)
45	* ''Homecoming: The Live Album'' (2019)
46	!!!Soundtrack albums
47	* ''The Lion King: The Gift'' (2019)
48	!!Selected Filmography
49	* ''[[{{Theatre/Carmen}} Carmen: A Hip Hopera]]'' (2001) – Carmen
50	* ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'' (2002) – Foxxy Cleopatra
51	* ''Film/TheFightingTemptations'' (2003) – Lilly
52	* ''Film/ThePinkPanther2006'' – Xaina
53	* ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}'' (2006) – Deena Jones
54	* ''Cadillac Records'' (2008) – Music/EttaJames
55	* ''Film/{{Obsessed}}'' (2009) – Sharon Charles
56	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic\|2013}}'' (2013) – Queen Tara
57	* '' Homecoming'' (2019)
58	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing2019'' – Nala
59	* ''Black is King'' (2020)
60	* ''Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce'' (2023)
61
62	----
63	!!''I look and stare so deep in your tropes''
64	* AlterEgoActing: Sasha Fierce, who was created prior to the filming of "Crazy in Love" as a way to let her wild side out.
65	* AnimalMotif: Bees. More a result of Beyonce's fans referring to Beyonce as Queen Bey and themselves as the "Beyhive" than anything Beyonce's done herself. Needless to say, [[ThrowItIn she's been a good sport about rolling with it.]]
66	* ArcNumber: The number four holds great importance to Beyoncé; she was born on September 4th, her mother Tina Knowles was born on January 4th, her husband Jay-Z was born on December 4th, she was married to Jay-Z on April 4th (4/4), Destiny's Child started with four members, you get the idea. She named her fourth album ''4'', and her daughter Blue Ivy is named after the number four, as in the Roman numeral IV.
67	* AudienceParticipationSong: During her 2011 appearance at Glastonbury, she points her microphone towards the audience to help her start off "Irreplaceable". The audience did her one better and sang the entire first half of the song back to her. This happened before on her "I AM... World Tour" when the audience sang all of the first verse of "Irreplaceable" back to her.
68	** "Love On Top" has been this since the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in 2013.
69	* AutoErotica: "Partition" is about having sex in the back of a limousine. See IntercourseWithYou below.
70	* BaitAndSwitch: She pulls a few of these during the Renaissance World Tour:
71	** The instrumental of "Sweet Dreams" begins while she's performing "ALIEN SUPERSTAR" but she continues singing the latter song's lyrics to the former's track.
72	** During her performance of "Before I Let Go," she interpolates the opening instrumental of "Freakum Dress," hyping the audience into believing she'll perform it before continuing the former song.
73	* BeautyContest: The subject of the video for "Pretty Hurts."
74	* BewareTheNiceOnes:
75	** In the one hour visual special that came with Lemonade's release, Beyonce is seen singing ''Hold Up'' whilst smiling and skipping through the streets in a beautiful yellow gown until she takes a bat and proceeds to bust up everything in sight--cars, shop windows, fire hydrants, even the cameraman! [[TranquilFury All with a smile on her face.]] And that's only before she gets into the monster truck...uh-oh.
76	** The segment for ''Don't Hurt Yourself'' in the Lemonade special shows Beyonce getting frighteningly angry as she sings about getting cheated on and [[DontMakeMeDestroyYou warning her lover not to do it again]][[note]]whilst Beyonce hasn't even clarified who she's singing about, it's presumed that she's singing about her husband Jay-Z or her father, Matthew Knowles[[/note]], coupled with a montage of Beyonce angrily confronting the camera, Beyonce in a white wedding dress glaring with a wall of fire behind her, and even [[CameraAbuse throwing a ring at the camera!]]
77	** ''Sorry'' marked the beginning of her "Apathy" chapter in the Lemonade special and the song lyrics show Beyonce just really didn't give a damn, going as far as to tell her cheating lover to "suck on [her] balls" because "[she's] had enough".
78	* BigSisterInstinct: Kicks on "Naive," her collaboration with little sister {{Music/Solange}}.[[note]]and Da Brat[[/note]]
79	* ClusterFBomb: In earlier songs, those on B'Day and 4, she used "nigga(s)" in censored versions of "Irreplaceable" and "Run The World (Girls)". Later, she began to move in this direction with ''Beyoncé'' and fully hit it on ''Lemonade''. Beyoncé says "fuck", "shit", "bitch", "[[NWordPrivileges nigga]]", "ass", "ho", "thot", "dick" and "balls", many times throughout the album, especially "fuck". For instance:
80	--> ''"WHO DA FUCK DO YOU THINK I IS?!''
81	--> ''YOU AIN'T MARRIED TO NO AVERAGE BITCH, BOY!''
82	--> ''[[MsFanservice YOU CAN WATCH MAH FAT ASS TWIST, BOY!]]''
83	--> ''AS I BOUNCE TO THE NEXT DICK BOY!''
84	--> ''TONIGHT I'M FUCKIN' UP ALL YO' SHIT, BOY!"''
85	* CoolBigSis: Beyonce and her sister Solange has always been each other's biggest fan. Beyonce wrote several songs with her and even invited her to perform stage several times.
86	** She even reference the infamous elevator incident in 2014 (where Solange beats up and spit on Jay-Z while Beyonce just stands by) in her song "Cozy".
87	* CountingSong: "Countdown," based around some number-based wordplay:
88	--> My baby is a (ten), we dressing to the (nine)\
89	He pick me at (eight), Make me feel so lucky (seven)\
90	He kiss me in his (six), We be making love in (five)\
91	Still the one I do this (four), I'm trying to make us (three)\
92	From that (two), he's still the (one)
93	* CoveredInGunge: While doing a commercial for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS game ''Style Savvy'' that aired during the 2010 [[UsefulNotes/KidsChoiceAward Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards]], she was slimed.
94	* DarkerAndEdgier:
95	** Aside from being HotterAndSexier and containing more profanity, the self-titled album also concerns darker themes previously unexplored in her work, such as bulimia, post-natal depression, the fears and insecurities of marriage and motherhood.
96	** Despite the happy ending to the album, Lemonade is her darkest and most mature album to date, being that it tells personal stories of betrayal, strained relationships, anger, jealousy and loss.
97	* DistinctDoubleAlbum: ''I Am...Sasha Fierce.'' The I Am... disc being filled with introspective ballads and Sasha Fierce seeing Beyonce's signature R&B/Pop style complete with a new persona, Sasha Fierce.
98	%%* DoubleStandard: Beyonce; is often criticized especially on this very wiki for "If I Were A Boy" being misandristic.
99	* DrugsAreBad: "Welcome to Hollywood" mentions the deaths of Creator/MarilynMonroe, Music/JanisJoplin, Music/JimiHendrix, [[Music/TheDoors Jim Morrison]], Creator/JohnBelushi and Creator/RiverPhoenix.
100	* FemaleEmpowermentSong: "Run The World (Girls)", obviously.
101	* FingerOnLips: Does this in the video for "Telephone."
102	* GenuineHumanHide: In the Anger section of Lemonade:
103	--> If it's what you truly want ... I can wear her skin over mine. Her hair over mine. Her hands as gloves. Her teeth as confetti. Her scalp, a cap. Her sternum, my bedazzled cane. We can pose for a photograph, all three of us. Immortalized ... you and your perfect girl.
104	* GenreShift: Her earlier songs, such as "Freakum Dress" and "Green Light" were more funk and rock than her other typical genres. The song ''Diva'' was more hip-hop/rap orientated than her usual pop/R and B style. A further shift occurred with the albums "4" where she played around with classic R&B-esque songs and poppier, louder sounds. Even more so on her self-titled album "Beyoncé" with almost all of the songs. With Lemonade, Beyonce shifts through certain genres such as Southern Rap, Trap, and even Country Blues.
105	* HappilyMarried: To Music/JayZ.
106	* HotterAndSexier: Her self-titled album is this undoubtedly, with lines like "Can you lick my Skittles?" and "He Monica Lewinsky'd all over my gown". This connects to the feminist theme of the album, focusing on the sexual liberation of women.
107	* ICallHimMisterHappy:
108	** In "Kitty Kat", she is clearly addressing her vagina Little Kitty Kat.
109	** "Surfboard", in "Drunk In Love"
110	* IdiosyncraticCoverArt: ''Renaissance'' and ''Cowboy Carter'' all show Beyonce riding a [[AnimalMotif horse]].
111	* IntercourseWithYou: On her self-titled album. "Blow", for example, is just an ode to cunnilingus, and "Rocket" is an even less subtle request for good old sex. "Partition" and "Drunk in Love" count too.
112	* JailbaitTaboo: In 1999, she starred as the love interest in R&B singer Case's "Happily Ever After" video, where he proposes to her. Case had just turned 24 while Beyonce was only 17. Her manager-father even prevented the two from kissing in the video due to her age.
113	* LadyLand:
114	** She somewhat invoked this during her Super Bowl performance, with her dancers and backup band, (known as Suga Mamas, after a song on her album "B'Day") being solely female. She said she got the idea to do it during rehearsals... then had to delicately break it to the male members of her band.
115	** Her Visual special to go with the release of Lemonade was more or less a celebration of black women, even going as far as to use snippets from a UsefulNotes/MalcolmX speech that talked about how the most disrespected person in America is the black woman, with cameos from Serena Williams, the mothers of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, Creator/AmandlaStenberg, Creator/{{Zendaya}}, Creator/QuvenzhaneWallis, and even her own daughter Blue Ivy.
116	* LargeHam: Her choreography and on-stage persona are ''extremely'' flamboyant. With the songs "Diva", "Upgrade U" and "***Flawless", her self-confidence shines through.
117	* LoveIsLikeReligion: "Halo":
118	-->Baby, I can see your halo\
119	You know you're my savin' grace
120	* LighterAndSofter: ''Renaissance'' is much more upbeat than her self-titled album and ''Lemonade''. She said she wanted to make something more fun after having been stuck in the house for a year with three kids due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
121	* LiveAlbum: As of 2024, Beyoncé has five live albums.
122	** ''Live at Wembley'' (2004): showcasing her concert at Wembley Arena in UsefulNotes/London during the Dangerously In Love Tour.
123	** ''The Beyoncé Experience Live'' (2007): showcasing her concert at the Staples Center in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles during The Beyoncé Experience tour. [[BirthdayEpisode The show ends with a celebration of the singer's birthday.]]
124	** ''I Am... Yours: An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas'' (2009): showcasing one of the singer's concerts during her I Am... Yours residency at the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas in UsefulNotes/LasVegas.
125	** ''I Am... World Tour'' (2010): showcasing a combination of the singer's performances during her I Am... Tour.
126	** ''Homecoming: The Live Album'' (2019): showcasing the singer's performances during Coachella on April 14 and 21, 2018. This album was accompanied by the Netflix film ''Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé''.
127	* MelismaticVocals: This, her belting and her vibrato's make it easier to note her on the radio, as she's one of the only pop stars who can still do it consistently today, even after almost 20 years in the business.
128	* MesACrowd: Shown in her older "I AM..." era videos with "Sweet Dreams" and "Video Phone".
129	** Helps drive the point of the song home during [[https://youtu.be/FpDyuAGXFhY?si=-hX7RvIpfyaFzUZI&t=160 this performance]] of "Me, Myself And I" at the 2003 Billboard Awards.
130	* MoodWhiplash:
131	Not really with her music, but more with her videos, with her first solo album, most of her videos were rather fast-paced, elaborate, bright, and colorful (Look at "Crazy in Love.") Now, she's done a lot of video that are very simple (usually her and a couple of dancers in black and white ("Single Ladies.") More recently though, her videos have taken on a different more "artsy" and experimental aesthetic. With the punk look of "*Flawless", the 80's vibe of "Blow" and even the retro-glam and nostalgic look of "Grown Woman".
132	** Her segment for ''Hold Up'' from her visual special for Lemonade. It's a sunny day, people are smiling, kids are playing and Beyonce, dressed in a beautiful yellow couture gown, is skipping down the street and [[LyricalDissonance singing about feelings of denial regarding her cheating lover.]] Soon, she's smashing things with a bat and driving a monster truck down said street whilst things blow up in the background.
133	* MotorMouth: She does this in "Apeshit" by The Carters, her duo project with her husband.
134	* MsFanservice: She was the first musician to be on the [[https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/2/beyonce-swimsuit-2007-february-15-2007-sports-illustrated-cover.jpg cover of Sports Illustrated (in 2007)]], and her earlier work in particular included sexy dancing and revealing outfits. She is widely regarded as a sex symbol.
135	* NewSoundAlbum: ''Beyoncé'' is, surprisingly, a HipHop album where Beyoncé raps as much as she sings something continued further with ''Lemonade'', a hardcore SouthernRap album. ''Renaissance'' brought her back into pop territory but is much more dance-inspired than her early output.
136	* TheOner: The "Single Ladies" video. Just her and two other dancers in a studio, one DeliberatelyMonochrome continuous shot of them dancing around. Iconic enough to win her the MTV Video Of The Year VMA in 2009.
137	* OutrunTheFireball: At the end of the music video for ''Diva''. Complete with UnflinchingWalk.
138	* PietaPlagiarism: [[http://i.imgur.com/RX6RC4t.jpg In the "Mine" video.]]
139	* PrettyInMink: Has worn loads of furs in her vids, and even her promise to stop to please PETA was short-lived. "[[Music/KanyeWest Tell PETA my mink is dragging on the floor!]]".
140	* ProductPlacement: The version of "Get Me Bodied" on the Deluxe Edition of ''[=B-Day=]'' includes the line, "Shake your derriere in your [=Dereon=]," which is her mother's clothing line. In the lyrics of "Upgrade U": "Audermars Piget watch (Swiss watch company)... Cartier top clips...Purple labels...Hermes briefcase". "Sippin' Cuervo with no chaser." from "Formation".
141	* PromotedFangirl: Japanese comedian Creator/NaomiWatanabe became famous for doing impressions of Beyoncé, and the singer later noticed her work. Naomi went on to model for Beyoncé's clothing line Ivy Park.
142	* {{Retraux}}: "Schoolin' Life" of the deluxe "4" album has a very 80's dance/funk pop vibe. The song "Blow" from her eponymous album has an 80's vibe as well. "Why Don't You Love Me" from the deluxe version of "I AM... Sasha Fierce". "Sandcastles" from "Lemonade" is reminiscent of Donny Hathaway's version of "A Song For You".
143	* RhymingWithItself:
144	** [[DrinkingGame Take a sip]] every time "7/11" does this.
145	** [[DrinkingGame Take a sip]] every time she rhymes "yourself" with "yourself" in ''Don't Hurt Yourself''.
146	* SelfBackingVocalist: One of the most skilled in popular music. Her self-sung background vocals are a hallmark of her musical style.
147	** Listen to "Rise Up," "VIRGO'S GROOVE," "Black Parade," and "Carol of the Bells" (Destiny's Child) for reference.
148	** Going back and listening to Destiny's Child's catalog will make you realize that she's the only one singing in the background of many of their songs; one of the most notable examples is "Jumpin' Jumpin'."
149	* ShootingLessonsFromYourParents: The song "Daddy Lessons" is a recounting of everything Beyonce learned from her father, including how to shoot.
150	* ShoutOut:
151	** The version of "Get Me Bodied" on the Deluxe Edition of ''[=B-Day=]'' mentions [=supermodel=] Naomi Campbell.
152	** ''Hold Up'' references Maps by Music/YeahYeahYeahs and even Music/SouljaBoy, of all people.
153	* SouthernGothic: Much of the imagery in ''Lemonade'' falls into this.
154	* StuffBlowingUp: The "Hold Up" video has her destroying things and blowing up behind her. "6 Inch" has a house lighting up in flames as she walks out.
155	* TakeThatAudience: In response to fans being very vocal about the highly anticipated visual accompaniments to ''Music/{{Renaissance\|2022}}'' still having no confirmed release date, the intro to “Formation” on the Renaissance World Tour includes this message from JZ Prodigy.
156	--> You’ve asked for the visuals\
157	You’ve called for the queen!\
158	But a queen moves at her own pace bitch\
159	Decides when she wants to give you a fucking taste\
160	So get your fork and your spoon\
161	If you got one
162	* UnlimitedWardrobe: Her video for "Party" has her wearing many different outfits. This applies to her concerts as well. Her video for "Countdown".
163	** This has become a hallmark of the Renaissance World Tour. Throughout the tour’s seven[[note]]eight at certain shows[[/note]] distinct acts, she and her dancers don a variety of different costumes. Her opening act outfits are the most notable for being different at ''almost'' every show[[note]]She wore dresses from her Atlanta and Inglewood shows again in New Orleans and Houston.[[/note]], making every performance recognizable for the fans who were there.
164	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Beyoncé performed Memories Run Through My Wires act containing "THIQUE," "ALL UP IN YOUR MIND," and "Drunk In Love" at the opening show of the Renaissance World Tour and the songs have not been performed since, and no explanation has been given for their exit from the setlist.
165	** Subverted as she later performed the act during her third show in Atlanta, all three Los Angeles shows, both shows in Houston, New Orleans, and finally Kansas City.
166	* WholeCostumeReference:
167	** The [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g4CopfZRDxE/TpHhBd_XwXI/AAAAAAAACS4/GSmxf_SnU3o/s1600/Beyonce-Countdown-video-60s-beatnik-style.jpg outfit and hair cut]] from ''Countdown'' are based on Creator/AudreyHepburn[='s=] most famous outfit from the film ''Film/FunnyFace''.
168	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY_mrU8MPfI Ring The Alarm]] has her dressed as Catherine Tramell from ''Film/BasicInstinct''
169	** Her outfit and and styling in [[https://youtu.be/WNCC7tIcChY Get Me Bodied]] reference Suzanne Charney in Sweet Charity. The whole video is a direct homage to [[https://youtu.be/mcrZIK3gqbU the Rich Man’s Frug]]scene from the same movie.

Context Music / Beyonce