Beyonce Giselle Knowles-Carter is an American singer, songwriter, producer and actress. She was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She partook in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. She rose to fame in the last 1990’s as the lead-singer of Destiny’s Child.

She makes contemporary R&B much like artists such as Rihanna. Her first released song is ‘Crazy in Love’ featuring Jay-Z. When she ventured out as a solo artist, she launched her first solo studio debut album called ‘Dangerously in Love’ in 2003.

Profile: Beyonce

• Age: 37 years old
• Place of origin: Houston, Texas, USA
• Former member of R&B girl-group Destiny’s Child
• Genre: Pop/R&B
• Married to Hip-Hop legend Jay-Z
• Describes herself as a “modern-day feminist”
• Her net worth is $355 million
• Has also ventured into acting too- nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the film Dreamgirls

 

• Youtube- nearly 10 billion views on her videos in total
• Six number one singles in the US and five in the UK
• The first female solo artist to headline Coachella
• The first female artist to have three of their albums surpass one billion streams on Spotify
• Her album Lemonade was streamed 115 million times through Tidal, setting a record for the most-streamed album in a single week by a female artist in history.

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Differences between ‘Crazy in Love’ and ‘APESHIT’

• The backup dancers in ‘Crazy in Love’ are wearing bright colours in constrast to more neutral colours in ‘APESHIT’
• In ‘APESHIT’, both Jay-Z and ‘Crazy in Love’ are wearing formal (dresses & suits) whereas in Crazy in Love, she is wearing more casual clothing.
• The cinematogaphy in ‘APESHIT’ the camera angles are typically further away (long shots) & sophisticated camera shots and location. There is a sense in ‘Crazy in Love’ where she is being sexualised, which is not the case in ‘APESHIT’.
• A sign of repect, black power and female representation in ‘APESHIT’.
• There is a juxtaposition between the lyrics and the video, in ‘APESHIT’.
• In ‘APESHIT’, there is a lot of key and low key lighting which is different to ‘Crazy in Love’ where there is mostly high key lighting.

Beyonce- Identity

There are two different Beyonce personas:

• The chart-topping pop star
• Socially consicous activist

Beyonces platform is not only limited to her musical voice, yet the mainstream doesnt often notice behind the scenes work.

• Beyonce started a Hurricane Katrina fund in 2005
• Raised money for Haiti relief in 2010
• She headed a campaign in 2013 called “Chime for a change” that aimed to spread female empowerment
• She funded a $7 million housing complex for the homeless in Houston, which is a prodominately black community, and Beyonces home
• As Black Lives Matter came to rise, Beyonce and Jay-Z were at the protest and rallies.

With the release of 2016 visual album Lemonade, Beyonce for the first time blended her personas into one.

The music and videos were more thoughtful, artistic pieces which tended to focus on/feature social and political messages.

One way in which helped redefine Beyonce as a more serious musician was her refined use of intertextuality.

Music video example- Michael Jackson’ss Thriller (1982) references to film An American werewolf in London (1981)

Beyonce’s early use of intertextuality

Intertextual references in Beyonce’s earlier work were often in relation to popular media texts- texts which a number of audience members would recognise. These references are merely imitations- superficial use of intertextuality.

Examples-

• ’03 Bonnie and Clyde’ (2002) by beyonce and the film ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967)
• ‘Video Phone’ (2009) by beyonce and the film, ‘Reservoir Dogs’ (1992)
• ‘Telephone’ (2009) by beyonce and ‘Kill Bill Vol. 1’, the film (2003)

The turning point

With the release of the music-infused short film Bang Bang (2014), a collaboration with director Dikayl Rimmasch, Beyonces use of intertextuality changed.

The intertextual references are more subtle and evoke an artistic style.

• Some elements of Bonnie & Clyde
• Western genre
• Breathless (1960)- French New Wave cinema

 

Beyonce’s Lemonade and intertextuality

The intertextual references used in Beyonces visual album were carefully chosen- the use of the intertextual references were to evoke an artistic style or use a text which showcases a social/political message.

Example: Lemonade & indie film Daughters of the dust (1991)

Intertextual references are meaningful and reflect social/political messages regarding positive representations of black women, a celebration of African culture and a critique of racism in the US.

Since Lemonade there have been more intertexual references such as their tour poster (2018) referencing the African film ‘Touki Bouki’ (1973).

Case Study: Formation (from Lemonade)

This music video features a number of intertextual references.

Context

Formation contains references to a number of issues and events. It is therefore important to be aware of the contexts (social, cultural, historical and political) which apply to Formation.

• Hurricane Katrina and the devastation of New Orleans
• The Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King
• Black women in the slave trade era
• ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign and police brutality
• Black feminism
• ‘Bounce’ music