Mobile
Since Marilyn Monroe, the reigning female paragons of beauty have become thinner and thinner. So, in a culture that celebrates skinny women -- yet keeps a special place in its heart for the Rubenesque, "baby got back" quality that so many secretly admire -- it took British actress Kate Winslet's performance in Titanic and Nuyorican princess Jennifer Lopez to whet the public's appetite for bootyliciousness in the late 1990s. They made it okay again for our national sex symbol to be (relatively) full-figured. Once they paved the way, Beyoncé eased on down the road.
Beyoncé is bookended by a great singer who was at times uncomfortable in her own skin (Mariah), an iffy-at-best singer who is too comfortable in her own skin (Britney), a legit Diva with limited crossover appeal (Mary J.), and a power vacuum brought on by tragedy (Aaliyah). She's well-rounded: sings, dances and acts credibly (but is master of none). And while she's as corporate and well-packaged as Wal-Mart, Beyoncé radiates an intangible quality that says to her fans that she's exactly who they would want to be if they could somehow get their own shit together.
Next week, when Beyoncé drops her second solo album, B'Day (Columbia), she'll enter the "Upside Down" and "I'm Coming Out" phase of her career. No longer fronting a dazzling trio, Beyoncé is a self-contained, one-woman show like predecessor Diana Ross. No longer an artist on the rise, she is -- like Ross once was -- the perfect vessel for songwriters, screenwriters and fashion designers to bring their work to life.
Steaming out of the gate with her first single and video for the song "Déjà Vu," featuring her real life leading man, Jay-Z, and in keeping with her status as the leading lady of African America, Beyoncé opted to push the pop envelope a tiny bit by incorporating a modified West African dance into her hectic routine -- swinging her arms and pedaling barefoot in the dust, channeling the ancestors, before cutting back to a more standard set of hip-hop movements and get-ups.
The trajectory of Beyoncé's star mirrors closely a story that we've already seen played out before -- the rise and fall of Diana Ross and the Supremes: all-black girl group scores hit after crossover hit, on the strength of Pygmalion-like coaching, costumes and choreography that straddle the line between elegant and tantalizing, and the sheer magnetism of the I'm-every-woman-but-not-really girl up front. Two members of the original Destiny's Child were jettisoned in 2000, and the remaining duo, Beyoncé and chocolate pixie Kelly Rowland, were joined by gospel good-girl Michelle Williams. Beyoncé's father and manager, Mathew Knowles, carefully constructed the image of Destiny's Child to project a regal, mainstream star-quality while remaining true to the will of the people, much like Motown impresario and one-time Ross consort Berry Gordy groomed the Supremes to be simultaneously alluring and refined.
When a girl group sheds the group, and you're left with the star, it's like a shuttle launch. Kelly and Michelle (erstwhile Supremes) were the booster rockets. They were essential to getting the mission off the ground, but now that they've broken through the atmosphere, they fall away, burn off, and the capsule, be it Beyoncé or Diana, floats on.
If there's an Achilles heel to Beyoncé's post-Destiny's Child strategy for world domination, it's that most of her recent hits lack the irreverent sistah grrl power found in the lyrics of songs like "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Independent Women, Part 1." By contrast, and as some disaffected fans have expressed on the message boards, her recent hits, like "Déjà Vu" or Destiny's Child's "Cater 2 U" are essentially about carrying on about some man. But what Beyoncé's recent songs lack, she makes up for with arresting looks, charisma and stage presence. Again like Diana Ross, Beyoncé has crossed the Rubicon of stardom. As Jay-Z has well noted, right now she's "the baddest chick in the game."
Two years ago, it was Rowland (along with unlikely hero Nick Lachey) who saved ABC's dubious Motown 45 when she fronted a Ross-less reunion of Supremes Cindy Birdsong and Mary Wilson. But this fall it will be Beyoncé who ironically fulfills destiny when she plays the lead in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls. The musical is, of course, loosely based on the story of the Supremes (it's said that Diana Ross once walked out of a performance in disgust), and the cycle will be complete when Beyoncé plays the role of Deena Jones, lead singer of a talented and ambitious girl group rising to stardom in the early 1960s ... I wonder where we've seen this before.
Speaking of 4.00000
-
Letters to the Editor
Dec 19, 2007 -
Checking it Twice
Dec 19, 2007 -
Racial Whiplash
Dec 19, 2007 - More »
Latest in Hot Pop
-
Mic check
Jan 31, 2007 -
Radio on the TV
Jan 17, 2007 -
Six degrees of Beyoncefication
Jan 3, 2007 - More »
More by David Swerdlick
-
Mic check
Jan 31, 2007 -
Radio on the TV
Jan 17, 2007 -
Six degrees of Beyoncefication
Jan 3, 2007 - More »
Calendar
-
The Head And The Heart: Aperture Tour @ Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre -
Counting Crows: The Complete Sweets! Tour with The Gaslight Anthem @ PNC Music Pavilion -
Big Time Rush: In Real Life Worldwide @ PNC Music Pavilion- Wed., July 16, 7 p.m.
-
-
Listen to Her Heart: The Tom Petty Experience @ The Carolina- Fri., July 18, 7:30 p.m.
-
-
Red Not Chili Peppers - Ages 21+ @ BoatYard Eats- Fri., July 18, 8 p.m.
-
-
Rising From The Dead 1
Bob Weir focuses on RatDog, world causes
-
Lambchop; FLOTUS
Merge Records; Release date: Nov. 4, 2016
-
Ceschi out on parole
Rapper returns after a short prison stint
