Has Beyonce done enough to be considered a living legend?

I neglected to read the other 20 pages of this thread...I've seen how Beyonce threads go around here. She is one of the most disrespected artists on SHTV. That said, her output has been phenomenal as a pop artist, and she's one of the rare examples of someone who is getting better with age from an album perspective.

She's always had great hooks, but her past two albums (Beyonce, Lemonade) have been true works of art. Great compositions...headphone albums, really. I've been truly surprised by her direction and have loved it.

And let's not forget to mention her live act. It is pure entertainment, Tina Turner of our age. Here's the video I post in every Beyonce thread:

 

And what makes music "any good"?

 

Nope. At best, she's seriously hot and in the vicinity of being an updated Tina Turner.

But, let's not kid ourselves...Turner's voice, feel and overall quality stuff leaves Beyonce in the dust.

 

I agree. I'm a boring 54 year old, and I don't hear much mainstream radio pop (except at the pool) just because I'm mostly interested in other genres old and new, so I haven't followed Beyoncé's music at all over the years beyond bits and pieces I've heard here and there. Which actually made it easier for me to approach Lemonade without a lot of pre-existing expectations one way or another -- except for sincerely loathing the misogyn(oir)ist elements of some of the Bey-bashing. Well, and I also get tired of the "look at all the credits" nonsense; yeah, go look at all the credits on Lawrence of Arabia and then get back to me. Nobody calls Bryan Fuller or David Simon a hack because 10 other people also write and direct their TV shows.

Anyhow, Lemonade is genuinely stunning, complex, and fascinating, and I think a lot of people who were meh about some of her earlier work would enjoy it a lot if they gave it a chance. If you had asked me a few weeks ago whether I'd ever be obsessed with listening to a Beyoncé album and feel an evangelical "oh my god you need to hear this" zeal about it, I would have found that a pretty unlikely prospect. But it's right up there with Blackstar and far better than the massively anticipated PJ Harvey record.

 

What do you think young people who like her now will be listening to in 40/50 years?

 

Well you see, when you get older and mature a bit, you'll realize that the motives you're ascribing aren't accurate. and you won't be able to go back and teach the young guy not to be such a .. ninny.

 

Scott S saying so.

 

It's too bad neither one of us will live long enough to be able to prove one way or the other. I won't, anyway.

 

Well obviously you don't own every record ever made. Some you choose to buy, some you don't. The ones you don't I suspect you probably don't think are as good, unless of course all your music tastes are at total random.

 

Last I checked, even here we're allowed to have our own tastes.

 

I have no interest in Beyoncé's music and my 18 year daughter feels the same. Sure she has sold a ton of records but a "living legend"? I don't think so.

Bill

 

problem i have with beyonce (& somebody like Justin Timberlake) is....they're too....perfect, too pristine, too calculated...
they're always excellent at what they do n they seem to work really hard for it but i just....can't feel anything off them.

i vastly prefer someone like...Alicia Keys to beyonce within the genre.

 

Wow, I love that PJ Harvey record. I'm guessing I probably wouldn't like this then.

 

I wish I could play "Sandcastles" for you.

 

I won't either. But I distinctly remember a friend of mine asking me 30 years ago "you really don't think he's going to be around in 20 or 30 years, do you?" when I was trying to tell him how great of an artist I thought Prince was.

I don't know if Beyoncé's music will still be around 30 years from now. But as general rule, very popular artists tend to have lasting impacts across generations. People have long and fond memories of their youth. Our icons were no "better" than today's in terms of the impact they have on their fans. For pete's sake, you've got a big chunk of the forum here still obsessed with The Monkees 50 years later.

If The Monkees can do it, certainly Beyoncé can.

 

I love the PJ Harvey record too -- one of my faves so far this year. I would say the distinguishing factor is that Polly's album is an artistically great statement about observing other people's struggle, suffering, and hope from a distance.

Beyoncé's is an artistically great statement about her own and her people's firsthand experience of struggle, suffering, hope, and joy.

 

Not random at all. I just asked you what your criteria was.

Because I happen to think Beyoncé is pretty darn good at what she does. So I'm curious as to what it is about her that isn't any good?

 

It does form an interesting comparison.

 

At best, she's seriously hot???

Ok not kidding myself. Beyoncé is every bit as talented as Tina Turner. My guess is you listen to a lot of Tina Turner and have heard Crazy in Love in the background of a store or maybe on the radio once or twice. Opinion formed and cemented.

 

Alright, fine. It's duly noted. I got it. Thanks.

 

The Monkees.

 

Good one.

 

OK I'm back chez moi now, and am surprised to see this is still going. So, let's get into my exchange with Videoman.

He starts off with the proposition:

Which is to say: "Any comment on a female musician's sexual attributes is sexist."

I respond:

Which is to say:

- If a female performer does not trade on flaunting sex, then such comments are sexist. (Case A)
- If a female performer does trade on flaunting sex, then such comments are not necessarily sexist. (Case B)

You respond with:

Which is to say, you assert that A = B. Thus, I respond:

Which is to say, A =/= B. You then respond,

Which is an attempt to criticize me because I indirectly called you out for drawing a (false) equivalence.

To which I and respond:

To which you respond:

Well, you drew an equivalence by posting a picture of Kate Bush to suggest she was a performer who traded on sex as much as Britney Spears or Beyoncé.

And there we are.

 

It should sound like The Beatles.

 

Huh? I love Tina Turner but what is her great artistic achievement? Strutting around in a skimpy outfit singing "Proud Mary"? Being able to comeback and do it again with "What's Love Got To Do With It?" 15 years later?

Beyoncé did all that and left it in the dust years ago already. Turner never once came close to anything remotely on the level of "Lemonade". Sorry, Tina.