In a previous episode, I described how skillful producers are betting that new songs will achieve high sales. At the time, I used songs by Beyoncé and Rihanna as examples. In separate posts, starting with this one, I will pay attention to both mega-stars. The story about the development of prog rock will continue in the next post.
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter is born in Houston, Texas, in 1981. Her name is an homage to her mother’s birth name (Tina Beyincé Carter). She owned a hair salon, and her father was a sales manager at Xerox. As a child, Beyoncé was a steady participant in singing and dancing competitions. At her 7the, she won a talent contest with John Lennon’s song Imagine. She pursued a musical education. Due to the requirements of her fast-developing career, she did not finish it.
From the age of eight, she attempts to become known on the girl groups circuit. Her father quit his job to become a full-time manager, bringing the family to the brink of poverty. At her 15th, success glimmered when the group signed a contract with Columbia Records, resulting in the first album ‘No, no, no’, The group was called Destiny’s Child from then on, inspired by the Bible book Isaiah. Large success came in 1999 with the group’s second album ‘Writings on the wall’, and with the third album ‘Survivor’ that followed a year later.
Listen to the song ‘Say my name’ from the second album
In the meantime, Beyoncé struggled with severe depression. In varying line-ups, the group would go on to become the best-selling girl group ever. Beyoncé was the brains behind the music and choreography. The group went on a lengthy successful world tour. After slowing down and producing another album, the group broke up amicably.
Before Destiny’s Child ceased to exist, Beyoncé released a solo album “Dangerously in love”. It sold 11 million copies, and she received 5 Grammy Awards for it, the highest accolade in music.
From her debut album, you can see the best-selling single here. The recording also captures the large-scale set-up of her shows, which would continue to grow with each subsequent tour. Today, she is considered one of the best entertainers, surrounded by extremely costly and sophisticated choreography, for which the world’s best dancers are hired. So far, only Taylor Swift has caught up with her on this.
The second solo album followed in 2006. The third ‘I am… Sacha Fierce’ (2008) consists of two parts. In the first part, she is herself; in the second part, she ‘plays’ ‘Sacha Fierce’, her ‘alter ego’. The first part contains more quiet songs, while the second reveals more dance influences. This album added eight Grammys to her collection.
Now, you can listen to the ‘quiet’ Halo, not a live performance, but a music video. A halo is an attribute, with which statues of saints were generously provided.
From the album ‘4’ (2011) Beyoncé’s lucky number, you can listen here to ‘(Girls) run the world’, performed on the 25th anniversary of the Opray Winfrey show, also her last one.Â
Each new album received more rave reviews from public, press and music critics. This was especially true of album six, ‘Lemonade’, the best album of the entire decade because of the music, but also the cocktail of styles. The album is a modern form of R&B primarily, but it has also components of reggae, blues, rock, hip-hop, soul, funk, americana, country, gospel, electronics and rap. It also contained frank lyrics, for example about her husband’s infidelity. Beyoncé calls herself a “modern-day feminist” and many of her songs are about love, relationships, female sexuality and independence.
With music mainly from this album, she toured all major stadiums around the world from 2016, the ‘Formation tour’, named after one of the songs from the album ‘Lemonade’. Here the song ‘Formation’. On 16 July 2016, she performed at the Amsterdam Arena.
Her seventh album, ‘Renaissance’ (2022) was also particularly well received, and it is the basis for the world tour Beyoncé just finished. The song that you can listen to now is ‘Break my Soul’ and was filmed at the London performance of the show in June 2023. Electronic dance music dominates. More than 80 performances of this mega-show were scheduled. The cheapest tickets in London cost around €250; in Toronto, you could go for €100 less.
Even before the tour is over, Beyoncé has achieved just about everything imaginable musically before Taylor Swift took over. Never has an artist has earned 28 ‘Grammys’. She has now sold 200 million albums (physical and digital), which can be added to the 60 million together with Destiny’s Child. Leading magazines like Billboard and Time name her as the best female artist of the 21stecentury. She is on the list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Beyoncé’s nickname is ‘bee queen’ and her fans are called the bee-hive.
Finally, some details about the context of her life. Beyoncé married (also) world-famous rapper Jay-Z on 4 April 2008. Here, the couple is pictured together. They have a daughter aged 11 (Blue Ivy) and twins born in 2017 (Rumy and Sir).
Beyoncé was the face of her own fashion line, House of Deréon, which she set up with her mother in 2006: ‘Where sidewalk and catwalk meet’. Their clothes were wildly popular among fans, but sales declined eventually due to a lack of innovative momentum. The line was discontinued in 2012, partly after a fuss about overly sexy clothes for young girls. It has been revived in 2020 in connection with the then upcoming world tour. Later Beyoncé launched a swimwear line with Adidas. Now she is working in partnership with Balmain. Several perfumes have been named after her. Beyoncé has further appeared in numerous films, such as Pink Panther. Her voice is also heard in Lion King (Nala).
According to US business magazine Forbes, Beyoncé’s wealth is about $540 million. She has earned most of it from her singing, but the clothing line and her long-term association with Pepsi, for which she received $50 million, also contribute. From the ongoing world tour, whose gross proceeds are estimated at $2 billion, she is also sure to make several hundred millions.
It wasn’t just making money that rang the bell. Beyoncé also collaborates on campaigns to encourage schoolchildren to exercise. A nice clip to illustrate.
Beyoncé’s fortune stands in the shadow of that of her husband, rapper Jay-Z, whose name is derived from the two underground lines (J and Z) that run through Brooklyn. He grew up in one of Brooklyn’s most dangerous neighbourhoods, repeatedly got into trouble with the police but managed to break away from the criminal milieu and became a successful musician and businessman. Unlike Beyoncé, he owes his fortune mainly to successful business activities; besides his own record label (Roc-A-Fella), he invests in beauty products and in expensive champagne and cognac brands. He owns his own film company and finally, he owns a large collection of works by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Forbes estimates his wealth at over $2.5 billion. This makes him the richest hip-hop artist in the world, falling just short of the 1,000 richest people in the world (place 1208). In June 2023 Jay-Z and Beyoncé bought the most expensive house ever sold ($200 million) in the state of California.
Music: Listen, Look and Enjoy 