American Studies Blog 6

Historical aspect of race in the USA – Beyoncé

Beyoncé is a global icon. She was born in Houston Texas, in 1981. ‘The New Yorker’ described Beyoncé as “the most important and compelling popular musician of the twenty-first century.”

The article I have chosen to look at looks to identify her as whether she is an icon because of her career or her body. The journalist presents her view that Beyoncé is successful in her career. She performs a range of ‘Black femininities’ and can relate to every time of audience in class and color. She continues by stating how her body portrays a ‘spectacular Black female body.’

To me, Beyoncé is an icon for what she gives back. She has taken part in many campaigns all over the world to help benefit others and contribute in any ways possible. She wants to empower girls to make them feel better about themselves and more confident. She has many feminist and anti-poverty campaigns. Her new song in particular called ‘flawless’ has created controversy due to some of the lyrics, however she wants to inspire women to believe in themselves. She believes a feminist is ‘the person who believes in the social, political and economic of the sexes.’

Beyoncé is the third most honored woman in Grammy history. She has had a total of 46 nominations and 17 awards. She has overall, won 497 awards and is TIME’s most influential person. In addition to being called the most powerful celebrity in the world by Forbes magazine. These high statics demonstrate the extent of which Beyoncé is a successful global American singer, actress and businessperson.

To get to this position Beyoncé worked hard in her career, entering many talent shows in dancing and modeling. Her own father managed her, and her band ‘Destiny’s child’ for a time. This demonstrates how hard Beyoncé has had to work for her success and why to me she such an icon with what she is giving back to the world. Therefore, in regards to the article, it is just in saying she is much more than a ‘Southern hip hop booty shapes.’

<http://capitadiscovery.co.uk/winchester-ac/items/eds/aph/71115495?query=beyonce+icon&resultsUri=items%3Fquery%3Dbeyonce%2Bicon%26target%3Deds%26offset%3D0&target=eds>