The Queen Bee

Melbourne, Australia October 2013

Photographed by Rob Hoffman

Seven years old, I remember waking up on Saturday mornings to watch Video Hits. One morning Destiny's Child came on 3 women in different colored rooms singing "Say my name, say my name When no one is around you, say baby I love you." And I fell in love...  

The next moment I remember Destiny's Child entering my consciousness was "Survivor". My group of friends decided to perform at my schools talent quest and decided to dance to "Survivor". For about a week, every recess and lunch they rehearsed. I decided to be their manager since I had the song on my 'Top 40 Summer hits" compilations album. I can't remember whether we won or not. I don't remember much after that or in general during the time in my life. But to me Destiny's Child disappeared and it was all about N'SYNC, Five, Ricky Martin and Britney Spears. 

Next thing I remember about Beyoncé was her struts towards the screen in a white tank top, denim shorts and her red heels. With Jay Z MC'ing and with an infectious tune 'do-dodo-dooooooo" and  "oh, oh oh, oh, oh" and once again I was hooked. And wasn't she "Crazy in Love" with Jay-Z? To be honest during this time, I can't recall much about Beyoncé in my preteen life. I remember listening to Destiny's Child "Lose my Breath" for its crazy fast paced tempo beat. But I lost her somewhere along the way between her first and second album and the disbandment of Destiny's Child.

In year 10, I was fifteen. I just received my first MP4 whilst Ipods were just beginning to flourish. I believe that this is when Beyoncé I really became a fan. Beyoncé released "If I was a Boy" a soft ballad that showed her vocal power and control. Then it was the explosion of her most (I believe) famous hit "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it)" that not only revitalized the art of music videos but became ingrained in contemporary pop culture. Soon after, Beyoncé dominated the music charts with hit after hit: "Halo", "Sweet Dreams", "Diva", "Ego", "Broken Hearted Girl" and "Video Phone". I listened to her album repeatedly, pretending that I could sing "Halo" and "Satellites" and "Ave Maria" to myself in front of a mirror. My friends at school disco's would push people aside as they danced step by step to "Single Ladies". 

  

At that time Beyoncé was also competing with the rising star of Lady Gaga. However no female or male singer had the fierceness that she had. In 2010, Beyonce and Lady Gaga released "Telephone" and it became for both of them their sixth number-one single (it tied with Mariah Carey in 1992).

Beyoncé and Lady Gaga became important women in my life as role models. Lady Gaga promoted difference. Whilst Beyoncé to me represented a powerful image of femininity and sexuality as a good thing (that is not done for the male gaze). When "Run the World (Girls)" was released it became an anthem of female empowerment, reinforced by the "Best Thing I Never had" in her 4 album. To my understanding in her documentary "Life is but a Dream", 4 was extremely personal and pivotal to her career and her self esteem - she broke away from her father as her manager.  Some may say that this album was not as 'successful' as her previous album it terms of hits. However it was her live performances that was something that could not be measured by 'hits'. I am unsure whether this became a sort of movement in general with other artists as they began to emphasize on their music performance as a way of gaining back power from the increase of illegal music downloads (that could possibly explain why her fourth album did 'not' do so well).

It was the XLVII Super Bowl halftime performance to me, was the inauguration of Queen Bee. She demanded that stage like no other, sang like no other, performed like no other. She showed the world that she was the Queen and at the moment I believe the world hailed her as Queen. Her performance received the most tweet per minutes as well as garnering three Emmy nominations (throughout the construction of this certain paragraph, I am strongly restraining myself from using the f word between every word). She is not only just a artist but she is also a mother, philanthropists and a mother-fn Queen. She is one hell of a queen.

Bow.down.