Believing That Beyoncé Is A Creative Genius Is The Musical Equivalent Of Believing That Professional Wrestling Is Real
From Redditor u/EsquireEsqueEd: Let me just preface this by saying that you're allowed to like whatever you want, whether it be Top 40 pop music or WWE. However, I think it's reasonable to infer that you're either a small child or a very gullible, naïve adult if you genuinely believe that WWE wrestlers are actually fighting rather than performing a scripted show. Well, the same principle applies to those who deify "Queen Bey" as this brilliant musical genius. Like pro-wrestling, her entire image and the narrative surrounding her career are just theatrics and carefully orchestrated branding. People gush about the choreography, lyrics, and arrangements behind her songs as if she didn't outsource all of that to other people just as the vast majority of mainstream pop stars do. Yes, she can sing well, but again, this idea that her musical output is the product of a singular vision is about as plausible as the "feuds" between various WWE performers. “Uuuuh, excuse me, but she has writing credits on most, if not all of her songs.” While that's technically true, various insiders from the music industry have explained that her name being the most prominently listed writing credit is a non-negotiable term whenever she works with songwriters, regardless of how much she actually contributes to the writing process. She could (and more than likely does) contribute as little as one word and get a songwriting credit. There are also claims that she just adds harmonies and that somehow gets her name on the list of writers. There have been allegations that she simply "licenses" the lyrics that others write for her, therefore entitling her to a songwriting credit. With this in mind, past controversies about purported "Grammy snubs" are particularly infuriating… Assuming for a moment that the Grammys actually matter, it's not a grave injustice that a guy who wrote all of his own lyrics, produced his own tracks, and played most (if not all) of the instruments on his album would beat out a corporate vehicle who sings other people's lyrics, dances to others' choreography, and relies on session musicians for the instrumentals (all while allowing the general public to believe that this music was the fruit of her labor alone). Again, none of this is to say that you have to stop liking Beyoncé if you think her music is enjoyable or catchy. I just think that the marketing surrounding her has fostered a borderline demented cult of personality that endlessly deifies her as this musical goddess when she's ultimately nowhere near as special as her fan base thinks she is. Like I said before, she sings well and she lets others handle everything else just like Justin Bieber, Adele, and most other mainstream pop singers do. TL;DR: Beyoncé is a good singer who relies on large creative teams to handle all other aspects of production; she gets songwriting credits through loopholes and minimal lyrical contributions. If you think that she's a musical genius in spite of this, you might as well believe that John Cena and Brock Lesnar are actually arch nemeses in real life (IDK, I don't watch WWE, so please don't crucify me for not knowing which wrestlers have feuds [LOL])… Edit: I've been sitting on this for about a week and I'd like to write an addendum. Firstly, I never said Beyoncé was untalented or that her actual music is bad. Obviously, she's a very talented singer and performer, although I don't have particularly strong opinions about how the music itself sounds… I was trying to make a point about creative control (more on that later) rather than merit. Admittedly, I'm not always that good at effectively communicating what I mean. Secondly… I don't resent her success or that of any other pop star, nor do I question how she became successful; I've never had any aspirations to be a singer or multimillionaire, so that factor doesn't matter to me. From what some of you have told me, she's an accomplished businesswoman, so if she understands her market and knows how to effectively influence it, then more power to her. With that in mind, I was probably a little too dismissive or reductive about some of her specific accomplishments, and I'll own that…
