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Celeb News: Has Beyoncé been DETHRONED and REPLACED by Rihanna?
Member Since: 9/8/2009
Posts: 6,473
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Has Beyoncé been DETHRONED and REPLACED by Rihanna?
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Back in February of this year, popular political website Salon.com ran an article titled ‘Why is Beyonce untouchable?’, focusing on how Bey came out relatively unscathed from two major scandals: Performing for and accepting money from the son of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and going ‘blackface’ for a French photoshoot. While Bey has often been a punching bag across the urban blogosphere and on pop music message boards, the diva has generally remained squeaky clean in the mainstream media; especially when compared to her contemporaries, with everything from fraudulent songwriting claims to her father’s ‘colorful‘ personal life washing off Bey like water off a ducks back.
But has the media now finally turned on Beyonce?
The bad publicity ball started rolling after the release of her new single “Run the World (Girls)”, which has gained coverage from both Billboard.com and Yahoo Music (amongst others) for it’s dismal chart performance: The song has been on a chart free-fall since its disappointing debut at No. 33 on the Hot 100; it’s now currently No. 138 on iTunes after less than three weeks. Bey then made more headlines after being sued for supposedly pulling out of a lucrative video game deal, but it was her appearance at the Costume Institute Gala last week that seems to have really fueled the fire. Video footage of the singer being booed on the red carpet of the prestigious event has received major coverage from bigwigs like the L.A. Times, Yahoo, ABC News, E! News, and the Huffington Post.
Bey has since received further criticism for her promotional schedule: To plug her upcoming fourth album, the booty shaker has been booking headlining gigs at various music festivals — including rock festivals like T in the Park, which has left some festival-goers furious that a mainstream pop artist like Beyonce will be hogging the main stage next to bands like The Strokes and Foo Fighters.
Beyonce’s latest batch of bad publicity comes from British tabloid The Sun, who have just ran an article titled ‘Is Rih Rih bigger than Bey?’, implying that Rihanna has snatched Beyonce’s pop crown. Check out an excerpt below:
Both are beautiful, talented and globally adored, boasting sell-out tours and serious bank balances.
But as 23-year old Rihanna beamed for the cameras in her risque Stella McCartney gown, Texan Beyonce was booed for refusing to cooperate with photographers.
In recent months Rihanna has had THREE singles in our top ten simultaneously and seen such phenomenal demand for tickets for her Loud tour she had to boost the number of UK dates to 27.
Meanwhile 29-year-old Beyonce is staying under the radar. She is facing a £60million lawsuit over a video game deal that went sour and a few weeks ago fired her dad as her manager.
The Sun may be nothing more than a tabloid rag (albeit a very popular one), but they serve to show what the mainstream media are now picking up on the types of arguments that the urban & pop music blogesphere have been debating for years: Rihanna Vs. Beyonce — and they’re clearly team RiRi, with good reason, too. Rihanna may be six years younger than Beyonce, but in just over five years she’s already managed to rack up more hit singles than her older rival. She’s also built her stardom slowly, gradually transitioning into an artist capable of selling millions of albums and successfully touring the world, rather than exploding overnight and peaking too soon. Not to mention that Rihanna has already fought through tabloid scandals thanks to a tumultuous relationship with fellow celebrity Chris Brown, weathering the storm and coming out a bigger star because of it. Her popularity is currently on a continual rise in both the music and fashion world, easily giving Bey a run for her money as the world’s premiere urban diva.
In recent weeks, Beyonce’s pulled some crafty tricks to try squash the problem of bad press with good deeds, while using it to cross-promote her new single: She starred in a highly-publicized fitness campaign called “Move Your Body”, which included a generous visit to a Harlem school that was filmed and uploaded online; and she also (very conveniently) just released her two-year-old version of “God Bless the USA” on iTunes to raise money for charity. So far, neither stunt has done anything to help “Girls” on the charts, and judging by the growing amount of negative publicity around her, it hasn’t helped with that, either.
If there’s one lesson to be learned from the world of celebrity, it’s ‘What goes up, must come down’. Or to be more blunt, “Build ‘em up, to tear ‘em down!’. Female pop divas have always served as a good example of this: Madonna, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and most recently Christina Aguilera. But now that Christina’s popularity is back on the rise, has the torch and pitchfork wielding media decided that Beyonce will be their next victim?
This certainly isn’t the first time that Beyonce has stumbled, though. Back in 2006, her career nearly took a fatal tumble when the first two singles from her sophomore album B’Day underperformed on the charts, and Jennifer Hudson unexpectedly upstaged her in Dreamgirls – But Bey turned things around thanks to an enormous hit single “Irreplaceable”, a high-profile collaboration with the universally loved Shakira, and a successful world tour.
The only difference was that Bey was then managed by her father Mathew Knowles, whom she has since fired. Knowles’ cutthroat approach to business was often partly credited as getting Beyonce to where she is today, and now that he’s out of the picture, things seem to be unraveling fast.
Are people simply sick of Beyonce? Has Rihanna replaced her? Or is this just a small stumble? It’s still too early to tell, but this album era will prove whether or not Beyonce really is the independent woman that she so often portrays, or if she’s simply nothing more than Daddy’s little girl who can’t make it on her own.
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Is Bey's new era the next "Bionic"? Will Rihanna replace her as the Queen of R&B-Pop?
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Member Since: 5/27/2010
Posts: 37,025
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Rather premature, to say the least. And I feel like calling Rihanna "R&B-Pop" is a bit of a stretch.
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Member Since: 9/7/2010
Posts: 28,471
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Dear God  This is from The Prophet Blog, Beyonce's biggest hater on The Planet Earth.
FAIL
FAIL
FAIL
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Member Since: 11/14/2009
Posts: 4,159
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oh, and no.
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Member Since: 6/8/2008
Posts: 24,791
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I have this thread bookmarked because some girls are about to be bald when the posts start rolling in.
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Member Since: 4/12/2011
Posts: 6,718
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Member Since: 5/15/2010
Posts: 8,120
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Let's see how Bey does with her comeback, if she fails a la Xtina... I think yes. It depends on the 2nd single now.
WTF Girls is #138 on iTunes?  
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Member Since: 6/1/2010
Posts: 65,177
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Enough with "R&B-Pop" when speaking of Rihanna.
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Member Since: 4/12/2011
Posts: 6,718
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I'll wait for other stanbases to talk 1st
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Member Since: 2/15/2010
Posts: 26,154
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The Prophet is so mentally pressed, depressed, mad, jealous of Beyoncé. 
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Member Since: 12/23/2010
Posts: 3,058
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I never thought Beyoncé was part of the trinity anyway.
Her music is very hit-and-miss. She could be the biggest star in the world with her voice and dancing, but she's surrounded herself with "Yes" people and so she releases 2 - 3 bad songs every era.
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Member Since: 8/23/2010
Posts: 16,089
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People keep trying too much to compare that girl to Beyoncé.
And the prophet blog, really?I really think it'll be pointless for bey stans to even adress this.
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Member Since: 5/14/2009
Posts: 34,871
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Member Since: 5/15/2010
Posts: 8,120
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Quote:
Originally posted by Cap10Planet
Enough with "R&B-Pop" when speaking of Rihanna.
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She's 99% pop but they say that cause she's black. 
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Member Since: 9/27/2010
Posts: 22,568
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No. 
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Member Since: 8/4/2009
Posts: 10,735
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The answer is YAS!
Takes my hoop earrings and 6 inch pumps off cuz I kno Ima need to drag a few people in a bit
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Member Since: 4/9/2011
Posts: 5,143
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Member Since: 11/3/2010
Posts: 5,183
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Who cares?
They're both very entertaining. Beyonce did flop with the Girls single but she'll bounce back either with a really hot video or hot 2nd single.
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Member Since: 9/23/2009
Posts: 26,796
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Quote:
Originally posted by A Muse
[CENTER] |
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Member Since: 4/9/2011
Posts: 5,143
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oh and just b/c she has more hit singles than Bey means nothing, like seriously? come talk to me when she starts receiving awards and praises for her vocals, performances and albums. i wish people would stop comparing them
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