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Originally posted by swissman
What really differentiates Beyoncé from these women is that they relied heavily on the music industry’s structure, and still do in many ways.
Beyoncé was born from that, but now has broken out of it and it doesn’t take much to see that now her pop music existence is almost entirely living in it’s own ecosystem. She doesn’t play the game, but she still is owning. She knows her power and is dominating with it. That is legendary in itself. Just look at how Formation swept the VMA nominations but the video is still unlisted. Look at how Beyoncé cuts her deals to suit her needs, and so what if maybe it won’t sell? (It still did). Look at how she self-sabotages all her singles and yet they still manage to be impactful. When was the last time a non-single sparked such an iconic line as “I woke up like this?” Look at how she doesn’t promote, perform or interview.
It’s unfortunate that people want to downplay what she’s doing and what she’s done, bringing up petty reasons as to why she should be disallowed to be considered a legend, when in reality she’s smashed out of pop music and still is soaring.
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Beyoncé not doing interviews or releasing singles consistently does not put her above those that came before her. I agree that Beyoncé has taken the foundation laid before her, and blazed her own trail from it. But what you're not mentioning is that the same thing Beyoncé did, Whitney, Janet, Mariah and Madonna did the same before her. All 4 did things that wasn't being done before them.
Whitney is by far the greatest female singer of the last 40 years as well as the most successful and impactful black female artist of the last 40 years. Her fusion of pop music with gospel roots made her the standard for singers following after her. Her presence on MTV as a black female also paved the way for other singers such as Janet to receive heavy rotation. Her performance of the SSB at the Superbowl is one of the most iconic moments in music history. It not only served as a template for future NA performers to follow, it presented Whitney as a symbol of hope and patriotism. A honor that had not been bestowed upon a black female singer in such a way before her. She became a national treasure in 1991. She was of the 80's and 90's what Aretha was of the 60's and 70's. A true diva. No female artist was as successful as Whitney in terms of being an actress, an artist and live performer simultaneously. She was not the first, but no one was as commercially successful in all arenas as she was. Also, no black female had as much crossover success as she did. She broke that barrier for people like Janet, Mariah and eventually Beyoncé to have crossover success.
Mariah was an anomaly in that she achieved as many #1's as a female solo artist as she did and they were all solely written by her. No other female artist has that to their credit. Also, her collaborating with a rapper as a big-voiced diva was also impactful. Again, she wasn't the first to do that, but she had the most impact with it. And that in turn, paved the way for other artists to do the same.
Before Janet, there was no female artist who danced like her, nor did the videos she did. You can't find me one female artist who did anything like What Have You Done For Me Lately or any artist period who did anything like Nasty. She single-handedly revolutionized the music video medium. That was something artists before didn't do, nor had the opportunity to do. She used the MTV platform to mark her path. Also, like Madonna, the way she presented sex was still a taboo in the early 90's and was not as overt as they did. There's a reason why her Rolling Stone cover is the most replicated cover in pop culture. No one had ever done anything like that prior. And that's not to say she was the first to sell sex, but because of the path laid before by people like Josephine Baker, Donna Summer and Diana Ross, that enabled her not only present sexuality into her work, but take it further and make it inoactful.
Madonna shifted the paradigm completely, and redefined the pop star mold. She was a pioneer of infusing taboo topics and societal issues into her work and making it art. She's gone further than probably any artist before her in discussing sex when she did her Sex Book. Because she went as far as she did with that book, it made selling sex more of a norm, and less shocking, thus making her the standard in that respect. Probably her biggest contribution has been as a live performer. Her stage shows, split into sections, told stories and the moving parts within them made creating thematic shows a THING.
Celine sang My Heart Will Go On and the song won an Oscar.
And much like Beyonce, they all inked historic record deals that artists before them had not. And Madonna, Janet and Whitney all did tours that artists before them did not and were not able to do. The fact that they were able to do arenas and stadiums was one thing most artists couldn't due to the number of arenas and stadiums being significantly lower in in the 60's and 70's. Which is why you saw so many huge artists back then doing theaters and amphitheater residences.
None of this is to discredit Beyoncé, but you can't say she isn't relying on the musical structure and those before her did, when they were the ones who changed the industry, making it possible for artists like Beyoncé to do what she's doing.
