Controlling Image and the Celebrity Persona

I love Lemonade. I love it so much that I can't really pick exactly what to talk about. It was so beautiful and real and raw. And it was obviously very well thought through, with a team of producers and a crew of many many more people that probably spent a lot of time on the project. And so I think it's interesting that she has this crew that reworks her image and her persona. For me, Lemonade was a way for Beyonce to take control of her image again and create this persona that she wants, instead of one that the world seems to expect of her. There's just this dichotomy of her being an artist but also being a celebrity, because the artist should be able to express whatever they want and make social commentary, but as a celebrity that's somehow less acceptable as there a different set of norms and expectations. But Beyonce has been clear about what she thinks about herself-- "I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit!"She openly speaks about her vulnerability and her introversion and what this persona does for her, but it seems that vulnerability is somehow hidden in the shadow of this perfect image.

I think this is a particularly interesting concept, especially because of SNL's skit "The Day Beyonce Turned Black". The skit basically was highlighting the fact that previously, America was enamored with Beyonce, and because they loved her so much, it was as if she could not be black. They overlooked her blackness, and the intersectionality of her blackness and her femininity, and thus created this unrealistic image of perfection in Beyonce. It's funny because of SNL's previous skit about her, "The Beygency" makes fun of the way fans and people all across America have named her as the Queen (which she absolutely is) but that puts her under enormous pressure to be perfect, and that pressure continues to build with every new album or song she releases. So it might be that we accepted more so this celebrity air about her rather than her artistry and her work as a musician. So in that sense, her persona outgrew her as media outlets began to write more and more about her and the rest of America watched her closely, idolizing her every move, and somehow looking at her through rose-colored glasses of everything America needed her to be. And that perfection rejected her blackness and a lot of her power as a bold female.

Lemonade is undoubtedly a beautiful piece, but I think its main function is for Beyonce to reclaim her identity, and take artistic control of her work. It was basically an F You, I'm going to do what I want, and you're going to take all of me or none of me. And what she does, and what she seeming to say she really wants to do, is make her story a political commentary, make waves socially. She flaunts her femininity, and makes fun of these male images, and pronounces her blackness. She also steps away from pop and mixes in several different genres.

I think that it's really important that she steps away from pop-- Ed Sheeran was speaking about this in an interview, and even though he has an entirely different genre I think what he says as a celebrity and an artist rings true. In the podcast George Ezra and Friend, he stated that the next album he's making won't be pop. "The reason it’s not a pop album is people expect you to come and the next album they’re going to be like, ‘it has to be bigger than ‘Shape of You’ and it has to sell more than this.’ ... But if I control it and I’m like, ‘Here’s a lo-fi record that I really fucking love,’ my fans are gonna be like ‘Yay!’, and the pop world are gonna be like ‘oh well, maybe the next one." I think that applies to a lot of popular artists. There's this expectation to do bigger and better every time with pop. He goes to say the pressure also comes from the label. “The label hate that. The label really fucking hate that. They want a big pop album again, but I think that shit’s dangerous.”

And I agree, it is dangerous when your song overtakes your identity and the persona you created and somehow your expressions become exaggerated ideals or standards of perfection. And as a musician, you're expected to outperform yourself every time. And music is a strange industry because it's about speaking your truth and whatnot, but it's about the money. And Beyonce has been using that to her advantage. The name itself is going to sell and people will listen because of how big she's grown. But this was her moment telling the world, including her label, this is all a persona, and I'm in charge of it.

 Sheeran then talks about the idea of controlling that image by taking it down and taking a step away from pop. “My whole career I’ve studied Coldplay — Coldplay are fucking geniuses... Ghost Stories was their artistic moment, where they just brought it back down. They controlled it." So really, what if Lemonade was Beyonce taking a step away from all the fame and this image of perfection that the world pushed her into and taking artistic control of her work. Honestly, that's what I think this album is, because Beyonce chose to say what she had to say regardless of what would happen. It was about telling her story and in the process, empowering everyone else's. It's about the making the raw and real through its political and social commentary, snark and attitude, everything people say you shouldn't do and should be-- it's all in there. It's angry and frustrating and vulnerable and flirtatious and playful and fierce and seems to be a bundle of contradictions rolled into one album but it makes sense, because it captures something very human. And just watching it felt like breathing after a very long time of being trapped, and there was an immediate sense of empowerment and freedom. And I was trying to figure out why we felt that way, why I feel pretty damn amazing every time I listen to any one of the songs on the album, because Lemonade is liberating. And I think it's because it was honest and raw and vulnerable, but most of all it was because Beyonce was liberating herself.