Mia Bertrand explores the developing persona of renowned singer Beyoncé throughout her career spanning over three decades.
Mia Bertrand
Introduction
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, a world-renowned pop diva icon now known solely as Beyoncé, was raised in a tight-knit family who supported her aspirations from the very beginning. While during her youth Beyoncé’s family emphasized the importance of staying grounded, faithful to God, and remaining business-oriented, her growing success naturally came along with changes in her overall public persona, thanks to influences like Rich Harrison, a producer for her “Dangerously In Love” album.
From the very creation of Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé’s alter ego, to letting go of her insecurities and finding her place in the world as a strong black woman, Beyoncé exhibited changes when comparing her persona from her days in Destiny’s Child to her solo career. The continuities and changes of Beyonce’s psyche over the course of her career illustrate how she has achieved such an untouchable amount of success.
Going back to her upbringing, Beyoncé had great role models in her life to emulate and look up to. Her father, Mathew Knowles, was very involved in “civil rights activism and after reading in school about the racial struggles of that divisive period, she took great pride in his participation and thought her father showed courage.” Seeing how inclusive and strong headed her father was when it came to basic human rights for all, even during the early stages of her life, influenced Beyoncé to maintain her father’s unwavering sentiment for equality. For instance, in her 2008 music video for “Single Ladies'', Beyoncé took a lot of inspiration from the LGBTQ+ community’s dance styles. At the time, it wasn’t necessarily a popular move for someone to align themselves with homosexuality or to advocate for them in any way. Before gay marriage was legal and more accepted by the public, people were heavily mistreated for their sexuality. For Beyoncé, including the LGBTQ+ community was a no-brainer as she grew up treating everyone equally. This music video was her way of saying “I see you all and I love this. This is so dope and I’m going to make a whole entire video of it. No cuts. No anything. It’s going to be just us celebrating these dance moves.” She had no motivation outside of her pursuit for equality that pushed her to give recognition to a community she herself isn’t a part of. Not only that, but earlier in 2006 for her single, “Get Me Bodied”, she went as far as to “hire two gay dancers and said ‘snap for the kids.’” Her inclusion of LGBTQ+ community slang as well as having openly gay men performing in her music videos is a testament to her continuous support for human rights, just as her father taught her.
Mathew also instilled a strong sense for business within Beyoncé which would later explain how she effectively “booked her own time at Sony Studios in New York, paid for it herself and finished the album in three weeks-a very smart move, considering most artists have the label pay for studio time and then have to recoup it from album sales.” This way, if Beyoncé’s “B’day” album were to take off tremendously, she would owe nothing to her label and could reap all the benefits, which is exactly what happened. She knew the intricacies of business from the age of seven because her father not only represented her, but took her behind the scenes to show her the ins and outs of the music industry, showing her that it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. To get ahead in the business, she was going to need to look out for herself as well as for people who would try and use her for their own personal benefit. One can easily draw a line between the tactics Beyoncé used in her solo career to the techniques her father exhibited in the early days of Destiny’s Child. Mathew believed “music [was] important, but [also it was essential to do] imaging, the marketing, the promotions, all in sync,” if the girls wanted to truly succeed. He marketed the girls as mature and closer to adulthood despite them being only 15-years-old because he knew the market response would be more profitable. These are the kind of problem-solving skills that Beyoncé would inherit and continuously use throughout her budding career.
These skills were even more evident when she saw an opportunity to break into film and television after going solo to create a larger portfolio for herself, as well as shedding the idea of being a child star from her new pop diva image. Playing Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers was a huge turning point for her because she knew “the more movies [she does] and the more TV shows that [she does], the more people obviously know [her], and… after all these wonderful opportunities, people recognize [her] more.” Instead of only associating her with the schoolgirl style of Destiny’s Child, people were going to see her as Foxxy Cleopatra, a purposefully sexy and outgoing character fitting of a diva. This would parlay into her actual persona she was creating for her album “Dangerously in Love” alongside producer Rich Harrison. Using a business forward mindset such as her father’s made Beyoncé’s transition from one persona to the next very seamless, which inevitably led to greater money and more success. Without her father keeping this mindset constantly burning in Beyoncé’s brain, she might never have seen as much success as she did as a solo artist. This is because “when [she combines] musical talents and the success, [Beyoncé] can spread that success to other movies… it just broadens [one's] appeal and takes [them] to a whole nother level." The intuition of marketing and knowing when to make the right business moves clearly didn’t fall far from the family tree.
On the other hand her mother, Tina Knowles, who was another role model of Beyoncé’s, recognized her talents but did not want her to be completely changed by them. She kept Beyoncé in line even when she was beginning to explode in popularity over Destiny’s Child by treating her no different than her sister who, at the time, was just an average girl. The girls were taught manners and were punished all the same for being disrespectful. After one particular punishment dealt by Tina Knowles because Beyoncé ignored her in a record store, Beyoncé recalls learning to “never [take] herself and her accomplishments that seriously-- she abandoned any airs of self-importance.” Her mother instilled in her a sense of modesty for all of the success she would eventually achieve in her life. These lessons are what kept her so grounded despite receiving some of the biggest accolades a singer can accomplish.
Even though Beyoncé split from her bandmates in Destiny’s Child, she remains appreciative for them and cherishes the memories they made together. Even towards the group’s end she remained positive, saying “the trio believes they're splitting up for the right reasons. Not because one person wants to go solo. Or not because [they] don't like each other. Or because [they’re] not selling records anymore. But because it has to end at a certain point.” She continuously sees them as her equals despite the fact that she later became more famous than them. As the aforementioned quote stated, choosing to go solo for Beyoncé was not due to a selfish desire that she had outside of the band, but because they were in fact going to split up anyway when they felt Destiny’s Child had run its full course. To this day, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, her bandmates, are still very close friends to Beyoncé. They even Zoom video-chatted all together during the birth of Rowland’s second child, Noah, in 2021 according to People’s Magazine. The modesty Tina instilled in her daughter from a young age not only allowed her to be more successful in the long run, but it also helped Beyoncé maintain deep relationships with people in the same industry as herself. There was no drama or rivalry between her former bandmates because Beyoncé always had a strong loyalty to family and friends thanks to her parents' teachings and guidance.
Tina also made it so that Beyoncé’s auditions for labels and singing practices were kept under wraps. She had a clear motive for this; Tina was worried if Beyoncé were to tell people, “they would think she is a snob or tease her about record deals and pretensions of fame,” especially because Beyoncé already experienced the cruelty of her classmates through bullying. Tina didn’t feel like giving them more ammunition to tear her down and she also didn’t want Beyoncé to grow an ego from her potential success and overwhelming talent. Modesty was a very important aspect for all the Destiny’s Child girls to learn at a very young age; Beyoncé was lucky enough to learn it early on, making itpossible for her to remain humble throughout the entirety of her career.
Faith was another constant factor in Beyoncé’s persona which held strong from her youth late into her current career. It was this “faith in family and a Supreme Being [that] would help her [in the long run] emerge a stronger and wiser person.” Her mother, being a devout Catholic, passed down some of those traits to her daughters and they all regularly attended their local congregation. This sense of community was important for Beyoncé because it gave her a cushion to fall back on if she were to ever fall while searching for fame. While facing an overwhelming amount of rejection as a child from the many auditions she did before signing for Destiny’s Child, she would draw on her faith to keep her from sinking too deep into a depression. She was able to “console herself with the thought that God watched over her and weeded out people on the periphery of her life.” This was exemplified when two girls in Destiny’s Child filed a defamation lawsuit against Mathew Knowles, who was both Beyoncé’s father and the band’s manager, because they felt he prioritized Beyoncé’s success over theirs. She had faith in her father and in God that things would always get better. Another tough time for Beyoncé was when Beyoncé’s parents separated for six months due to Mathew Knowles prioritizing Destiny’s Child over his own family. When it felt like her whole world was shattering around her, Beyoncé “turned to the church for support… On some level she knew her faith would help her manage and cope with her parents’ six month separation.”
Later on in Beyoncé’s life, people wondered how such a sexually charged figure like herself came to be, and how she could hold onto her religion since they seemingly juxtaposed each other. Beyoncé explained that “when people talk about religion they think about nuns,” but this is an unrealistic depiction of modern women. Women, just like anyone else, are allowed to be themselves while also following the teachings of the Bible. She knows that as she has grown and matured into womanhood “it’s possible to believe in God and live life right and still be sexy.” Here was a woman who unapologetically owned both her religion and her body before the public eye. “Though Beyoncé was a young woman owning her sexual prowess, she hadn’t strayed too far away from her Christian roots. Those inside Southern Black church culture knew such a declaration was important.”. As Beyoncé explained, one can embrace their true selves and still be loveable in God’s eyes.
This plays into another continuity of Beyoncé's activism for human rights, including women and the LBGTQ+, which was touched upon earlier. Despite the potential backlash from media as well as some of the biggest Catholic churches, Beyoncé always advocated for women and showed that there is nothing wrong with being promiscuous or having multiple sexual partners. This is because God loves all no matter one's sexuality and their means of expressing it; a sentiment Beyoncé continues to advertise through her music.
With her album “Lemonade”, Beyoncé went beyond “traditional Christianity’s controversial and contradictory messages of Black womanhood and sexuality… [showing] it’s impossible for Black women’s spirituality to experience fullness solely in mainstream church.” Black girls in the South were taught traditionally that what God wanted was a good girl who only had room in her heart for faith, leaving no room for emotions like anger or sadness. Beyoncé flips this idea on its head with “Lemonade”, as she is being vocally emotional after being betrayed by her husband, Jay-Z, through his numerous infidelities, and simultaneously looking to God for help during such a trying time in her life. This album thus “reflects the harmony many Black women have found once they accepted this” themselves. Beyoncé remains consistent in her faith by also remaining true to herself, which was a very influential example for many other black women to see in mainstream media.
Despite how self-confident Beyoncé seems now, this was not always the case. A pivotal change needed to occur in Beyoncé’s life for her to ever go into a music career. Surprisingly, she was actually rather shy as a child and would get overwhelming panic attacks when the public’s gaze was centered on her. She faced this issue often when she began singing as a young girl. Stage fright would hit Beyoncé during her performances and she would buckle over in fear. During the St. Mary’s talent show in 1988, “Beyoncé… remembers walking out and feeling disconnected, as if she could not speak, much less sing. She stood rigid, almost catatonic, in front of a sea of strange faces and did not know what to do.” The same “introverted little girl who had difficulty making new friends” was now going to have to find a way to overcome her shyness if she wanted to be a star. Thankfully, with a strong support system and a familiarity with the music she was going to perform, it didn’t take too long for Beyoncé to get over the stage fright. Despite remaining very shy in person, she found courage on stage claiming, “that [she] felt at home on… stage, more than anywhere else.” This was most likely thanks to the dance lessons her parents enrolled Beyoncé in, because she was able to be herself and make friends while practicing. Darlette Johnson, her dance instructor, was also influential in busting her stage fright because she “was the first person to persuade Beyoncé that she had musical talent, contributing greatly to Beyoncé’s career by instilling a sense of confidence in the youngster as well as discipline and a positive attitude,” Beyoncé was allowed to make mistakes, which was a concept that was hard for her to grasp considering she felt she always needed to be on her A-game to get signed. Johnson was the woman who soothed Beyoncé through her panic attacks and fear of messing up so that she could give it her all on stage. The outside influence of Johnson was a pivotal point for Beyoncé because, besides her mother, she now had another strong woman to depend on. Johnson was able to change Beyoncé’s view of performing and that paved the way for all the success she had from then on.
Along with Beyoncé’s shyness was her deeply rooted body insecurities which needed to be addressed if she were to ever become comfortable in her own skin. Ever since she was little, “insecurities about her body… plagued her… [her] head was smaller and [she] looked like [she] had big Dumbo ears… She also was taunted about her weight, other kids using words like ‘chunky’ or ‘chubby.’” Going into adulthood, these things would linger in her psyche because they had been told to her many times before. Once she was a part of Destiny’s Child, it was “recommended that Beyoncé lose weight… This often engendered resentment over her inability to eat like a ‘normal’ teen.” She also subconsciously confirmed her existing suspicion that she was overweight and unattractive because her parents were the ones who put her onto these diets in the first place. For many years following her debut into the public “Beyoncé let newspaper articles and people’s opinions bother her, she never said anything that might alienate the public.” This, of course, was a strategic move on her part to not show people they had gotten under her skin. However, the pain from the tabloids and gossip still consumed her. As she grew older and her relationship with Jay-Z became more serious, “the rumors can only multiply, with the gossip mill churning out regular announcements of pregnancies, miscarriages, abortions, separations, divorces, adoptions, quarrels.” Beyoncé needed a way to reclaim her womanhood as well as her own body when so many people had made it a public talking point. The only way to develop her self-esteem and overcome harsh gossip was to develop her persona into the boss Queen Bey her fans know and love. This is where her producer, Rich Harrison, played an immense role in helping her cultivate the Beyoncé she wanted to show to the world. They were both very aware of “so many people working out of their basements who [were] hungry… [they didn’t] want [their] stuff to sound like everybody else’s. That vision evolved into the album ‘Dangerously in Love.’” This is where Rich Harrison helped to produce a sound fitting of a strong black woman confident of herself and her looks.
She always had an idea of what kind of image she wanted to display to the public even if it didn't match her off stage lifestyle. With her debut album “Dangerously in Love”, she unleashed her on-stage persona known as Sasha Fierce. This alter ego of hers allowed her to be the sexy and curvy girl Beyoncé didn’t feel confident enough to be in her regular life. When she was on stage she rid herself of all insecurities because “Sasha never felt self-conscious or inept; she knew how to flaunt without offending and Sasha asserted herself without apology.” Beyoncé insists that this is not how she ever actually was, but it was necessary to have Sasha from her solo career and beyond because she “created [her] stage persona to protect [herself].” In order to overcome her previous body issues and face all the upcoming coverage she’d receive by going solo, Harrison and her both knew she needed Sasha as a makeshift shield. Sasha was capable of handling shots fired at Beyoncé. Not only that, but Sasha was a fierce performer where she could shed herself of “her more shy offstage personality” and become the “self-possessed, sexy diva… once she hit the stage.” Both Harrison and Beyoncé also knew how to use this side of herself to achieve the best performance possible in the studio, whichexplains why her solo album ended up being such a huge success. Without fully embracing this alter ego, Beyoncé never would’ve been able to create such a unique sound for her future albums. It is very possible that without Sasha, this success after leaving Destiny’s child might not have been achieved or would have been on a smaller scale. Sasha, although a false self, later led to Beyoncé being able to accept herself as a young black woman in such a hard industry.
The changes and continuities in Beyoncé’s career all aided in making up the successes seen later in her career. “Lemonade” and “Dangerously in Love” are both carefully crafted works of art which show just how much she changed as well as stayed consistent in terms of her persona. Through teachers like Mathew and Tina Knowles, she learned many lessons about doing business, maintaining a modest ego, and being faithful to God even during hard times. With the additional guidance of producers like Rich Harrison, Beyoncé could go on to evolve her image change it to fit what she thought would make her the most successful. This led to the creation of her alter ego Sasha Fierce, an unapologetic force in the music industry who would stop at nothing to flaunt all her positive attributes, including her body. Sasha Fierce paved a way for Beyoncé to become more like her alter ego as she was essentially faking it until she made it. It eventually developed to the point where she would no longer need to depend on the idea of Sasha Fierce as much because she had finally learned to let go of other people's opinions of her. She can now be secure with who she is as a person, which is why Beyoncé is one of the most successful performers in the world. A pop diva icon who is known for not only sticking to her roots, but also for growing into a mature and powerful woman.
References
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