I won't kill
But I should try to explain myself...
When I say "genius", I'm referring to the whole thing. So, not just music, but also videos, style, moves, ideas, general risk taking, and so on. But nevertheless, I do think Beyonce is a fairly serious musician.
Let me try and back it up.
1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyHVQT8aIBM
I can only assume you guys dislike "Single Ladies".
If you really think about it though, this is such a weird, oddly structured and unusual song, with a pretty unusual video. It's outside the bounds of normal, consumer oriented R&B or the type of stuff that say "Rihanna" will generally put out. It's quite a daring song, with a daring clip, and yet it all came together so strikingly that it became a huge hit - as well as entering the pop zeitgeist. If anybody watches the popular TV show Glee, you'll know what I mean, as there is a multi-episode story arc revolving around a gay kid joining the football team, and using the Single Ladies dance to motivate the team. Hilarious and yet completely great fun. The point is, the song and the video/dancing had ongoing impact. You don't often see that.
2. Beyonces other work is often more about experimentation. She has a great voice, and could just be another Whitney or someone else with a great voice and nothing else, but instead she experiments and takes risks. Her songs are complex and often unconventional, and so are the videos. So, here's just another example.
"Flaws And All"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1nYrVqHzJw
3. Last year I discovered an unusual band called The Dirty Projectors, mainly through the song "Stillness Is The Move" which I think is really great (and so is the clip). So definitely try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMPF6lpM0XM
That's really creative pop to me - difficult to categorize, yet so oddly catchy.
What I didn't realize until later was that Beyonce is a fan of these guys (and these guys are fans of Beyonce). Surely an ordinary diva would be the last person you'd expect to be into (what looks like) a mix of electronics, R&B and Alpaca herding, but that's the point - Beyonce isn't typical.
And besides, what I'm saying is no revelation to anybody who follows her closely (this article talks about Beyonce and The Dirty Projectors)...
http://theamericanscene.com/2009/03/25/ ... in-america
So, Beyonce is experimental and she draws on diverse influences. This much I think we can say for sure.
Whether she's a genius, or whether it's more the credit of the team behind her, I don't know that for sure. But the end results are pretty interesting so far. Don't be fooled by a few songs that seem conventional or just have straight up sexy videos. There's a level of experimentation going on which I think is pretty interesting.
I could also argue that Beyonce's association with Gaga is a nod of respect to Gaga, particularly in the visual stakes (videos, costumes, image etc). The trouble with this though is (and the reason I said this before) Gaga is definitely visually experimental, but her songs are actually quite plain, simple and middle-of-the-road pop compared to Beyonce's. I think Gaga is well below her overall, and Beyonce probably shouldn't do any more duets or concept videos with her. Much better in the long term to stay just-left-of-mainstream, and keep building credibility, and let Gaga be the one who shoulders the burden of being "biggest pop star" in the world thanks to her likeable, standard pop music.
Rob.
