Full Description
Who runs the world? The Beyhive knows. From the Destiny's Child 2001 hit single "Survivor" to her 2019 jam "7/11," Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has confronted dominant issues around the world. Because her image is linked with debates on race, sexuality, and female empowerment, she has become a central figure in pop music and pop culture. Beyoncé: At Work, On Screen, and Online explores her work as a singer, activist, and artist by taking a deep dive into her songs, videos, and performances, as well as responses from her fans. Contributors look at Beyoncé's entire body of work to examine her status as a canonical figure in modern music and do not shy away from questioning scandals or weighing her social contributions against the evolution of feminism, critical race theory, authenticity, and more. Full of examples from throughout Beyoncé's career, this volume presents listening as a political undertaking that generates meaning and creates community. Beyoncé: At Work, On Screen, and Online contends that because of her willingness to address societal issues within her career, Beyoncé has become an important touchstone for an entire generation—all in a day's work for Queen Bey.
Contents
Introduction
Part I: Beyoncé at Work, Making Beyoncé
1. Surviving the Hustle: Beyoncé's Performance of Work
2. "A Scientist of Songs": Beyoncé's Recording Studio Music Making and the Problem of Authorship in Popular Music
3. "Singing All The Time": Constructions of Cultural Identity in Beyoncé's I am... Sasha Fierce
Part II: Beyoncé On Screen, Reading Beyoncé
4. Beyoncé's Mixed Media Feminism: Sounding, Staging, and Sampling Gender Politics in "***Flawless"
5. "At Last a Dream That I Can Call My Own": Beyoncé and the Performance of Stardom in Dreamgirls and Cadillac Records
6. For the Texas Bama Femme: A Black Queer Femme-inist Reading of Beyoncé's "Sorry"
7. Gypsying Beyoncé: The Latin Crossover through Hispanic Stereotypes
Part III: Beyoncé Online, Re-presenting Beyoncé
8. Unlikely Resemblances: "Single Ladies," and Comparative Judgment of Popular Dance
9. "I See Music": Beyoncé, YouTube, and the Question of Signed-Songs
10. "Girl I'm Tryna Kick It With Ya": Tracing the Reception of "7/11"'s Embodiment of Girl/Bedroom Culture Through YouTube Reaction Videos
Bibliography
Index
