She Has You Distracted Again
Beyoncé is on tour again. It’s the second time she has had explicit cultural relevance since the genocide in Gaza “started.” This week she sang the National Anthem1 accompanied by Jimi Hendrix’s 1969 Woodstock version. Stans are stating that she’s making a statement. But there’s nothing revolutionary about this performance of revolution. It amplifies the failed experiment of liberalism and identity politics.
In 1969, when Jimi Hendrix2 was the highest paid rock artist in the world, he performed a mutilated version of The Star Spangled Banner in Vietnam War divided America. When asked if the performance was a protest to the Vietnam War, he said he matched the energy of the audience. Responding to the times, even if he never explicitly said he was anti-Vietnam War.
In 1962, Hendrix pretended to be gay to get honorably discharged from the Army.
By this time in his life, he knew he had a musical gift and needed to leave the paratrooper life behind.
At age 15 in 1958, Jimi Hendrix’s mother, Lucille, died at age 33 of cirrhosis of the liver (and poverty). His father, Al, gave Jimi and his brother a shot of whiskey and told them this is how men deal with loss instead of taking them to her funeral.
Beyoncé is a billionaire whose mother is her right hand. Her mother, Celestine nicknamed “Tina”, has been fundamental in her career from the beginning. Both Tina and Beyonce have made motherhood their brand. Ms. Tina is currently on a book tour promoting her book, Matriarch, and being interviewed by the finest, elitist, and sacrificial mothers the Black community has to offer like a laid edges Michelle Obama.
The book cover features a thick, white border separating the gilded frame from the hands of the person stocking the shelves. Or the person quickly skimming to see if it’s worth $35.00 instead of compulsively buying it because they’re Knowles family loyalists.
All of this is a distraction.
If you want a Jimi Hendrix moment, you must have something to say. It must make colonizers of all colors uncomfortable. You must be willing to put your image on the line and be seen in a new light that isn’t aesthetically pleasing. A new light that can’t be rebranded, optimized, or monetized.
Your integrity as an artist is never at stake in these situations, only cemented.
Burning an American flag is not a statement.3 You know who also burns things? The KKK and settlers on indigenous lands. In fact, Israel is burning right now. Put that on the screen behind you, Beyoncé, and praise dance.
Even Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire just looked cool. You could argue it was a display of class and upward mobility because he used to be so broke he joined the army. If you twist it around like that it could be political. Or it simply looked cool. It’s fine for things to just look cool.
Fire is purifying and in fact can be a statement. In fact, last year was a year of self immolation. Where former soldiers, journalists, and incarcerated individuals burned their bodies (often to death) as a political protest of the US funding Gaza’s genocide, Trump’s trial, and prison conditions.
Fire only has gravity if your wellbeing is sacrificed.
The time to make a statement was in 2023 when white settlers in Palestine danced in pure revelry to your concert film while Palestinians were bombed and starved to death. We saw both back-to-back on our blood phones while scrolling on the toilet.
And Beyoncé stayed silent.
What bell hooks said about Beyoncé rings truer every year. In 2016, in response to seeing the Lemonade visual album, hooks simply said, “It does not resolve.”
What Angelica Jade Bastién said about Renaissance: A Film (2023) rings a louder alarm every year. In Vulture she wrote, “Beyoncé has been a remote star for years, someone far more content with having her dedicated Hive project upon her than speaking for herself.” Projection creates delusion and that is how America has gotten in this predictable tumultuous place via politics, celebrity culture, and the over optimization of every aspect of our lives.
In this Cowboy Carter era, especially, ask yourself what image Beyoncé is hoping to maintain by showing loosely incendiary symbols that you recognize and elevate without her explicitly stating her beliefs.
Revolutionaries don’t live in ivory towers and create brands (alcohol, hair line, perfume, denim, athleisure, jewelry…) during recessions.
Beyoncé is an artist that relies on your projection to fill in the blanks of her apolitical statements to falsely turn them into revolutionary acts. When that social experiment fails, you see images that assuage useless, liberal egos and secure capital gains while you pay for her great grandchildren’s weddings with your payment plans for tickets.4
She has you distracted again.5
Why the fuck are you performing the National Anthem anyway?
I should have sources for all the Jimi Hendrix facts but the real source is my obsession with The 27 Club when I was 17. I read every book about Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Kurt Cobain that I could find. Don’t worry. I can’t join The 27 Club. I’m 29 now. Shoutout to teenage obsessions.
Let the white supremacists keep the American flag. We’ll figure something else out later.
I don’t care if you agree with me. Stop giving billionaires your money. Even if they’re Black!
I’ll write an ice cream review next time, I swear
You’re right and you should say it
I agree with so much of this! The exploitation of terms like “feminism” and using revolutionary imagery as a cash grab is concerning. But she won’t stop, because it works. It’s also interesting to ask, why do we expect celebrities (mainly black and brown celebrities) to do better? Is it because they’re the last relevant cultural icons? Is this what we’ve come to, begging celebrities to speak up politically because we know that average, normal citizens (consumers) won’t be heard?
If we’re relying on billionaires to voice our concerns to the upper political class, then were royally fucked.