Beyoncé Knowles is a hero to many women and people of color. She has revolutionized the music industry and become a champion for human rights. Outside of her industry, Beyoncé uses her money and power to fund a long list of charities. Not only does she have a soulful voice and a giving heart, but her lyrics are also empowering women all over the world. Although she began as only an artist, Beyoncé has evolved into an inspiration for all young women, including me. In 2006, Beyoncé Knowles was a member of the group Destiny’s Child. When Hurricane Katrina hit the coast of the U.S., Knowles co-founded the Survivor Foundation with her fellow group members in order to provide aid to those affected. The foundation was named after the Destiny’s Child hit song “Survivor” which encourages those who are down not to give up. The group’s success up to this point in their career had been built upon many inspiring songs with similar themes. They released three songs titled “Independent Women” including two parts and a remix. These quickly became an anthem for females trying to support themselves in the face of adversity, topping the Billboard Hot 100 charts at number one for eleven consecutive weeks. …show more content…
One of her first number one solo releases, “Me, Myself, and I,” depicts the story of a woman’s transformation into a liberated individual after leaving her cheating companion to pursue a better life. Later in her career, Beyoncé released another girl-power anthem, “Run the World (Girls),” on her fourth unaccompanied album. Performing the song, she headlined the first annual “Sound of Change” in her partnership with Chime for Change, a women’s rights organization that Knowles is co-founder of. The organization has helped support education for low-income children in America, provided pre-natal care to women in Liberia, and delivered countless other equality workshops and
In 2013, the self-titled visual album BEYONCÉ sold almost eight hundred thirty thousand digitally in the first three days, while her sixth number one and second visual album, Lemonade, only sold four hundred ninety thousand digitally in the first week. Although Beyoncé’s second visual album wasn’t numerically successful, both show a vulnerable, an artistic, and a controversial side of Beyoncé. Both albums have surprising visuals and stunning lyrical content with either an obvious meaning or a meaning we have yet to figure out, such as the famous line, “You better call Becky with the good hair.” (Beyoncé, “Sorry”). BEYONCÉ and Lemonade show that Beyoncé tries to better herself as an artist and make herself more vulnerable.
Demi Lovato is more than just a famous actress and singer. She has dedicated much of her time to her fans. Everyone faces their own battles and have their own insecurities, yet she inspires her fans to embrace and overpower them. She not only uses her vocals for singing, she uses it to reach out to her fans. In terms of sales (music and concert), advocating mental health, and philanthropy, Demi Lovato has changed the meaning of the music industry.
Whitney Houston is considered to be a legendary singer in the world today. Houston was not just a singer, she was an actress, producer, and model. Even though she is known for her singing voice, Whitney Houston had many ups and downs throughout her life, such as drug and health problems that almost ended her career. Throughout her singing career, she has been honored for her great singing voice. Whitney experienced many things in her personal life from being an outstanding woman, an award winning singer, and an actress and model.
She is not only an actress or singer, but she is a role model. She inspires tons of people and loves giving back to the community. She loves showing culture, going around talking to many people, and performing in many places. Queen Latifah inspires me. One day, I would like to be a big movie star and a big artist like her. Queen Latifah put her mind to the dreams that she wanted to accomplish and she accomplished them. Maybe, if I did the same thing, I could accomplish my dreams also. She has been through many of trials but she has came back from those trials stronger than
Being aired at the beginning of February, Beyoncé’s hit single Formation served as the 2016 Black History month anthem for numerous reasons. Beyoncé being a long standing musical, entertainment, and fashion icon, her shocking release of this hit shocked the world when she unapologetically portrayed her blackness through the representation of Southern roots. She begins this musical call to action by asking the question of what happened after New Orleans. Foreshadowing a socio-political tone, she begins by paying homage to a New Orleans YouTube activist, Messy Mya who was killed in 2010 and those affected by Hurricane Katrina. In this music video that last approximately five minutes Beyoncé evolves into her self-identified role of a Feminist by exhibiting her call to expressive womanhood and activism by calling discussing the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, Black aesthetics, family lineage, and the culture of the American South.
On February 7th during Super Bowl 50, Beyoncé took the field during the halftime show and shocked the world. She performed her new song “Formation”, which addressed all the criticism she received throughout her career, praised her African features, and paid tribute to Black History Month symbolizing The Black Panthers, Malcolm X, and Black Lives Matter Movement. This shocked everyone because they never thought out of all people Beyoncé would perform such a “racist” song. This performance received a lot of negative feedback which caused people to protest the NFL headquarters and say that she is promoting violent attacks against the police. Beyoncé’s super bowl performance was her way of stating she is unapologetically
As it opens with imagery reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, an event that devastated the black communities in the areas affected. The delayed assistance in New Orleans by the U.S. government stirred some controversy that led many to question how much America really cares about its black communities. Nonetheless, Beyoncé’s video is full of imagery that is associated with black culture, including historical references to black communities in the south. But what is really important about “Formation” are the lyrics. With lyrics like “My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana, You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas Bama” and “I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros, I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils,” Beyoncé is undoubtedly declaring her pride for her blackness as well as defending her child Blue Ivy who has always been scrutinized for the way her hair looked. Thus, this song is obviously geared toward the Black community which is obvious due to the lyrics and the imagery in the music video. To put it plainly, this song is a proclamation of Black pride and shouldn’t be thought of in any other way. However, after performing it at the Super Bowl people of other ethnicities became aware of the song and became offended by her performance as well as the lyrics. Controversy arose as people pointed out her backup dancers were dressed similarly to the Black Panther
She has become an acclaimed author, poet, and director. She has overcome many obstacles in life to achieve her status today. She was a black woman, single mother during a time when neither was expectable. She faced struggles that many of us today could not handle. In her poem "
On December 13, 2013 Beyoncé - who was named by the Time magazine as the most influential person of the year 2014 - unexpectedly released a self-titled visual album that went viral on the Internet, that is, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and sold 828,773 electronic copies in three days becoming the fastest-selling album in iTunes Store history. After the release of the album the artist posted coupe of videos where she was walking her fans through her songs and music videos in the album explaining what was intention and the idea behind each song. In one of those videos she speaks about how she was looking for some videos on feminism on YouTube, and when she saw a TEDx video from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talking about feminism, Beyoncé decided to use it for her new single – Flawless - as in her opinion the music and the Adichie’s video suited very well with each other. By the end of the explanatory video she talks about ‘imperfection’ and embracing one’s imperfections, which she links to her another single Pretty Hurts. This song features the issues of sexual objectification of female bodies and the culture of perfection where women are valued only for their beauty. In another explanatory video she talks about owning her sexuality and body, especially after her pregnancy. As she explains it was her joy and her confidence that allowed her to show her body to the public. In the video she mentions that she is very well aware of the fact that she is showing her body, and that she is doing this partly for other women as well to empower them, and give them an example that you can own your body and your sexuality, even after body goes into a lot of transformations during pregnancy.
It leads toward the development of women’s presence and existence in the music industry. This song played a huge role in popular culture and music. Women started to get themselves involved in social media such as television and radio station to promote feminism. Popular culture was one of the site to reproduce gender inequalities. Women’s mind was stored with the idea of false image on femininity. “No more Miss America!” campaign motivated women to eliminate low class status by pleasing audiences with their body and appearance. (‘No more Miss America! [1968] (1970,
Motivation provides the driving force for direction and persistence toward a defined goal. Beyoncé has a high need for achievement that motivates her to keep working on new material. In an interview with MTV Beyoncé said, “I am a workaholic and I don’t believe in no. I don’t believe in I need to sleep” (Lepore, 2011). She has earned many awards, honors, and accolades because of her determination to be one of the greatest performers. In the last five years, Beyoncé has used empowerment as an essential motivational key to continuously progress in her craft. In 2011, Beyoncé fired her manager of fifteen years and she began to take full responsibility for her creative and financial obligations. From this experience she has become self-determined and has a high influence on her career path (Lepore,
Before, Beyoncé can be perceived as a feminist or not, first a person must ask and understand what a feminist is. Many people may have an image in their head of a feminist, as a reflection of the Miss America Protest of 1968; this was the second wave of feminism, where hundreds of liberal women protested against pageant and what it stood for (Napikoski, n.d.). “The second wave was increasingly theoretical, based on a fusion of neo-Marxism and psycho-analytical theory, and began to associate the subjugation of women with broader critiques of patriarchy, capita...
It has been played in many other countries and is listed in many major hit charts in those countries. It became one of her best-selling singles. Beyoncé has been singing about women’s independence since she was in the hit group “Destiny’s Child”. Many of her songs support women’s lifestyle and keep cheering up girls with her powerful and expressive vocals (Armstrong). In addition to her songs and lyrics, her beautiful appearance fascinates many female audiences and influences from teenagers to grown-ups as if she was a role model. A negative side of the video is that the video gives the impression that men are always to be blamed and women are always “victims” of the relationships, which is not
In conclusion, she is a very good role model. She is a good role model because she shows people it is good to give to charity and she is a hard worker. She also shows that you don’t need to have inappropriate songs or inappropriate performances to be popular. This is why she is my favorite superstar and I wanted to write a research paper on her.
Oprah Winfrey is an African American woman who is known as a U.S. media celebrity. She has done so much to contribute to society as we know it and her legacy will forever live on. Mrs. Winfrey is well known and she uses her platform for positivity and love, which is a huge reason for her success. She is an intelligent leader who worked hard for the spot she has in life and strives to encourage others to be successful also. Mrs. Winfrey has written books, acted and produced films, hosted an infamous television show, and given to charities. Her hard work and dedication has made her one of the most influential women of all time. She strived for greatness and accomplished what she wanted out of life, despite various obstacles that had been in the