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Beyonce: Greatest Pop Star of 21st Century Win Upsets Racist Swifties
134 Plays1 month ago
Billboard gave several reasons why Beyonce is the undisputed greatest pop star of the 21 century and Swifties lost their mind. Last weekend Taylor Swift fans flooded Twitter with racist tweets. Swift has been radio silent about her racist fans' messages. What does that say about Taylor?
For the first 3rd of the episode, I talk about my personal life, then I read some of the best quotes from Billboard's incredible article about Beyonce!! Now I'm inspired to make some episodes about my favorite Yonce songs. Stay tuned!
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Transcript
Controversy Over Billboard's Pop Star Ranking
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, y'all. Did you see the chaos that was erupting on Twitter over the weekend?
00:00:11
Speaker
Taylor Swift fans were irate that it was rumored that Beyonce would be named the number, or sorry, the greatest pop star of the 21st century by Billboard. Taylor Swift's fans weren't having it. And as a result, they were posting racist tweets.
00:00:36
Speaker
Now, Tyler, the creator has come out before that saying that Taylor Swift fans are racist. I know that in the past, Taylor Swift has been lauded by white supremacist groups.
Twitter's Role in Harassment and Bigotry
00:00:50
Speaker
They like that she is blonde haired and blue eyed and they consider her like this symbol of beauty for what is the word? Aryan features. So anyways, Taylor Swift fans were posting the most disgusting and deplorable racist tweets about Beyonce and I did retweet retweet some of their posts
00:01:23
Speaker
just to alert people to what was going on and to get all of those count accounts blocked from Twitter or deleted from Twitter. But as you know, when elong Elon Musk took over Twitter, he doesn't seem to really care about harassment or, you know, bigotry. Any, any of it. It seems totally okay with him.
Calls for Taylor Swift to Address Racism
00:01:50
Speaker
And so That was what happened over the weekend on Twitter. You know, Taylor Swift fans are so unhinged and I really hope that she speaks out about this. I have no faith in her that she'll do it, but I hope that she does because it's unacceptable. And I feel that if the same thing were happening with somebody like Billie Eilish, she would stand on business and she would actually let her fans know that that behavior is not okay.
00:02:20
Speaker
I, when it comes to Taylor Swift, it's like, yeah, if she doesn't speak out about this, I am going to wonder if she is a closeted bigot herself. Just because she has been friends with Todrick Hall, doesn't mean shit. And I can't think of any other black person that Taylor Swift is friends with other than Todrick Hall.
00:02:44
Speaker
Like also I read the article that billboard put out for you and I'm going to be reading a lot of it to you as I continue to record this episode, but the very long article that took me a long time to read because it's very long. And I knew it was going to be interesting. That's why I chose to read it, read it, to read it. And I hope that I do that um a lot more. But a few times in the article, they said the writer said that Taylor Swift and Beyonce are friends. And hello, that's absolutely not true. They are fake industry friends at very specific moments.
00:03:25
Speaker
point blank period done end of story actually actually you know what i take it back in just this one example when taylor swift had taylor swift or justin timberlake had a party and Beyonce and Taylor Swift were both there. And I can't remember if that was a Taylor Swift party that Beyonce showed up to, or if Beyonce and Taylor showed up to Justin Timberlake party. So I take, I take it back if, and I'm talking about like a house party, I take it back if one of them went to the other's house party, but again, that's still proving my point about them being fake industry friends.
Why is Beyoncé Targeted?
00:04:04
Speaker
And also having that public that photo come out publicly. They want people to think that they're close. We know that that's bullshit. We already know who Taylor Swift rolls with. We know who Beyonce rolls with. So I just like billboard was being really loose by calling them friends. Anyway, I don't feel like Taylor Swift has any black friends other than Todrick Hall.
00:04:29
Speaker
I can't think of any. I think she's had her moments. Sierra Sarai, I can't remember her name, the really beautiful girl who was on Empire. I know they were friends for a minute. But let's I know that Tiffany Haddish has said she's gone to Taylor Swift's house and Taylor Swift makes really good barbecue chicken. But Yeah, I don't think she has any black friends. So it's like, you know, I just want her to speak out. I want about her fans being racist. And it's not like Taylor Swift has dated a black man. And of course, she doesn't have to. That's not what I'm saying at all. But I will question her beliefs if her fans are posting ah horrific tweets.
00:05:15
Speaker
borderline threatening tweets at times, and if she's not speaking out about it, with her level of popularity, she has to have been informed about this. So I'm gonna sit back and wait for her for her bitch ass to say something, but I don't think it's gonna happen, and I hope that she does, because I'm already like disgusted by Taylor if she doesn't say anything about this. like This is absolutely unacceptable.
00:05:42
Speaker
And I'm forever fascinated by fandoms and the way that people misbehave online. So if, you know, Taylor Swift fans got wind of the fact that Beyonce would be chosen as the greatest pop star of the 21st century, why were they attacking Beyonce instead of Billboard? That's what I want to know. If you are mad at Beyonce for being ah for receiving this Title? Why are you not mad at the people who chose the title for her? Beyonce didn't
00:06:20
Speaker
Choose herself. She didn't have the power to crown herself greatest pop star of the 21st century. Why attack Beyonce instead of Billboard? And I'm not saying they should have attacked anyone, but I don't understand why the recipient was the problem instead of the publication and outlet that actually named Beyonce.
00:06:45
Speaker
the greatest pop star of the 21st century. That i'm I'm lost on because Beyonce really didn't deserve the hate, nor did her children deserve the hate. So I don't make it make sense. be Like Taylor Swift fans are just not let me not go too far into it because, you know,
00:07:08
Speaker
I mean, the less I say the better because Taylor Swift fans clearly not mentally stable at all. Anyways, so let's see here. TMZ reports that Billboard gave Beyonce the title.
00:07:28
Speaker
And that Billboard explained that based on Beyonce's full 25 years of influence, evolution and impact, she is the greatest pop star of the 21st century. And that it's not just about numbers because Taylor has outsold her. So Billboard ah said,
00:07:54
Speaker
that Beyonce's Super Bowl halftime show in 2013 reconfirmed her peerlessness as a performer and the unassailability of her catalog. And they also credit like Beyonce coming out onto the scene in let's see here in 2000 and now 24 years later still crushing it.
Beyoncé's Influence and Achievements
00:08:23
Speaker
All right, y'all, so now I'm going to get to excerpts of this article that I encourage you to read, but you got to have time for it because it is a long one. All right. Let's get to it. So billboards, talented writer or writers, whoever penned this, let me click on it. Let me see if this was one person or just the outlet.
00:08:50
Speaker
But let me see here. You scroll. Oh, Andrew Unterburger. OK. He really did a great job with this goddamn article. Like, let me see. I want to follow this man. I want to read more of his work. It was it was good. What he put together was really fucking good.
00:09:15
Speaker
All right, so the article begins by saying on March 18th, or I think it said something before that, but I'm just reading what I took and made note of for y'all. So anyways, on March 18, 2000, Beyonce Knowles topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time this century. A performer and creator whose commitment to innovation, evolution, and all around excellence has made her the bar against
00:09:46
Speaker
which all other pop stars this century have long been measured. You could watch her on stage for half a minute and instantly recognize that she's an all-timer. Her inherent combination of dazzling beauty, impeccable fashion, captivated stateating captivating staging, otherworldly physicality, and simultaneously earthy and skyscraping vocals all speak for itself.
00:10:15
Speaker
But to understand the full scope of her impact also requires a deep knowledge of 21st century American pop music and culture and the ways in which she has dominated it, elevated it, and transformed it over the past 25 years. Few artists this period can match her in any of the most critical basic categories of pop stardom.
00:10:44
Speaker
commercial success, performance abilities, critical acclaim and accolades, industry influence, iconic cultural moments, and absolutely no one can equal her in all of them. There are no flop eras for bae!
00:11:02
Speaker
There are only varying degrees of winning for over two decades. In this sense, her closest peers this century are not other pop stars. They're LeBron James and Serena Williams.
00:11:19
Speaker
While many TRL era starlets released moony-eyed ballads declaring devotion to their men, Destiny's Child seemed far more comfortable singing about demanding more from them or not needing them at all.
00:11:38
Speaker
The group wouldn't even release a straightforward love song as a single until its final album. Okay, so I'm pausing on the article right now. And like I said, these are excerpts that I'm reading. So if it's not being if it's not that coherent in subject matter, it's because I took my very favorite parts of the article and put it together for y'all.
00:12:02
Speaker
So that is so fascinating. That's why I stopped there. I didn't know that Destiny's Child did not put out a straightforward love song until the final album. Oh my gosh, I love that. I also love that they're like, look, Beyonce's winning streak, streak for more than two decades. She could only be compared to LeBron and Serena Williams.
00:12:30
Speaker
You know, and when they talk about like her influence. her critical acclaim, her accolades, her performance abilities, is her commercial success. It's like, you have to choose Beyonce, period. Like, yeah, Taylor moves albums, she moves copies, she sells tickets. But when you think about the impact, the game-changing impact of Beyonce, she's in a league of her own.
00:13:03
Speaker
All right, back to what Billboard had to say. Those award shows this is billboard those awards shows also of course celebrated her equally striking music videos, including a crazy in love clip that spawned three or four instantly iconic Beyonce looks and a much copied booty pop dance to the uh oh breakdown that also became an early signature. end quote ok
00:13:34
Speaker
Beyonce started twerking, right? Isn't Beyonce the the person, isn't Beyonce responsible for twerking? Correct me if I'm wrong. I know that basically twerking was being done. Or sorry, Beyonce put out her crazy in love video. Then I heard strippers started twerking while dancing. And then we are now all twerking. And I'm no twerk historian. So forgive me if I'm wrong. But as far as I know, Beyonce created working twerking. Twerking.
00:14:13
Speaker
a phenomenon, right? By her shaking her ass in the crazy in love video. I watched it like how the hell is only her booty popping her booty shaking? Beyonce started that shit.
00:14:30
Speaker
Beyonce started it. Tell me where twerking was out there before, not tell me, show me videos of twerking mainstream that we all knew of before Beyonce's crazy in love video. I credit Beyonce for the twerking phenomenon. All right, back to the article.
00:14:56
Speaker
This is Billboard again, Andrew from Billboard Genius writer. Okay. All together, Beyonce was our staff's greatest pop star of 2003, defining pop superstardom in a post peak yeah TRL era and helping to move top 40 away from the Euro based pop sounds of the turn of the century to something funkier and more hip hop based.
00:15:22
Speaker
The following year, the Hot 100 would be absolutely dominated by black artists." end quote So, Beyonce was named the greatest pop star of 2003 And they're saying that at that time, the charts the top 40 was all it was dominated by euro based pop. And then in 2004, the hot 100 was quote, absolutely dominated by black artists like how interesting is that?
00:15:56
Speaker
Beyonce was a huge part of that. She's that successful, that popular. All right, let's get back to what Billboard had to say. So regarding Beyonce's visual albums, Billboard said, Beyonce was now also becoming a standard setter in all the other most important elements of pop stardom.
00:16:21
Speaker
Single Ladies, the Single Ladies video infiltrated all corners of pop culture. She began the 2010s by taking her first year long break from recording and performing. How fascinating is that? That Beyonce didn't take a break for a year until the early 2010s? Are you kidding me? Like her work ethic And the article didn't even mention the work the phrase work ethic, but Beyonce's work ethic is an enormous part of her success too. Like she has so much drive and ambition and is such a perfectionist and a lover of music and performing. Like she's doing what she was put on this earth to do. It is obvious with every single song she puts out, with every performance she puts out, and she loves it so much that she doesn't take breaks.
00:17:19
Speaker
She really doesn't. They're saying that her first break was in the beginning of 2010 and the 2010s. And the thing is, Beyonce performed last year on her birthday. Why? Because she loves to perform. This is someone who has this in their blood. All right, let me get back to the article. It says that Beyonce took a year-long break, but then she quotes that in and and and Snuck in appearance another game-changing and video with Lady Gaga on the surreal Cry Musical Odyssey telephone. I really don't like the song telephone. Whoo, ciao!
00:18:01
Speaker
Okay, back to the article. The Four album ended up her lowest selling to that point and her only non-soundtrack solo release to date to not generate a top 10 Hot 100 hit. That shocks me because Four has that incredible song, Countdown. Four has Love on Top. Four has, you know, Sexy Ballads.
00:18:30
Speaker
Let me see here, well I'm recording, but like four? Let me not annoy y'all by going down like the song titles and the brilliance of four, but I'm surprised four was not even in the top 10. And this is all part of why I read this article from Billboard because I knew I was gonna learn a lot of shit, interesting shit. All right, back to the article. In the earliest hours of December, in the earliest hours of December 13th,
00:18:57
Speaker
to 2013.
00:19:01
Speaker
After a long period of relative radio silence, a full self-titled Beyonce album unexpectedly fell from the skies, debuting online with no prior announcement or promotion. No one knew a thing about any of it until the order link showed up on their social media timelines at 12.52 on a Friday morning.
00:19:29
Speaker
it is near impossible to this is still billboard It is near impossible to overstate the importance of Beyonce's surprise job. There was simply no precedent for an artist on or even near Bay's level releasing any kind of secret musical project on an unsuspecting pop world." end quote For real, the Beyonce drop, surprise drop, is a huge, in my opinion, is a huge part of why she should receive this honor, this title. The way how Beyonce put out her self-titled album, no promo, and then everybody is doing it ever since.
00:20:23
Speaker
It's just like my wig is forever snatched. The amount of confidence you have to have in your fan base to know that you don't gotta to spend your time or your team's money promoting a project because it's gonna be successful because your the beehive is that strong is incredible. And I love that so many other people have followed that format because They're removing all the pressure. They're new removing being annoyed and all the promotion, all the questions are being asked instead of people talking to them after they hear the project.
Reflections on Beyoncé's Impact & Upcoming Content
00:21:06
Speaker
That's a better way to promote. Talk about what people already know of, not what they didn't hear of yet. But the fact that she did this because she knew she could
00:21:18
Speaker
and then everybody copied her is it just shows her impact everybody aspires to just put out an album put out a project without any promo because of Beyonce because she did it successfully next ah the Article by the brilliant Andrew billboard he talks about formation and again, this is all part of why I read the article Formation is one of my absolute favorite Beyonce songs and I don't know maybe for fun Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna do that I'm gonna put out some episodes about my favorite Beyonce songs because I did episodes about Beyonce's Renaissance
00:22:05
Speaker
album and those were some of my best performing episodes so I'm gonna go ahead and do some episodes about my favorite Beyonce songs because You know, I was like trying to sing in those episodes, embarrassing myself. But I thought it was, you know, other than making your ears bleed, I thought it was those were some of my funnest episodes. But formation is one of my absolute favorite Beyonce songs. And I'm not going to get into that right now because I'm not recording that particular episode. And that idea just came to me right now. But I forgot about the backlash.
00:22:39
Speaker
So Billboard wrote, quote, the formation of video would end up getting serious backlash and an eventual boycott from conservatives, conservatives and cops who felt her message to be anti police. Beyonce responded by selling boycott Beyonce merch. The I did not know that Beyonce sold a hashtag boycott Beyonce merchandise.
00:23:06
Speaker
had no idea. I know that conservatives and and cops were very upset because you remember the formation video ends with her saying something about the police or something. I cannot remember, but you all do.
00:23:22
Speaker
I totally forgot about this. I forgot about how upset people were. I forgot about cops and conservatives being infuriated. Anyways, another very, very fascinating fact in this article. It says, quote, The Formation World Tour was the first ever stadium tour to be headlined by a female artist. Incredibly. What?
00:23:50
Speaker
You're telling me that a female has never had a a stadium tour? Has never headlined a stadium tour before? Beyonce, Knowles, Beyonce, Giselle, Knowles, Carter, are you out of your mind? Are you out of your mind?
00:24:17
Speaker
yeah Okay, the Formation World Tour. That's not that long ago. Absolutely insane. I didn't know that. What does that say? What does that say about females' ability to move tickets and to book these venues? Are you kidding me?
00:24:41
Speaker
That's crazy. All right, back to the article. Something else that really shocked me is they, is cuff it.
00:24:52
Speaker
Beyonce's incredible song, Cuffit, from Renaissance. Beyonce writes, Cuffit became Bay's first proper solo smash of the TikTok era, as the ebullant disco pop jam with writing from genre legend Nyle Rogers went viral over the course of late 2020 and early 2023. Cuffit.
00:25:18
Speaker
became the longest running Hot 100 solo hit of her career. What? Record scratch? Cuff it?
00:25:31
Speaker
And I think a lot of this was TikTok. They're saying it was their first solo smash of the TikTok era. Who would have known Cup It was Beyonce's longest running Hot 100 solo hit? I thought Break My Soul. I thought that that did perform really, really well. I also would assume Crazy in Love did well. You know, I didn't, I'm shocked it's Cup It.
00:26:01
Speaker
I thought break my soul. a lot of her A lot of her hits I thought would have outperformed Cuffit. Cuffit is that whole album. The amount of times I've listened to that album, like if it was actually on a CD, that CD would break in half. It would just wither away. like It would just start scratching and screeching and like you wouldn't it wouldn't be able to they would serve no function other than being a coaster, you know, for some beverages like Renaissance that Renaissance album and this article really did not give Renaissance enough shine, but I am biased. But Renaissance alone is such a brilliant, brilliant album. Like this article says that lemonade
00:26:53
Speaker
It's Beyonce's magnum opus and I disagree. Renaissance, it's renaissance for me all day, every day. Like, the way how Renaissance ain't got no skips, and the way how it empowers you makes you feel good, makes you wanna fuck, makes you wanna drink, makes you wanna party, makes you wanna celebrate, like, makes you think you're the baddest bitch ever, alien superstar. Like, come on, y'all.
00:27:17
Speaker
And i remember, I already like talked about my love of this album. So yes, like I said, I will be doing more episodes about my fave Beyonce songs because you know me, I just get lost. I get lost in it. And I am not in the beehive, but I will give anybody anyone the respect I'm a put respect on Beyonce's name and I will definitely gas anybody up and hype them up who deserves it and Beyonce definitely deserves it and a large part of her success I think comes from really her just insatiable desire to succeed and to put out quality products.
00:28:07
Speaker
Like if Beyonce is behind some, it's gonna be good. It don't matter if that shit is hair care, don't matter if that shit is music, don't matter if it's perfume, even though I don't have any of her perfumes, candles, whatever the whiskey, whatever she puts her name on, it's gonna be good, period.
00:28:28
Speaker
Like, I really want Beyonce to just do it all. Like, I want the bitch to come out with skincare. Her skin is flawless. She's probably never had a pimple day in her life, but I still want her to put out some goddamn skincare. Like, I still like her to would want her to put out home goods. Like, again, I'm not in the beehive, but she puts out quality shit. All right, back to the article. Quote.
00:28:52
Speaker
Beyonce remains a steadfastly committed to pushing forward. She does not chase trends or youth. Even when collaborating with newer artists, she is able to meet them on common ground that does not result in either party being compromised or contorted. Instead, she chases greatness.
00:29:13
Speaker
fully realized artistic work that will add not only to her legacy but to the culture and to the history of popular music. But when you're talking about greatness, and when you're talking about greatness for the 21st century specifically, no one has a longer or fuller track record than Beyoncé. It is insanely impressive that Taylor has even made it a discussion after missing the whole first quarter of the period, but only Beyonce has spent the entirety of the last 25 years exemplifying greatness in every form imaginable, with every album, every single, every music video, every live performance,
00:30:01
Speaker
Every photo shoot and promo campaign and release strategy over the last quarter century, she has pursued excellence thoroughly and relentlessly. And the number of times where she's notably fallen short in that pursuit doesn't even approach double digits.
00:30:23
Speaker
Her greatness is so wide ranging and expansive that we just ranked the 100 moments this century that best display it. And we still had another 50 plus in reserve that it broke our hearts to have to leave on the cutting room floor.
00:30:41
Speaker
floor. There's just no other artist this century and maybe only a couple in the previous one with a full 20 plus year catalog of great moments like that." end quote So as you can see,
00:31:01
Speaker
Billboard put together a goddamn banger of an article, and what I love about this article, explaining why Yonsei is the greatest pop star of the 21st century, the writer was not kissing Beyonce's ass. He's stating facts.
00:31:26
Speaker
Of course it's flowery. Of course it focuses on positivity. They also mentioned Solange beating Jay-Z's ass in the elevator, by the way. like they They were real in this article. But it's like, these are facts. If you actually are just telling the truth, it might sound like you're kissing Beyonce's ass, but it's like, no, this one woman has changed the game since she was a teenager.
00:31:56
Speaker
And I love just seeing where she's going. i love i I love Beyonce's newer projects more than her previous ones, because like I said, Renaissance, that's it for me. That's top.
00:32:12
Speaker
that might be the top 10, one of my favorite top 10 albums of all time. So this is someone who really deserves this honor. And when it's explained, you understand why. This article was absolutely phenomenal. It is brilliant. I will link it. I'm going to try to start getting better at linking into articles.
00:32:36
Speaker
And I hope you enjoyed this episode and it gave me the idea to talk about some of my favorite Beyonce songs. Hopefully those those episodes will be high performing as well, but I'm extremely busy. So maybe I will do that more as like a Christmas treat. I don't know because the Ultimatum is starting streaming tonight. And I'm really excited about that because the Ultimatum is one of my favorite shows on Netflix.
00:33:03
Speaker
dating shows. All right, y'all. I will talk to you soon. Check out The Ultimatum on Netflix. It's coming back starting tonight at midnight. All right, talk to you soon. Bye.