Introduction
Beyoncé’s music enterprise has emerged as an essential determiner with an impact not just in the music industry but also as a symbol of empowerment and cultural importance to the black community. The impact of her music goes beyond the songs as it also affects society’s perceptions and attitudes towards black people. This literature review examines what other researchers have said about this topic, the theoretical format that will effectively understand the topic, and how the paper fits into the existing scholarship. The review aims to answer the research question: In what approaches does Beyoncé’s impact extend past songs to affect societal perceptions and attitudes towards black individuals?
Literature Review
Black Themes Expressed in Beyonce Works
Beyonce has had a significant impact beyond her songs to the societal perceptions and attitudes toward black individuals. One of Beyonce’s pieces of art that has dramatically impacted black people is the Lemonade album, released in April 2016(Edgar & Toone, 2017, p. 87). Edgar & Toone (2017, p. 87) highlight how the artist can circulate visual symbols of Blackness that target black audiences and, at the same time, remain commercially viable to the predominantly white culture. This positive reception in diverse audiences helps bridge cultural gaps and promotes a broader understanding of black experiences. Beyoncé also has to navigate duality when performing “competing Black femininities,” whereby she is both the subject and the object, the good girl and bad girl, allowing her to communicate to her audience from different socioeconomic locations (Salzano, 2020, p. 47). Through this representation, Salzano(2020) highlights how Beyonce, through her music, challenges simplistic and limiting portrayals, thus encouraging black individuals to embrace their multifaceted identities without conforming to narrow societal expectations.
Additionally, according to Edgar & Toone (2017), Beyonce uses her music, such as her Lemonade album, to address the societal issue of oppression, especially of black women. The authors note that the lemonade album addresses the lack of freedom that black women continue to experience in contemporary America, even under Obama’s regime, even though he was a black president who had a better understanding of the needs of his people (Edgar & Toone, 2017, p. 88). Beyoncé’s significance to black individuals extends beyond her song’s lyrics. For instance, in 2015, her label donated over $80,000 to the almost 1000 civilians who died at the hands of the American police (Edgar & Toone, 2017, p. 88). The donation symbolically empowers the black community by signaling solidarity and a commitment to addressing systemic challenges.
Other themes addressed in her music include Lynching, slavery, reconstruction, and disinvestment of black neighborhoods in the 1970s, neoliberalism, and the police murdering African Americans (Vernallis, 2016, p. 2). The racial themes, content with a majority of black casts, and black-oriented media are all marketed musty to black audiences. Beyoncé’s strategy has been to ensure that her message reaches the intended audience.
Beyoncé’s target audience is blacks, considering she is also a black woman. However, she has faced controversy after releasing music targeting the black audience. For instance, according to Kunda(2019, p.56), Beyoncé’s single hit and video “Formation,” which she performed at the 2016 Super Bowl, resulted in some controversy due to the song, video, and performance, which all highlighted the American Pop and R&B artist’s black heritage. The controversy around her music highlights her efforts to challenge stereotypes and showcase her black heritage unapologetically (Kunda,2019). This impacts black individuals as it challenges preconceived notions about the expectations of black artists and their engagement with their cultural identity.
Beyoncé’s Music and the Black Female Audience.
Beyoncé is considered one of the most influential black female musicians, giving her an opportunity and a big audience to share her feminist perspectives with her fans, including her black female audience. She empowers her audience through her lyrics. According to Kury (2021, p.6), gender and race are intertwined, which results in discrimination. However, Beyoncé has shown her audience that it is possible to be a black woman who owns her culture and is proud of it. She motivates her black female audience that it is possible to be black, proud of their culture, and thrive despite the obstacles along the way. Also, Beyoncé is very confident during her performances with her cultural background and sexuality, which shows her fans that they can also show off their culture and promote their feminist perspectives (Railton & Watson, 2006, p. 52).
Black girls’ identity is often scrutinized in different settings, especially within education and hip-hop. While the hip-hop culture is mainly associated with blacks in most instances, it creates a complex space for black girls, especially black adolescent girls. According to Payne (2020, p.3), the hip-hop black culture has been a significant influence on the black youth, although black girls are often not included in the conversation. Most hip-hop music displays hyper-masculinity and misogyny, making it a contradictory space for Black girls(Payne, 2020, p.3). However, black female Hip Hop artists like Beyoncé are changing this narrative. It is easy for Black girls to draw their identities and relate to hip-hop performed by Black female hip-hop artists. There have been discussions about the different aspects of Hip Hop feminism and how Black girlhood is constructed within it (Williams, 2020, p. 495). This has led to the conclusion that hip-hop has a powerful force on Black Girlhood, and it is even much better when Black girls can relate to the hip-hop culture through female Hip Hop artists such as Beyoncé.
Beyoncé’s “Formation” video and performance at the Superbowl caused some controversy as it showcased some representations of Blackness and resistance of Beyoncé, including the ” Black + woman + anti-racist + anti-respectability politics + feminist activist (Files-Thompson, 2018, p.174). Therefore, Beyoncé’s “Formation” performance also positively influenced her black female audience. After the performance, social media was full of memes, Beyoncé-inspired hashtags, and thought pieces about black culture and feminism. The performance also led to many questions about whether she was a feminist, activist, or anti-police and other questions that resonated with the black audience, especially the black female audience(Kunda, 2019). In a broader context, Beyoncé’s influence is significant in light of the critiques of the media’s representation of black women and the lack of visibility they often face. The “Formation” media, with its unapologetic celebration of Black Womanhood, challenges the historical underrepresentation and misrepresentation of black women in mainstream media. This is crucial given the institutionalized racism and sexism that frame the entertainment industry, as evidenced by a study on Hollywood’s casting practices (Molina-Guzmán, 2016). The article reveals the industry’s unwillingness to engage in colorblind casting, strengthening current barriers for ethnic and racial minority actors, more precisely, women who have difficulties getting roles of prominence (Molina-Guzmán, 2016). The courageous performances and activism of Beyoncé complement the continued discussion about prejudice in the industry and become a source of inspiration for black women, demonstrating their pride.
Theory: Afrofuturism
Delving further into the subject, the most appropriate theory to assist in understanding it is Afrofuturism. As English (2017) noted, Afrofuturism critically analyzes cultural production, such as literature, visual, culture, and audio-culture. The theory comprises four primary elements: the future, imagination, liberation, and technology, which enable exploration of the topic in more detail. The imaginative aspect allows us to understand how the works of Beyonce, like her “Formation” video, opened up some possibilities about society’s perception of black people. The liberation element will help in addressing how Beyonce challenges oppressive systems that affect black people through her ways of conduct, for example, in 2015, when she offered money to individuals who had ended up assassinated by police(Edgar & Toone, 2017, p.88). The future element of the theory aims to understand society by reconnecting the past, present, and future, and this concept will help in understanding how Beyonce’s artistic pieces, such as the “Black King,” represent the conception of black people and project it into various scenes. Lastly, the technology element will aid in understanding how black culture engages with technology, thus offering different possibilities. In addition to the elements, Afrofuturism can also be integrated with critical theory to help analyze Beyoncé’s impact beyond the surface, considering power dynamics, social structures, and political implications. This conjunction unveils how Beyoncé’s art challenges existing norms, confronts oppression and contributes to a broader discourse on race, gender, and representation.
This theory has also been applied in several research studies on the same topic. It has been applied in analyzing the film “Black King” through the Afrofuturism frame; Black is King can be considered a popular culture that mainly investigates the ancestor’s representation. In this case, the ancestor is a conceptualized boundary crossing defined by a process in which blacks can easily connect to their black history in the present and find authority in the future’s potential. Another existing research by English (2017) on Afrofuturism offers insights into Afrofuturism’s historical antecedents, emphasizing its significance and development. This existing research can help understand the creative expressions of individuals.
How the paper fits into the existing scholarship/Conclusion
Writing this paper is essential as it will add to the existing literature while also addressing some of the gaps that other studies still need to tackle. In contributing to the existing study, firstly, this paper will add information about the cultural significance of the lemonade album released in April 2016. Various works, such as the literature by Williams(2020) about The Black Digital Syllabus Movement and the work by Payne (2020) about The Cardi B-Beyonce Complex, provide crucial information about the cultural importance of the album. This paper will add to the existing information by delving deeper into how Lemonade expresses symbols of Blackness, thus promoting a more comprehensive understanding of black people’s experiences. Additionally, this paper will add to the existing literature about how Beyonce has addressed several societal issues, such as the oppression of black women. The paper will deepen the understanding by showcasing how Beyonce, through her music, addresses contemporary issues and how she empowers the black community.
Furthermore, existing literature has analyzed how Beyonce has contributed to the empowerment of the black audience. For instance, Toone &Edgar (2019) explain how the Beyonce label contributed around $80000 to nearly 1000 civilians killed due to injustices related to race and place. This paper will add to this existing literature by highlighting some controversies arising from her support for the black audience. This paper is, therefore, an essential piece of literature that adds more information regarding Beyonce’s impact on the societal perspectives and attitudes of black individuals.
In addition to adding information to the existing literature, the paper will address some of the gaps the existing literature still needs to tackle fully. Existing literature has provided some insights about the black digital syllabus movement, but its connection to Beyonce has not been explored. This paper aims to, therefore, address this gap by contextualizing it within Beyonce’s historic contributions to the black community, thus understanding the intersection of pop culture, academia, politics, and Black digital culture. Additionally, existing literature does not explore the issue of Black girls in hip-hop discourse. This paper aims to therefore address this gap by exploring how black girls draw from the identities of Black female Hip Hop artist Beyonce. Conclusively, this paper is essential in the academic world as it will add to the existing literature while also addressing some of the gaps not addressed regarding Beyonce’s impact on Black individuals.
References
Edgar, A. N., & Toone, A. (2019). “She invited other people to that space”: Audience habitus, place, and social justice in Beyoncé’s Lemonade. Feminist Media Studies, 19(1), 87-101.
Ellithorpe, M. E., Hennessy, M., & Bleakley, A. (2019). Adolescent Perceptions of Black-Oriented Media: “The Day Beyoncé Turned Black”: Can Black-Oriented Films and TV Programs Be Marketed More Broadly? Journal of Advertising Research, 59(2), 158-170.
English, D. K. (2017). Afrofuturism. obo.
Files-Thompson, N. (2018). Fostering classroom dialogue through Beyoncé’s “Formation” media. Women & Language, 41(2), 174-179.
Kunda, L. (2019). Must Stay Woke: Black Celebrity Voices of Dissent in the Post Post-Racial Era (Doctoral dissertation, Old Dominion University).
Kury, E. (2021). Beyoncé: A Powerful, Black Icon. Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works. 71. https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/undergrad_works/71
Molina-Guzmán, I. (2016). #OscarsSoWhite: how Stuart Hall explains why nothing changes in Hollywood and everything is changing. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 33(5), 438–454. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2016.1227864
Payne, A. N. (2020). The Cardi B–Beyoncé complex: Ratchet respectability and Black adolescent girlhood. Journal of Hip Hop Studies, 7(1), 5.
Railton, D., & Watson, P. (2006). Naughty Girls and Red Blooded Women Representations of female heterosexuality in music video. Feminist Media Studies, 5(1), 51-63.
Salzano, M. (2020). Lemons or Lemonade? Beyoncé, killjoy style, and neoliberalism. Women’s Studies in Communication, 43(1), 45-66.
Smith, C., & Coleman, L. S. (2022). Ancestor is king: the role of Afrofuturism in Beyoncé’s Black is King. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 39(4), 247-259.
Vernallis, C. (2016). Beyoncé’s Lemonade, Avant-Garde Aesthetics, and Music Video. Film Criticism, 40(3).
Williams, S. (2020). The Black Digital Syllabus movement: The Fusion of Academia, activism, and Arts. Howard Journal of Communications, 31(5), 493-508.
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