The album jacket features two photos of Beyonce Knowles top-less, except for the fake diamonds that she wears. In contrast, it makes Ashanti's wet dress image on her album look conservative. Perhaps for that reason, Beyonce sells better with a rank of 29 on Amazon and the number one single.
There's no doubt that the photos are arousing for heterosexual men and probably many lesbians--which is not to say that men and lesbians will be the main customers. Beyonce and Ashanti seem to be out to prove that Blacks can make it in the world of the "beautiful people." Beyonce has been on the cover of the men's magazine "Maxim." So now we have equal opportunity pornography.
Traditional pornography conceived of as pornographic magazines as an aid to male masturbation has a limited scope. Men may gain release relatively quickly and then pornography does not have to bombard us in books, non-men's magazines, television and music for the rest of the day. The latest bourgeois-corrupted studies show that masturbation wards off prostate cancer--and who knows, maybe it's true. It's important not to say that Beyonce is not pornography just because of out-dated notions of pornography's original commercial success in Amerika. The trouble is not just limited traditional pornography--and as we write this it appears that Penthouse magazine is going out of business--but what is happening in the rest of the world with traditional pornographic influences.
The fact that Beyonce sings 14 silly love/sex songs plus one tribute to her father shows that her society has nothing higher to inspire, nothing more motivating than sex. While Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and Beyonce make the big money from sex and more sex, Evanescence puts a young womyn's face on the CD cover, sings about Amerika's favorite religion Christianity (not that we are saying Christianity is truly inspiring) and has a relatively hard time going platinum. Judging from popular Amerikan music, there is nothing to accomplish anymore but another orgasm. That's the kind of indication MIM means when it says imperialism is "decadent." One need not have any Puritan ideas about sex to see that there is something wrong with having so many divas make it only with sex and more sex.
On July 26, 2003, Billboard reported that Beyonce's single from this album titled "Crazy in Love" has been the number one hit on two charts for four weeks. It is the most downloaded single on the Internet.
Once we cut through our illusions by learning what sells and does not, then we have to ask why. In the case of Beyonce, she gained exposure from Hollywood via Austin Powers. Then too, her music follows the classic formula for female singers--"love-your-boyfriend" songs.
The lyrics include "You are so damn fine/why don't you be mine." The point of all such lyrics is to make heterosexual males feel comfortable with fantasy sexuality. She says, "I see you look me up and down" and instead of slapping someone, Beyonce is comfortable and celebratory. In "Naughty Girl," she says, "I know you want my body" and she promises to be "your loving/lovie girl" tonight. The next song "Baby Boy" says "I see you in my dreams." If Beyonce does have a confident sexuality in real life, all power to her, but maybe men should have other aspirations besides finding such a womyn. By this I do not mean that other wimmin should be preferred but that men have to get something else on their minds.
There are two songs that have the possibility of being exceptions to the classic industry rules for female pop singers. When dumped, Beyonce says, "You hurt me, but I learned a lot along the way/I'll come out OK." So the song is upbeat.
The other song is "Yes," the closest thing to being a song threatening to male sexual fantasy. It's about her perspective of saying "yes" to his mother and going out. From her point of view, she has given him some assurances with her "yes" on those scores. Then she says "you gotta wait for me" and then talks about "the first time I said 'no.'" She says her boyfriend was "so ungrateful" with regard to the "no" on the couch and she calls him "immature" and says she showed him the door.
We give Beyonce credit for this song "Yes," even as it is really about "No." Too many pseudo-feminists would make excuses for not showing the boyfriend the door, saying she was too afraid. Then the question becomes "afraid of what?" Afraid of emotional rejection, afraid of what she might reveal about herself or afraid of him physically? (And of course when we ask how many wimmin are not afraid of men if they ask themselves that, we will find that most wimmin are not in a position of physical superiority, so this question leads in an obvious direction and raises the question of why wimmin are going out with men they are afraid of.)
We also give credit to the man who left after one "no." Men have the right to reject wimmin who reject them, even if only once. That's not a crime at all. The way the law is now, the trouble arises when men push their luck. With Kobe in the headlines, we have to remember there's nothing wrong with people having hurt feelings. Beyonce feels rejected and calls him "immature." OK. That's fine. People should be big enough to realize that and take whatever lumps come with that. In fact, breaking up after one "no" is a perfectly good model of sexual clarity for men to take up.
In any case, things turned out OK even in this most bitter of the songs. Later in the album, Beyonce will be getting into the details of her sex.
Musically, Beyonce incorporates a wide range of music, most of it simple and definitely with no loud complicated anythings. A drum tapping a little serves well with a little rap, a little soul, a touch of blues, whatever but the music will never come close to overshadowing the vocalist. Compared with Ashanti, Beyonce has more words about her love life. Occasionally she even seems too enthusiastic to spill out words. Beyonce also has background music a little more involved and diverse than Ashanti does.
On the other hand, we are not going to mislead readers and say the music is all that important; even though this is the album with the country's number one hit at the moment. Beyonce is about the "beautiful people." It's about doing a Google search and the top 10 links for Beyonce being mostly her corporate websites but also four websites with her gallery of pictures and links to further nude galleries. The one article one might find in the first ten is merely the industry report on her single being at the top of the charts. There's nothing serious in terms of reviews. So it is that corporations and pornography have squeezed out what music should be about. Penthouse is going out of business, but porn has more than made up for it by taking over more industries. See our theory magazine on gender oppression