2023 has been so far the year for concerts. The time off for quarantine provided for a lot of artists a chance to explore themselves more, which gave us great works to get distracted with during those hard times. Once the pandemic was finally over, the feeling was that everyone decided to go out on the road again at the same time. Now, worldwide, fans from all different kinds of music are united by the same expectation for the moment to hear their favorite albums live.
However, social media and its users have found, one more time, a way to ruin the beauty of this occasion, and here’s why:
On March 18th of this year we had the first night of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour at Glendale, Arizona. Then, a couple of weeks later, on May 10th, at Stockholm, the world watched Beyoncé on her Renaissance World Tour opening.
They are undeniably two of the most influential and popular artists of our time. This could be no different, since Folklore and Evermore by Taylor were considered two of the best albums recorded during the pandemic, along with the newest record breaker Midnights that in a historic act occupied the entire Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, and Beyonce’s ‘Renaissance’ sent all its 16 songs to the same chart, besides reaching spot for the 25th week on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart, being the only album by a black female artist to achieve this feat in the chart’s history.
Both of them are huge right now, with huger fan bases that waited years for the World Tours (international dates to be announced) that just started, and instead of appreciating the opportunity the they have of witness two talented women celebrating their successful careers, people chose to compare and diminish them.
Literally minutes after the first Renaissance show ended, you were able to find people all over Twitter talking not about how impressive and impeccable it was, but how, in their opinion, it was better than the Eras. Subsequently to a super production featuring a giant chromatic horse, a war tank and clothing that changed color, cybernauts reduced everything to being superior to what another woman did.
Putting this into perspective, nothing that they ever do has value for itself. Even if they never spoke a bad word about, or publicly instigated hatred towards each other, even if they are just trying to do their work and connect with their fans, which hasn’t anything to do with anyone else besides them, people will still make this as a competition.
Famous names, such as Ed Sheeran, Bad Bunny and Lil Nas X, released new discos during lockdown and went out on tour after it, but none of them were criticized or put against each other the way the internet has been doing with female artists for years. To illustrate this double standard, while Swift has never committed to dancing, people still condemn her for not having the same choreographies as Beyoncé, but no one has ever spoken a word about Sheeran doing his performances only standing on the stage with his guitar and not dancing like Benito.
We, as a society, were taught that women cannot coexist. New generations are starting to heal this internalized concept, but through decades girls learned that they needed to be prettier, skinnier, and better than every other girl in order to win a man’s approval, and sadly this is replicated on the way we consume pop culture. So, as a consequence, some people still think that making less of an artist is the same thing as praising the other, because in their heads only one can possibly win.
Female singers are reportedly noted for having to reinvent themselves as a means to stay relevant. Beyonce and Taylor suffered a long way to establish themselves as respected artists, and now, because of that hard work, they are in a place where they can put together more than 3-hours-long sold-out concerts, both of them.
There’s still a lot to go, countries to visit and billions to profit. They are both examples to be looked up to for women of all sorts, and hopefully, at the end of these tours, people will realize that allowing them to shine together opens up more space for female artists for the future.
Excited for the Eras Tour? Check out this article about Taylor Swift in Brazil!
—————————————————————–
The article above was edited by Giulia Howard.
Liked this type of content? Check Her Campus Casper Libero home page for more!”