It’s no secret that Beyoncé (aka Queen B) is one of the most influential and well-known female artists of our time. From the days of Destiny’s Child to her highly successful solo career, Beyoncé has been taking the music industry by storm for over a decade now. It seems that each album she releases uncovers a different part of her personal life, her style of music, and her artistic skill. While there are an endless number of reasons why Beyoncé is as #flawless as she is, here are the top 5 that make her stand out.
1. All-Girl Band
Spreading women empowerment, Beyoncé’s all-girl band showcases strong women and their talents. According to an article by The Women’s International Music Network, Beyoncé’s inspiration for an all girl band was to encourage young girls to play music. The singer expressed, “When I was younger, I wish I had more females who played instruments to look up to.” Beyoncé’s hope was to not only promote female empowerment, but to also hope to inspire more young girls to pick up an instrument and find their calling.
2. Triple Threat — dancing, singing, acting
If anyone has been to a Beyoncé concert, or simply watched any of her breathtaking performances (Super Bowl 2014 anyone?), it is clear that she has some sort of supernatural talent for singing and dancing. Her vocals are always impeccable, her dance moves are on point, and the fact that she can do both at the same time without missing a beat and have fun doing it is an asset that not many artists can fully own. From her popular dance moves in Single Ladies, to her somewhat improvised dancing in her newest music video for 7/11, Beyoncé can dance like no one else. On top of that, she has been in the spotlight for her acting as well. In the 2006 film Dreamgirls, Beyoncé not only showcased her singing voice, but also her knack for acting (and she was even nominated for a Golden Globe!). Following that movie, she played the main role in the 2009 movie Obsessed, where we saw her badass side when she got in a fist fight with the antagonist of the movie. Basically, you name it, Beyoncé can do it.
3. She Got “bootylicious” into the Oxford Dictionary
Not exactly sure how this happened, but following the release of the song “Bootylicious” by Destiny’s Child, the word was officially inducted into the Oxford Dictionary. The definition
reads: “(of a woman) sexually attractive.” Now who else do you know who can say they got a word published? Hats off to Beyoncé.
4. Charity Work
In between performing onstage and starring in movies, Beyoncé makes time to give back. She has been involved in over 20 charities, with significance involvement in the Survivor Foundation, an organization she founded with friend Kelly Rowland to help aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. Beyoncé also partnered with various hunger organizations in 2007, including Feeding America, The Houston Food Bank, and the Global Food Banking Network. Specifically for the charity in Houston, she donated $7 million dollars, providing food, shelter, counselling, and healthcare for the homeless in the area.
5. Catchy Songs With A Good Message (That Make You Wanna Dance)
Single Ladies, Halo, Sweet Dreams, Partition, Drunk in Love — to name a few, Beyoncé’s songs have taken over the music industry and have given us countless songs to dance to, get ready to go out to, and to listen to for basically any mood. Not only are her songs catchy, they also promote important messages. For example, her song Flawless, encourages the idea for women to embrace themselves at they are and to be treated as equals. As quoted in the song, spoken by female author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “We say to girls ‘You can have ambition But not too much, You should aim to be successful, But not too successful, Otherwise you will threaten the man,’” finishing with, “Feminist: the person who believes in the social, Political, and economic equality of the sexes.”
Beyoncé truly does serve as an inspiration for generations of young women and no doubt she will continue to amaze us as her music career continues to thrive (flawlessly).