Some Initial Thoughts on Beyonce’s New “Why Don’t You Love Me?” Video

Beyonce recently released a new video for her funkspolitation-style track “Why Don’t You Love Me?”. While everyone seems to be focusing on her continued use of the pinup aesthetic, I’m going to argue that this is, like “Single Ladies” a…

George Michael fucks gender, wonders “If I Were a Boy…”

So, in spite of her husband’s regressive gender politics (see below), Beyonce had some serious genderfucking onstage last night in London. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. George Michael joined B onstage for “If I Were a…

steve reich <=> beyonce

Compare: (1) Reich’s “Clapping Music” (one of the phasing pieces) to (2) Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” (sorry, no embed for this one) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mVEGfH4s5g I’m teaching a course this summer on the philosophical, aesthetic, and compositional relationship that tie mid-20th c avant-garde…

“Single Ladies” = robots

Beyoncé is an amazingly talented artist who plays around in very subtle and nuanced ways with “serious ideas” – all while singing some damn catchy hooks. It’s REALLY HARD to make delectable pop that also problematizes ideas in ways that…