Beyonce Needs a Giant Sequined Cummerbund That Says "G.M.O.S."
Rap Radar points us to this youtube clip of Beyonce performing "Crazy In Love" at a recent concert in Singapore. It's amazing to watch someone so on top of her game. Her relationship with the song-which is already a generation-defining standard-and her horns, and her drums, and her guitarist, and her back-up singers and dancers, and the lighting, and the wind-machine and the audience: she has every element on lock.
This isn't really fair to do to anyone, but let's compare Beyonce's mastery of her form to that of the all-time champ (who she references herself in the mid-song horn break). Here's the Godfather Of Soul, James Brown, doing his own type of crazy (not karate) on a Midnight Special show in 1974.
That horn section of luscious ladies is magnificent.
For a pop diva, it's impressive that (at least as near as I can tell) she's actually singing to actual live musical accompaniment (though I'm assuming that Jay-Z's bits are piped in).
It's also interesting that virtually everyone you can see in the audience appears to be taking her picture or filming a video. Are the concert rules different in Singapore, or different for Beyonce?
You haven't been to a concert state-side in a while have you? That's all anyone does these days. It's less about enjoying the experience and more about documenting it for Facebook or tweeting to nobody in particular. *grumble* *sigh* *get off my lawn*
Well, but aren't most artists/concert venues obsessed with preventing "bootlegging"/"intellectual property theft"/whatever the term is for creating images and/or video of an artist that the artist's management can't control? I mean, I got hassled by rent-a-cops at the Met for taking a grainy cell-phone pictures of 13th century Byzantine paintings, because I might, I dunno, create and sell an alternate catalog for the exhibition or something; you'd think there'd be more money in bootleg Beyonce concert videos. Anyway, those are the kinds of "rules" that I mean; I do understand that the actual rules of post-modern life require that all human experience be mediated by a documentary process of some kind.
Power-thigh overload.
But in a good way, right?
You'd better believe it.
Only thing that could make this better is if dancer boys wore this http://www.theawl.com/2009/09/the-night-max-wore-his-wolf-suit
seriously?
Definitely awesome production values, but she isn't a very talented singer or dancer. See Tina Turner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54XRNQ2C2×0
tut-tut
Yes, she has an adept production team … now, if only she could sing. (Color me unconvinced that she's singing any more than a third of the clip.)
As disappointing as it may be to hear studio artists struggle to sing live, I'd rather hear the warts than watch someone act along to the click. And I'll always take the music over a production number.
Oh no you didn't. Beyonce is no where near any Kind of James Brown on the most superficial level I can see where your going but… She's got a good pop voice and can "dance" in time with her dancers but her Vegas style soul approximation is getting more tired than tired. look at her move, so damn wooden. She creeps me out, there I said it.
Give Beyonce James Brown's '74 production values and let's see her fall flat on her ass.
Brown & his ilk were great musicians – Beyonce's a glorified back up dancer. Yes, she can sing (see: Inauguration Ball) but that performance was drek.