Pop Culture Yay

In case you missed it, Rufus Wainwright was ragging on Beyonce in a recent Spin magazine interview. He said, “I’m really sick of Beyonce. All of her songs are formulaic and produced in a way that’s utterly mesmerizing in the basest way.” To which I say… 

huh?

1. You can’t get “sick” of something unless you expose yourself to it in the first place. Yeah, sometimes I get sick of “Irreplaceable,” but that is only because it is on every single running playlist on my iPod. Just kidding. I never get sick of it. Back to my point…if you do not enjoy Beyonce’s music, do not listen to it, and do not listen to radio stations that frequently play her dance-tastic hits. Is my dad really sick of Beyonce? No! He has no idea who she is, because he listens to NPR and books on CD rather than Kiss 95.1 or Hot 99.5.

2. Back to my iPod…Let me be honest. If I am headed out the door to jog a few miles, I am going to turn my click wheel to “Baby Boy” by Beyonce feat. Sean Paul (or Sean Paul feat. Beyonce, depending on whose album you’re looking at), rather than “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk.” Rufus may be a more lissome songwriter, but Beyonce’s beats are just better for cardio. They just are. Maybe Rufus’s music would be a good soundtrack for pilates; I don’t know. The point is that Rufus and Beyonce do not. make. the. same. kind. of. music. They do not have the same purpose. It’s just weird for him to criticize her. It’s like Umberto Eco telling Janet Evanovich that her mysteries aren’t all that, or Meryl Streep taking out a full-page ad in Variety to tell us not to buy into the hype about Pearl’s acting because she ain’t really got the chops. It just makes no sense.

But Rufus Wainwright is entitled to his own opinion of Beyonce and how kids today are “being force-fed” mainstream pop and just listen to “trash” and don’t know what it’s like to walk uphill in the snow both ways to school and whatever. Beyonce can take him. She would probably tell him to keep talkin’ that mess, that’s fine. Then she’d publicly question whether he could pay her automo-bills, call him a Bugaboo and remind him that she’s an Independent Woman, pt 1. And if that’s not a positive example for today’s girls to be “force-fed,” I don’t know what is.

Posted on July 2nd, 2007 by Melissa
Filed under: Uncategorized