Aren't most of the concerts by top selling female artists like this nowadays? If Egypt is going to get pissy with Beyonce for this, than they had better never allow: Britney, Madonna, Rihanna, Mariah, Janet, Lady Gaga, etc. Really, can't pick on one and not all of them because that's some hypocritical nonsense so they should just ban 90% of the pop/rock/hip-hop concerts in Egypt because most of them have sex involved at some point.

purplesweat said:

it's an iconic outfit like madonna's cone bras and mj's glove and the image is all George Michael's. She could have at least had a different one designed but it's the same damn outfit. I watched George Michael's Too Funky video to make sure.

sosgemini said:

actually, it belongs to the designer, Thierry Mugler, not George and was on loan for the Too Funky video. it's sean in a haute coutour fashion show in that video. it's his to do with as he wishes. i'm sure it's on loan to Beyonce now. it is kind of weird that she brought it back after 17 years though

purplesweat said:

See what I mean? Is all her performances tributes

errant said:

people do realize that I never claimed Michael's owned the actual piece of fashion, right? he owns the cultural significance though and beyonce, out of her own stupidity, attempted to co-opt it

sosgemini said:

wouldn't you say George co-opted it as well when he put it in his video?

midiscover said:

????

He's her idol, the night she saw him on the Bad tour was the night she decided to be a singer. They were close friends. Of course she's going to tribute and reference him a lot.
[Edited 11/7/09 18:52pm]

sosgemini said:

Again, who gives a fuck? She probably liked the top.
[Edited 11/7/09 18:52pm]

errant said:

Thierry brought it back because he's clothing her for this entire I Am era including in videos, red carpet appearances, and her entire tour...

An "Insolent Sex Party"?!?

Please! As soon as you think her tit will pop out or something she'll start thanking Jesus for her many blessings and then the 'party' will be over.

purplesweat said:

Well, her "borrowed" ideas are very obvious in all her work.

midiscover said:

you must be very young to have not yet figured out that everything in popular music is "borrowed"

errant said:

What do you mean? I know many artists have used ideas from other artists for their own work but Beyonce makes it so obvious. Age has nothing to do with this.

midiscover said:

errant said:

http://www.nizkor.org/fea...rring.html

midiscover said:

was that on this week's list of vocab words?

errant said:

Still....

TD3 said:

Ummm, not in North Africa. The culture in that region is nothing like what we would compare to western lives in the middle and upper middle class suburbanite United States. Her best approach for ensuring her concert actually gets to happen is to institute a bit of modesty, and indicate that she is sensitive to their culture. On their turf, she will have to adapt to fit into their paradigm, not the other way around, regardless of how much money is involved from the patrons who attend.

babynoz said:

That's the point she can't tone it down. She likes being naked.

midiscover said:

Uh, tributes are supposed to be obvious. You're not supposed to be going "who the hell is she referencing?"

PurpleGstring said:

who's that in your avatar?

Ottensen said:

Exactly. If she was smart enough she would see this as an opportunity to prove herself as more than just a sexpot.

babynoz said:

So now its okay for an artist to compromise their art?
Nobody would approve of Prince doing that. Why should Beyonce be subjected to a different set of rules?
Before we go down this path, I know and agree that she is more pop product than artist. All I'm saying is that if you're not going to respect a culture's guidelines, then DON'T GO THERE. No artist should have to compromise what they do for anyone. She should cancel the gig rather than force a tense situation.

BlaqueKnight said:

You talk as though the totality of her art consists only of revealing costumes and vigorous rump shaking and I don't think that's the case. I'm actually giving her art more credit than you are. She can easily change the packaging of her product as Prince has done many times. For example, note the contrasts between the Dirty Mind Tour, Lovesexy and Musicology. Some might, and in fact, have argued that P compromised his art since he was performing in tailored suits and no longer utters profanity...I don't agree.

Exhibiting versatility is not a compromise...just the opposite, and Bey is capable of pulling off a great performance minus the gimmicks she has come to rely on...I've seen her do it.

Whether she sees this as an obstacle or an opportunity is her choice.

SCNDLS said:

Are you serious?

babynoz said:

the difference is, had someone, anyone tried to censor Prince during the Dirty Mind and Lovesexy tours, he and ESPECIALLY his fans would've been up in arms about it.

but i did hear he took out or abbreviated the "love is god, god is love" part of Anna Stesia during the Lovesexy shows in Japan. and you know the Prince of 2009 with his holier than thou bullshit wouldn't be doing that now.

babynoz said:

I don't understand how you jumped to that conclusion. I've said many times on here that Beyonce is a talented singer and entertainer. It just seems that her talents are squandered on sub-par material and mindless musical dribble to feed the pop culture zombies.
I said nothing of exhibiting versatility. I was referring to making drastic changes in her set/tour for the sake of one place. I don't know how much you know about tours and what it takes to put a large one together but I can tell you that its not an easy task and a lot of work goes on before the show hits the road. All costumes, sets and ideas are hammered out beforehand. Changing an outfit can change a lot more than you'd think.
Also, this is a COMPLETELY different era in music than when Prince was a pop artist. The game has changed and its a lot more formula-oriented than it ever was before. If the laws in the country refuse to allow for her show as it is then its much simpler to bow out of the gig than change the show - especially on a major tour like hers.

errant said:

As I recall, someone named Tipper Gore did try to censor Prince. The result was parental advisory stickers and I wasn't particularly up in arms about it. Critics and such are the cost of doing business for a celeb.

I'm not advocating censorship, neither was the poster who I was responding to. We're simply saying that if Bey "chose" to be sensitive to the culture in that part of the world, she is still capable of putting on a good show.

Fuck the bullshit!

You don't come to people's houses and expect them to adapt the way you present yourself, its the other way around OR at least repsect it.

Agree/disagree with ANY social custom they practice till you get blue in the face, the fact of the matter is, its THEIR culture just like we have ours,,,,don't expect 'em them to conform to our ideals and move out the way just because you're an American, you're setting yourself up with this type of thinking.

Alot of Americans have this self-made arrogance about other cultures and they come to those countries with the attitude that they'll do ANYTHING just like they're in their homes, only to be put in their place and get reminded that they're "foreigners" in that side of the world If I seen it once, I've seen it a 1000 times.

Respect, people. Its not about censorship or any of that mess,,,,its about respecting people's homes, plain common sense if you ask me.

BlaqueKnight said:

The same way you jumped to the conclusion that I said she should compromise her art...I said nothing of the sort. I'm saying that Bey has the talent and the wherewithal to modify her show IF she chose to do so. You may have a point in that it would most likely be easier to cancel, which she did in fact do in the case of the Malaysia gig, but Ottensen and I were not saying what she "should" do, we were discussing what she "could" do. Maybe, just maybe, this gig could be an opportunity to rise above the mindless musical dribble and pop culture zombies, as you put it.

I'm fine with whatever choice she makes.