Grammies aside, the true story of Lemonade's staying power will be how it hold up down the road (10 years or more). Annointing it as an instant classic is a bit premature.

Alot of this TIME article was a knee jerk reaction to the perceived Grammy slight, but lets have this conversation in 2027 and see if the album stands the test of time. So much of who she is musically gets distorted in the media that it would appear that she was some kind of innovative, creative force (I don't see it). She's been in the game now for 20 years or so and she has a voice, a look, and an audience, but her material has not really moved the cultural needle in the way ICONIC artists in previous generations have. Having been a child during the Thriller, Purple Rain, Like a Virgin (even Faith, Born in The USA) era, those moments were gigantic cultural shifts. You saw kids wanting to be like MJ. The Minneapolis sound permeated the charts almost annually and Madonna (say what you will), played the media like a fiddle, pushing boundaries, much to the chagrin of parents/critics everywhere.

Press releases aside, can we honestly say that she had a landmark album in her previous 20 years (regardless of her being solo or with Destiny's Child)?

[Edited 2/20/17 10:16am]

Serious question, What is so amazing about Beyonce? I will never understand this madness. She is not intelligent nor does she ever anything thought provoking to say. She doesn't even write her own music and relies heavily on gimmicks and all her performances are the same and her music is mediocre. I would like to know because every week there is a thread made about Beyonc here on the org and I have not a clue what is so great about her that she deserves a thread about her nearly almost every week over better artists who deserve more recognition.

khill95 said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Thank you for your impartiality.

I think people who don't like Beyonce (such as myself) wouldn't dislike her as much if she weren't put on a pedestal for just about everything she does.

It's one thing for people to think that Lemonade is a good album and specifically her best album but people are acting like Lemonade is some innovative masterpiece the likes of which has never been heard before. Janet did it far better 27 years ago with Rhythm Nation and that's just a drop in the bucket of socially-conscious albums that have been recorded throughout the history of music yet Beyonce apparently makes one of her own and suddenly it's some one-of-a-kind project? I don't think so.

What's next? Her next album is the soundtrack to her semi-autobiographical motion picture and then the media is going to suddenly forget about Purple Rain and herald Beyonce for being the first to ever pull off such a thing? She creates a music video about dancing with zombies and Thriller suddenly no longer exists?

The media seems to erase parts of the history books for Beyonce and that shouldn't fly with anybody.
[Edited 2/19/17 10:19am]

Yes Rhythm Nation is a great album, and I'm sure it was even more thrilling when it was released 27 years ago. But I wasn't born then, my friends weren't born then, so we have no idea what that was like. This is our generations version of something like that. And I HIGHLY doubt that'll happen where people forget Purple Rain and Thriller People are still talking about The Beatles almost 50 years after they broke up.

Did Sign O' The Times mada any real impact when it was released? i don't think so, acutally some of the critic's reviews were mixed. Time, is the one that tells the whole story when it comes to cultural impact. Look at There's A Riot Goin On, that album didn't receive good reviews it wasn't met with critical acclaimed, it was years later that started to be regarded as a masterpiece.

MotownSubdivision said:

but with how the media seems to rewrite history to bolster Beyonce's reputation, it seems they'll do whatever it takes.

The 100 Greatest Award Show Performances of All Time

http://www.billboard.com/...f-all-time

1. Beyonce, Lemonade Medley (MTV Video Music Awards, 2016)

If you think we need more than half a year's distance to declare Beyonce's Lemonade melange the pinnacle of the award-show performance, maybe ask presenter Serena Williams how long she thinks tennis fans should wait after her latest major win before declaring her the GOAT. Fact is, Bey's 18-minute performance was so far ahead of the pack that comparing her to the rest of award show history feels like sizing public-access TV against Game of Thrones; the scale is just so wildly different that the comparison does no one any favors.

Truly, Beyonce's only real competition here was herself from two years earlier. But while her self-titled performance in '14 was still essentially a medley, this was nothing less than one-act drama in which Bey was star, playwright and conductor, taking a baseball bat to any performer who dared laze their way through a performance, thinking sheer star power would put them over. It was memorable and meme-able, technically proficient and emotionally enthralling, unpredictable and thoroughly un-followable. It was Beyonce at the VMAs, and it gets no better than that.

It does seem that there is an effort to replace the feats of Michael Jackson, Prince, etc with Beyonce.

214 said:

Did Sign O' The Times mada any real impact when it was released? i don't think so, acutally some of the critic's reviews were mixed. Time, is the one that tells the whole story when it comes to cultural impact. Look at There's A Riot Goin On, that album didn't receive good reviews it wasn't met with critical acclaimed, it was years later that started to be regarded as a masterpiece.

>

Well there you go then.

Lemonade is being heralded as a masterpiece already. Just like her last album which no one talks about anymore. Time will tell.

214 said:

Did Sign O' The Times mada any real impact when it was released? i don't think so, acutally some of the critic's reviews were mixed. Time, is the one that tells the whole story when it comes to cultural impact. Look at There's A Riot Goin On, that album didn't receive good reviews it wasn't met with critical acclaimed, it was years later that started to be regarded as a masterpiece.

Yes, but Sign O the Times was still under Purple Rain's blockbuster shadow so yes it did take time.

the critics are going overboard now with Beyonces cultural impact now with subpar songs and I dont see it. I just reread the article the OP posted and had to laugh. An increse in sales at Red Lobsters? and emoji, a class about women healing from pain, as if that has never occurred ever at any college? Hats and hairstyles? A bride to be who was inspired by Lemonade and raised money Cancer? I mean, is this what we're fighting over?

I get that she's an icon in popularity. I just feel like she's good in everything except her songs.

[Edited 2/20/17 18:53pm]

mnbvc said:

MotownSubdivision said:

but with how the media seems to rewrite history to bolster Beyonce's reputation, it seems they'll do whatever it takes.

The 100 Greatest Award Show Performances of All Time

http://www.billboard.com/...f-all-time

1. Beyonce, Lemonade Medley (MTV Video Music Awards, 2016)

If you think we need more than half a year's distance to declare Beyonce's Lemonade melange the pinnacle of the award-show performance, maybe ask presenter Serena Williams how long she thinks tennis fans should wait after her latest major win before declaring her the GOAT. Fact is, Bey's 18-minute performance was so far ahead of the pack that comparing her to the rest of award show history feels like sizing public-access TV against Game of Thrones; the scale is just so wildly different that the comparison does no one any favors.

Truly, Beyonce's only real competition here was herself from two years earlier. But while her self-titled performance in '14 was still essentially a medley, this was nothing less than one-act drama in which Bey was star, playwright and conductor, taking a baseball bat to any performer who dared laze their way through a performance, thinking sheer star power would put them over. It was memorable and meme-able, technically proficient and emotionally enthralling, unpredictable and thoroughly un-followable. It was Beyonce at the VMAs, and it gets no better than that.

It does seem that there is an effort to replace the feats of Michael Jackson, Prince, etc with Beyonce.

Holy crap, she does not have the best award show, it was pretentious and over the top.

kitbradley said:

Just another article Beyonce's folks paid for. If the album was so impactful, why havent i heard a single song from it? It impacted her delusional fans, not anyone else. I dont hear people talking about it. I have never heard black women discussing it. People will not be talking about the album a few months from now. Like all of her other albums, it will be forgotten. Time magazine will contine to write fairytales as long as Beyonce pays them enough.

Yep! With her camp it's all about paying off the media to keep her/make her relevant. It's like they come up with BS notions that they try to convince the public that she's somehow bigger than what the receipts show. I'm tired of it all really.

mjscarousal said:

Serious question, What is so amazing about Beyonce? I will never understand this madness. She is not intelligent nor does she ever anything thought provoking to say. She doesn't even write her own music and relies heavily on gimmicks and all her performances are the same and her music is mediocre. I would like to know because every week there is a thread made about Beyonc here on the org and I have not a clue what is so great about her that she deserves a thread about her nearly almost every week over better artists who deserve more recognition.

It's all smoke and mirrors. I'm sure her camp pays for the articles and publicity. Jay Z is going to make us suffer with this mediocre wife of his for another 40 or 50 years.

SeventeenDayze said:

mjscarousal said:

Serious question, What is so amazing about Beyonce? I will never understand this madness. She is not intelligent nor does she ever anything thought provoking to say. She doesn't even write her own music and relies heavily on gimmicks and all her performances are the same and her music is mediocre. I would like to know because every week there is a thread made about Beyonc here on the org and I have not a clue what is so great about her that she deserves a thread about her nearly almost every week over better artists who deserve more recognition.

It's all smoke and mirrors. I'm sure her camp pays for the articles and publicity. Jay Z is going to make us suffer with this mediocre wife of his for another 40 or 50 years.

I dunno sis...these orgers really stan for Beyonce on this site. One font even said she was better than MJ and Prince! This is why when they try to trash MJ and other legitmate artists I don't take them seriously.

[Edited 2/21/17 0:17am]

CynicKill said:

I still say Solange made a more impactful statement, and made the album that will stand the test of time.

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

Grammies aside, the true story of Lemonade's staying power will be how it hold up down the road (10 years or more). Annointing it as an instant classic is a bit premature.

Alot of this TIME article was a knee jerk reaction to the perceived Grammy slight, but lets have this conversation in 2027 and see if the album stands the test of time. So much of who she is musically gets distorted in the media that it would appear that she was some kind of innovative, creative force (I don't see it). She's been in the game now for 20 years or so and she has a voice, a look, and an audience, but her material has not really moved the cultural needle in the way ICONIC artists in previous generations have. Having been a child during the Thriller, Purple Rain, Like a Virgin (even Faith, Born in The USA) era, those moments were gigantic cultural shifts. You saw kids wanting to be like MJ. The Minneapolis sound permeated the charts almost annually and Madonna (say what you will), played the media like a fiddle, pushing boundaries, much to the chagrin of parents/critics everywhere.

[Edited 2/20/17 10:16am]

I agree especially with the bolded portion. While music videos are not what they once were, whether you like/dislike her, there has probably not been a more impactful music video on the music industry or in pop culture by a female recording artist since ...Baby One More Time.

[Edited 2/21/17 8:49am]

wonder505 said:

kitbradley said:

missfee said:

CynicKill said:

I still say Solange made a more impactful statement, and made the album that will stand the test of time.

Solange Praises Junie Morrison's 'Super Spirit' in Heartfelt Tribute

"I was blown away by his brilliant musicianship, chords, melodies and his ability to make the most obscure changes in songs," singer writes

Solange Knowles penned a heartfelt tribute to Junie Morrison following the death of the Ohio Players and Funkadelic legend Thursday. Daniel C Sims/Getty

Solange Knowles penned a heartfelt tribute to Junie Morrison following the death of the Ohio Players and Funkadelic legend Thursday.

Related

In the eulogy, posted on Knowles' Saint Heron site, the singer writes about discovering Morrison's music for the first time and how it influenced her then-in-the-works album A Seat at the Table. "I remember the first time I heard Junie Morrison‘s 'Super Spirit,'" Solange wrote. "Q-Tip played it for me one night in his studio in Jersey. No song had ever made me feel quite like it. It tapped into places and spiritual frequencies that I couldn't even put into words. I listened to it on loop for an hour, each listen hitting me deeper and deeper."

"I went home immediately and listened to every song I could find of Junie's, as well as revisiting and diving deep into his work with The Ohio Players and Parliament. I was blown away by his brilliant musicianship, chords, melodies, and his ability to make the most obscure changes in songs flow from one to the next like he could do it in his sleep, any night of the week. His music found me during a really hard time. During a time of a lot of self-doubt about my own music and career. Any time those feelings would rise, I'd put on 'Super Spirit' and try and to manifest it into that moment."

Solange wrote "Junie" for her acclaimed 2016 LP, one of Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2016. "The more I learned about Junie, the more I learned how much of his gift he shared through his musical contributions to others; how we have all in some way or another been touched by his contributions to funk music, and about his wealth of inspiration to other musicians. The more he came up, the more I heard the words underrated and under-credited. But the greatest lesson I learned about Junie Morrison is that the magic was endless ... and the truest testament to real authentic magic ... is that it can't be made ... it just is."

In a 2016 interview with Fader, Morrison discussed his initial reaction to Solange's Seat at the Table tribute. "She communicated to me that she wanted to tell me the story of how much my track 'Super Spirit' made an impression on her and inspired her to name her creation, 'Junie,'" Morrison said.

"She wanted me to hear her creation and speak to me about it. My initial reaction to hearing the song itself was the same as I had while listening to the rest of A Seat at the Table – Wow! This young person has a whole funkload of talent."

^LOL

mnbvc said:

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

Grammies aside, the true story of Lemonade's staying power will be how it hold up down the road (10 years or more). Annointing it as an instant classic is a bit premature.

Alot of this TIME article was a knee jerk reaction to the perceived Grammy slight, but lets have this conversation in 2027 and see if the album stands the test of time. So much of who she is musically gets distorted in the media that it would appear that she was some kind of innovative, creative force (I don't see it). She's been in the game now for 20 years or so and she has a voice, a look, and an audience, but her material has not really moved the cultural needle in the way ICONIC artists in previous generations have. Having been a child during the Thriller, Purple Rain, Like a Virgin (even Faith, Born in The USA) era, those moments were gigantic cultural shifts. You saw kids wanting to be like MJ. The Minneapolis sound permeated the charts almost annually and Madonna (say what you will), played the media like a fiddle, pushing boundaries, much to the chagrin of parents/critics everywhere.

[Edited 2/20/17 10:16am]

I agree especially with the bolded portion. While music videos are not what they once were, whether you like/dislike her, there has probably not been a more impactful music video on the music industry or in pop culture by a female recording artist since ...Baby One More Time.

[Edited 2/21/17 8:49am]

Agree but this is a Beyonce fan site, they don't like Britney Spears. I think Baby One More Time made more impact on pop culture than any of Beyonce's videos.

mjscarousal said:

^LOL

mnbvc said:

I agree especially with the bolded portion. While music videos are not what they once were, whether you like/dislike her, there has probably not been a more impactful music video on the music industry or in pop culture by a female recording artist since ...Baby One More Time.

[Edited 2/21/17 8:49am]

Agree but this is a Beyonce fan site, they don't like Britney Spears. I think Baby One More Time made more impact on pop culture than any of Beyonce's videos.

Well, that's clear to anyone, i don't think there's anybody in their right mind that would deny that.

mjscarousal said:

^LOL

mnbvc said:

I agree especially with the bolded portion. While music videos are not what they once were, whether you like/dislike her, there has probably not been a more impactful music video on the music industry or in pop culture by a female recording artist since ...Baby One More Time.

[Edited 2/21/17 8:49am]

Agree but this is a Beyonce fan site, they don't like Britney Spears. I think Baby One More Time made more impact on pop culture than any of Beyonce's videos.

CynicKill said:

heathilly said:

CynicKill said:

This was a big phenomenon but Beyoncé could have made thriller and mjcarousel would deny the impact. Reason and logic not her strong suit.

Indeed, this girl is crazy.

mjscarousal said:

SeventeenDayze said:

It's all smoke and mirrors. I'm sure her camp pays for the articles and publicity. Jay Z is going to make us suffer with this mediocre wife of his for another 40 or 50 years.

I dunno sis...these orgers really stan for Beyonce on this site. One font even said she was better than MJ and Prince! This is why when they try to trash MJ and other legitmate artists I don't take them seriously.

[Edited 2/21/17 0:17am]

Better than MJ and Prince? WTF! What crack are these folks smoking? Utterly ridiculous.

heathilly said:

CynicKill said:

This was a big phenomenon but Beyoncé could have made thriller and mjcarousel would deny the impact. Reason and logic not her strong suit.

You mean this video that was just three people standing around and doing stolen choreography from Bob Fosse's troupe? What was so great about this video? She just does the same stupid thing over and over again and never takes any risks or anything. Beyonce is redundant and overrated.

heathilly said:

I'm not here to totally cheerlead for Beyonce but really, what was so great about "Hit Me Baby (One More Time)"?

The catholic schooligirl trope is probably the oldest in the game.

Now I know Beyonce's routine is stolen, but maybe it's just a case of stealing from the right routine (Isn't it always).

That video went gangbusters.

It's simple but everything about it works.

SoulAlive said:

heathilly said:

This was a big phenomenon but Beyoncé could have made thriller and mjcarousel would deny the impact. Reason and logic not her strong suit.

What's so anazing and groundbreaking about this video? Beyoncé in a leotard with two female dancers prancing around.....is this supposed to be something bold and incredible?

Exactly. She's always surrounded by dancers while wearing a tacky leotard and some European style hair weave.

SeventeenDayze said:

mnbvc said: