Beyoncé: why ‘Queen Bey’ isn’t really the queen after all

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Allen J. Schaben // MCT Campus

Despite popular belief, Beyoncé isn’t as great as everyone thinks.

The day is Monday, June 8, 2015 and hardcore fans of Beyoncé Knowles patiently await the announcement guaranteed by the teaser video released the previous weekend on Good Morning America that promised fans would “love” what Queen Bey had to say.

After an interval of time that felt like forever for members of the Bey Hive, (the name given to Beyoncé’s most true followers), and many guesses as to what she would tell (including speculation of new music or even a pregnancy), viewers were shocked to find out that all the promotion and excitement had led to disappointment when it was revealed that Knowles had just adopted a new vegan diet.

Although most of the general public was shocked by the fact that all this dramatic promotion had led to an announcement so ridiculously frivolous, nobody should really be too surprised at how self-absorbed Beyoncé can be.

In a 2010 interview on The View, host Whoopi Goldberg discussed Knowles’ impact on society’s view of women and asked Beyoncé to let young girls know that it is normal for their weights to fluctuate, and ended by saying “you are Beyoncé” to which she responded “thank you,” a response many critics of Knowles say is very conceited and narcissistic.

However, Beyoncé herself isn’t the only one who perhaps thinks too highly of Beyoncé. After her 2013 Super Bowl performance, it seemed as though everyone bowed down to Queen Bey as if she was of actual royalty by holding her on a pedestal, making her out to be almost godlike and incomparable to other artists that have similar, if not greater, credentials. This outlook only intensified with the impressive release of her surprise self-titled visual album in 2013, a marketing tactic that was later mimicked by U2 and Drake.

Sure, Beyoncé is an extremely talented performer with a great voice, famous choreography, and iconic set of music videos, but so do other artists who don’t receive half the credit obtained by Beyoncé. Artists such as Rihanna, whose music is often compared to Bey’s, isn’t praised half as much as Beyoncé’s is despite having more Billboard Hot 100 number one singles than her (13, the same number as Michael Jackson).

Another artist often compared to Beyoncé is Britney Spears, due to the fact that they debuted around the same time and are about the same age.  Although both have the same amount of number ones, Britney’s first album outsold all of Beyoncé’s combined. In addition, Beyoncé has not had a number one song since 2008 with “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” and, since then, Rihanna has obtained eleven.

Internet personality Joe Santagato tweeted that he has not “liked a Beyoncé song since 2008” except her 2011 single “Love on Top,” for which he received a lot criticism from her fans, furthering the point that people often treat her as superior to other artists.

All in all, despite the great success Beyoncé has obtained in her nearly twenty year career, it can be argued that although she is talented, she is also highly overrated and should be viewed in the same light as other artists who have the same level of skill.

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