By Odeisel
We see potential in many things. From our baby’s first steps and first breaths, we imagine all that they could ever be and achieve in this life. As they grow and change we still monitor their progress, altering and shifting expectation as they self actualize.
We feel achievement and live through their accomplishments and we drop our heads in disappointment when they don’t reach as far as we think they can. The unfortunate consequence of potential is that there is no quantifiable mechanism to it. What are the inputs that determine what we expect and what defines the level of success.
We may all be created equal, but the moment we step off that assembly line, difference is all there is. We must acknowledge that some are stronger, and more gifted at certain things than others. In the field of music, that has never been more pronounced. But there are two main factors that speak to realization in music: artistic and sales achievement.
Artistically you aren’t racing contemporaries. You race against time and the field of human experience. As high as you get artistically the more opponents you find in your race. Once you outshine contemporaries, you chase ghosts and legends, each with their own defensive era denying you access.
Sales wise you can be the right person at the right time with the right style. DMX dominated an era with force of personality but artistically, his talent level was fairly pedestrian. Ditto Ja Rule. They sold records in droves and defined a few movements, but would either really warrant critical acclaim in 20 years? Ditto a Brittney Spears. For a few years she dominated the pop consciousness as her own movement but in the fullness of time, is her work truly memorable?
There’s one person presently who perhaps has dominated their contemporaries but has not made any dent into that timeless category. A person who is head and shoulders above her peers in terms of entertainment value, but who is perhaps not achieving much artistically. That person is Beyoncé.
Sure Jennifer Hudson can sing her under the table, but she can’t move like her. Ciara may be a better dancer, but let’s not even entertain a voice battle. Beyoncé gives you her very best on stage, and while there are claims of swagger jacking, she is perhaps unmatched in today’s landscape as a performer. She has that star quality that a Keri Hilson could never possess, even when looks are close and songwriting skill may surpass. But what about her catalog? Does she have anything that you could consider timeless or classic?
Think about that for a moment. You can include her Destiny’s Child material if that makes it easier. Over a decade in the game and there isn’t really anything you can point to that would be anthemic or iconic as a song. If she were to stop recording today, and we had to look back at the last 10 years would we have any evidence that Beyonce was a musical icon? Is there any moving ballad; anything that speaks to the world at large or that unifies human experience?
Her omnipresence has earned her the space to do presently whatever she wants, and by all accounts commercially she is a colossus who is showing no signs of slowing down. By that measure, I doubt that her career moves could have gone any better and that is to be lauded. However if her aim is to be remembered in the annals of music (admittedly that may not be her aim) then she has to sing songs that matter to the world at large; that pervade into their hearts and minds. It’s very telling that she couldn’t sing any of her own material at the inauguration of Barack Obama. Even R.Kelly, for all that he has been castigated for, has an “I Believe I Can Fly” and a few songs that speak to the human spirit and transcend the R&B landscape. Madonna, who has mastered the art of self reinvention, has songs in her body of work that will always speak to women no matter what era they inhabit.
If Beyoncé’s career stopped today, I would venture to say that her omnipresent image has made its stamp on this era. She has many hits, and even people imitating her videos dominate the YouTube generation; regular people who become internet stars by attempting to attain fleeting bootylisciousness. However, if musical immortality is something that she is striving for, then her body of work is not enough.
But who’s to say whether or not she achieved her potential. Perhaps she has done what her talent would allow, and she has what her heart desires. If that is so, then congrats. It’s been quite a run of booty-driven hood anthem dominance. But when the Arethas and the Rosses and the Mariahs and the Whitneys sit down at that table with a side of Nina Simone, and even a bit of Lauryn Hill, Beyoncé wil be conspicuously absent when it comes to that transcendence. Here’s to hoping that the next ten years of her career strike to the heart of our spirits and souls with the same force as the first ten spoke to our feet and asses.
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