On not being "effortless" - How Beyoncé makes hard work cool.
It-Factor isn't enough. It needs to be honed.
Beyoncé is arguably one of the best living entertainers we have, due to a culmination many things, including cultural relevancy, a community that supported her and allowed her to explore her art from a very young age, prayer, talent, and vision. But today, I wanted to explore the specific thing that has almost become synonymous with her name, which is work ethic.
On Beyoncé’s birthday, I want counteract the idea of being effortless, and how it’s okay to try hard, be a try hard, and observe the fruits of your labor.
Beyoncé is one of my favorite artists - she’s a Black American Southern Girl, a title that only those who live it can actually understand. She’s a wife, a mom, and an artist that uses the former to inform the latter. I’ve been watching her growth thus far since I was 5, and now I’m 33 years old. I’ve seen her in concerts 4 times so far.
Over the years, after Beyoncé has retired from the pop star formula, she has curated access to her creative process and thoughts, exclusively holding them for written interviews and her own documentaries. In these, we get a peek into what it really takes to become BEYONCÉ - the 6 week diet of no carbs, dairy, meat, or alcohol, to get back in shape for Coachella after giving birth to twins in an emergency c-section, performing on a knee that was injured decades ago, hours of losing sleep. Billboard named Beyoncé the greatest entertainer of the 21st century because, by their words, the way she trains, her only competition are [herself, and] athletes.
In a world where the effortless, cool person is admired, and a try-hard is named just that, but with a hint of disdain, I would like to ask why. My personal opinion is that the idea of being effortless is something you were born with. An it-factor, if you will. However, the idea of being a try-hard is taking what you were born with - your gift and vision- and honing it, training it, to the best of your abilities.
If we rest on the idea of being effortless, it gives the false notion that you either have it or you don’t. For those who don’t, it releases them of trying at all. When really? To be great, you have to try, whether your talents started out as effortless or not.
In Homecoming, we see Beyoncé become a student, learning the choreography for the popular dance break to O.T. Genasis’s Everybody Mad. During Coachella, we saw the final product, but during the documentary, we saw Beyoncé learning the dance meticulously, even doubting herself in her post-partum months.
That’s why people don’t like to rehearse. You gotta be humble. You gotta be willing to look awkward. You gotta study. You gotta be a student. - Beyoncé
The thing I enjoy most about Beyoncé’s vocals is her agility. With time, her voice has gotten deeper, richer, more controlled. She understands that her vocal chords are not only an instrument, but a muscle that needs to be treated as such. After decades of singing, Beyoncé still glides on Virgo’s Groove better than most. The Texas Hold-Em riff? Is for healthy voices only.
I consider myself a gifted writer. Not by my merit, but God’s. However, this is a muscle I have to work constantly. Resting on my loins and the fact that I consider myself gifted in this area isn’t enough. My heart and message in my writing may stay the same, but my ideas are ever evolving, and in this area, I need to be agile. Agility comes with training. My writing muscle needs to be flexible.
Having “it” is something you may be born with, but it’s certainly something you have to maintain. We all have something, a gift that starts out as effortless but shouldn’t stay there. And honestly? Most artists we deem effortless may not even be that - it’s the facade they’d like to portray. And while Beyoncé is famously private, I enjoy the fact that her work ethic is something she’s very transparent about.
Some links to my previous Beyoncé posts!
What Beyoncé’s AOTY win means to me
7 Reasons Beyoncé's "Formation" Music Video Is a Powerful Statement During Black History Month
12 Notable Faces in Beyoncé's Lemonade Video
If I could ask Beyoncé three questions…
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