So, I didn't watch the Grammy Awards. I don't really give a shit about them. It's yet another entertainment industry self-aggrandizing, mutual masturbatory, solipsistic bit of industry insiderness, and I really could give half a hairy fuck.
(and in another post, I'm gonna tell you how I REALLY feel about the Grammys. Maybe next year)
But then the New York Times reported on what they say is a "lively debate" on Facebook and twitter (ok, so I don't give half a hairy shit about Facebook either) regarding the Beyonce and Jay-Z performance during the Grammys. (granted, as my husband pointed out, it has an excellent shout out to mimic octopuses)
Ok.
- It grosses me out that the NYT is reporting on things being said on social media, especially regarding entertainment. Egyptian protests - yes, I get it. The Grammys? FUCK YOU, NYT.
- I grossed myself out, first by reading the article, and then by immediately going to YouTube to watch the performance. So here it is:
now you can hate me too.
This was sexy? And intimate? Did I watch an entirely different performance? Jay-Z and Beyonce have what must be the best choreographed marriage in history. And you can take that however you want.
One of the Facebookers was quoted as writing: “No good reason for a married mother to be on a chair with her legs gaped open for the whole world to see.”
Which brings me to my point:
Why shouldn't Beyonce act like a stripper if she damn well feels like it? For that matter, why shouldn't Miley Cyrus, former child star or not?
It's along the lines of what the porn star Gloria Leonard said: “...the whole point of the women’s movement is for women to choose whatever they want to do. Why should my choice be considered any less or more valid than your choice?”
Yeah, I fully support the choices of Beyonce, Miley, Rhianna, and whichever other women out there choose to act like strippers, sluts, or whatever other sexually charged image they wish to portray to the general public.
But that begs the question of whether or not these female stars are actually choosing these particular images, or if they're being chosen for them.
I'm not trying to denigrate their power as self-actualized human beings to choose, based on their gender. But I wonder how much the music business actually allows them to express themselves as they wish to be expressed, and how much of this sexuality (and/or controversy) is manufactured in order to generate record/iTunes sales.
Especially after having read numerous biographies and interviews with male musicians bitching mightily about the music industry not allowing them to fully express their creative personas, as music executives want to continue along the lines of what sells. If this is happening to men in the music business, what is happening to the (historically marginalized) women in the biz?
Comparing Beyonce's expressions of sexuality to Miley's may be like comparing cognac to kool-aid, given that Beyonce is one of the richest, most powerful women on the planet, (or so we're told), and Miley is just testing out her wings, but how much is Beyonce also playing into the market place and how much of this is actually her?
Just sayin'.*
*apostrophe courtesy of my husband.
Lastly, the lyrics of Drunk in Love. Really? Surfboard? I mean, I'm all about dumbass lyrics. I'll admit that Robin Thicke's "what rhymes with hug me?" cracks me up EVERY TIME. But the surfboard/riding on that wood thing? UGH.
