Beyonce has new music.
The first single came out today. From what I understand she’s releasing 16 tracks at the end of July. Renaissance is the overall theme. According to Beyonce we are all due for one. I’ll agree with whatever she tells me.
When I went to see Beyonce in concert she popped up from under the stage and the noise that came out of my mouth is one I didn’t realise I could make. I don’t even think the term squeal would cover the foreign sound. The show was immaculate.
Beyonce music wasn’t anything I thought I was waiting for, until I heard it was coming. There’s a sense of peace when people don’t produce music at a rapid rate. * Well don’t produce anything at a rapid rate really.
The slower pace means, that as a consumer, there is more time to catch up and sit with what they’ve already produced as opposed to having to be across the new thing. This is in complete contradiction to how we currently experience content. Sometimes the priority is to experience something produced by your favourite artist/content creator and we might be extra happy when they post. Other times, we are just refreshing our feeds, playlists, streaming service home screens for anything to come up that we haven’t seen before.
On one hand, I feel that the current set up of streaming services, social media etc. encourages us to interact in a very shallow way with artists and creators. The way we are presented singles seems that less can be said for albums, and that you may not even hear an artist’s whole body of work to decide that you are in fact a fan. And I get this to an extent, unfortunately I haven’t seen everything Robert DeNiro has been in (and I am working to rectify this) but I do, 100% call myself a fan, and his name is enough to encourage me to watch something (though nobody should see The Intern, and that’s not got anything to do with the performances of Hathaway or DeNiro but rather the implication it’s okay her husband cheats because she’s busy all the time).
To me, listening to an album from start to finish, as it was intended, is an indescribable magic. It really does so much to feed the soul. Recently, my boyfriend commented that he couldn’t believe I did this, because to him, it all sounded the same. I love the same! Sure, albums have light and shade but as a body of work, they all layer on top of each other, and build a real story. I just find the whole experience more satisfying. Having said, I love the shift in mood a playlist offers; whether you choose to listen to an artist, genre, decade or whatever.
Sometimes, I feel pressure as an audience member to consume all that an artist has to offer. And sometimes, I relish in it. It can be disappointing when you discover a new YouTuber only to find out that they only have a handful of videos, or that you’ve seen all that they have made. It can also be disappointing when a show you really love goes on for just that little bit too long (like Offspring!), or they add another film to the franchise, when ending where they were, would’ve been completely fine (Legally Blonde 3 – did anyone know this existed? The Godfather Part III, even Before Midnight).
I often wonder what it’s like for a content creator or artist to decide that’s it.
The release of Bosch Legacy means that Titus Welliver, who plays the show’s title character, has been doing lots of promo. In one interview, he said that when he first took on the role, he told the writer he would play the character for as long as they were writing him. Seven seasons of Bosch, plus one season of the spin off Bosch Legacy later and I am still glad that that’s the case.
Sara Donaldson is an influencer or content creator; I don’t know her preferred title. Due to the success of her blog Harper and Harley (which is now barely updated) and her Instagram, Donaldson found herself on the two season-show Blogger TV. Which I loved, but that’s beside the point. On the show (I’m pretty sure that’s where I saw it, but I’m questioning myself), she mused about the ending of her blog and wondered how she would tell all these people that she wasn’t doing it anymore. I do wonder, but like we’d cope. Not everyone needs to announce it hard and fast, but it can be confusing when someone was doing something a few times a week to then doing it a few times a year. Perhaps the waters are murkier in the influencer space because the audience loyalty feels like such a crucial part of the success which has meant that she can move on to other things. Although, this kind of entitlement means that some people who love Justin Bieber hate Selena Gomez, or fans get angry with people, like the actor who copped all this shit because she was hanging out with Bieber. For the record I don’t like Justin Bieber, and I love Selena Gomez. But I can guarantee I wouldn’t like him, regardless of my feelings about Selena.
I’ve never committed myself to a fandom by name; Swiftie, a part of the Beyhive etc. And I would be sad if someone who was still producing good content, decided to call it quits, but ultimately, I’d admire it. Much better to do it on your terms, than the terms of a very fickle industry with the fans to match.
*For those who haven’t seen Louis Theroux’s Chicken Shop Date, the highlight is when he says he’d like to hear what Ed Sheeran would sound like if he produced less music. Amelia Dimoldenberg is a genius.