50 Shades of Bey

After her performance at the Super Bowl XLVII, it’s evident that Beyoncé is a living legend and a true pop icon for the post-Madonna generation.

If you are not a Bey-liever, it’s in our interests to bring you to our side.

Here are 50 reasons.

1. TOUR DE FORCE
The Queen announced shortly after the Super Bowl XLVII “The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour” is coming to a stadium near you in 2013, and the promo video is worthy of royalty.

2. STAR SPANGLED
When Beyonce was found out for lip-syncing the inaugural national anthem, she had a press conference and she sang it live, a cappella. “I will absolutely be singing live,” she said about the Super Bowl. “This is what I was born to do.”

3. LADIES ONLY
For the Super Bowl XLVII Halftime show, Beyonce selected only women for her band, her sidekicks and her back-up dancers. She’s been committed to her all-female band, “The Suga Mamas,” since 2006.

4. PLEAD THE FIFTH
This year, Beyonce will be releasing her fifth studio album, for which she has already recorded almost 50 songs. It entails collaborations with Azealia Banks, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland.

5. TALENT
Beyonce has a 3.5 vocal octave range and is classified as a Wagnerian soprano.

6. TEAM PLAYER
Starting with the R&B group Destiny’s Child, Beyonce flourished with the international pop sensation and reunited with them for the Super Bowl XLVII, as well as releasing a new single called “Nuclear” for a compilation of their love songs.

7. OBAMA
The president of our country has formally endorsed Beyonce. “Beyonce could not be a better role model for my girls,” he said.

8. MICHELLE OBAMA
The First Lady teamed up with our pop sensation to create an awareness campaign for healthier lifestyles and exercise called “Let’s Move!”

9. GOOD HUMAN
Aug. 19, 2012, Beyonce enlisted multiple celebrities to perform for World Humanitarian Day, encouraging people to help the homeless, give to charity and volunteer when needed.

10. A CHILD IS BORN
Beyonce’s first child, Blue Ivy, seems to be following in her mother’s footsteps. Blue Ivy became the youngest person to ever appear on a Billboard chart when Jay-Z used a sample of her voice crying in his song “Glory,” recorded when she was only 2 days old.

11. BABY BOOMER
Her pregnancy announcement broke the record for the most tweets recorded per second for a single event, and propelled the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards to become the most-watched broadcast in MTV history, with 12.4 million viewers.  Her performance at the Super Bowl also helped the event rack up a staggering 24 million tweets in one night, with her performance eclipsing the actual game in Twitter activity.
 
12. SUPERMOM
Can we talk about how great she looks for being a new mom? Not only has she breastfed in public, fearless of the public eye, but Bey claims that Blue Ivy Carter is “so much more fulfilling than anything else in the world.”

13. BIG SIS
Her little sister, Solange Knowles, continues to make spectacular records and is on tour right now.

14. EMPIRE
Between albums, concerts, endorsements, perfumes, clothing lines and other gigs, Beyonce is reputedly worth upwards of $300 million and growing. 

15. BEAUTYLICIOUS
She was named “World’s Most Beautiful Woman” by People Magazine in 2012 and also named “Miss Millenium” by GQ. She was the only non-model, non-athlete to have ever been on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue back in 2007.

16. HAIR GENETICS
It’s no wonder Beyonce’s hair always seems to be impeccable: she gets her good taste in hairstyles from her mother, Tina Knowles. Tina owned a hair salon in Houston when Beyonce was growing up, in which the young Destiny’s Child would often rehearse.  Not to mention, Bey has the supernatural capability of making her hair stand on end and blow in the wind luxuriously every time she performs.

17. BEST DRESSED
Let’s be real: the only fashion faux pas Beyonce has committed only really happened when she was wearing those atrocious matching costumes when she was in Destiny’s Child. Her red carpet style and street style have been hitting it out of the park for the past five or six years at the very least.

18. UP CLOSE
The superstar is getting personal with her upcoming HBO documentary “Life is But a Dream,” a retrospective of the idol’s intimate life.

19. GOOFY
B is widely known to be a humble person, but she also has a great sense of humor. Behind-the-scenes videos always show her joking around, and she describes herself as “silly” and “goofy.”  We think it’s endearing.

FROM HER ROOTS

20. CHILD PRODIGY
Beyonce’s first-ever experience singing in public was at a school talent show, where at age 7 she sang John Lennon’s “Imagine” and won. She beat out 17-year-olds and
received a standing ovation. Does this make her the chosen one?

21. TINY DANCER
Beyonce began dance training, specifically in ballet and jazz, in elementary school, before she’d even begun singing. That means she’s been dancing for more than 22 years.

22. STRUGGLES
She didn’t get to fame completely unscathed. Her parents were separated for a year and almost divorced in 1995. She suffered from severe depression for two years, between 1999 and 2001, after a six-year relationship ended and Destiny’s Child went through legal and personal troubles. And she went through a miscarriage before she was able to have her daughter Blue Ivy.

23. PRIVATE LIVES
Many artists let the stardom get to their heads, but Jay-Z and Beyonce have been perfectly poised and professional throughout their long careers. I cannot help but wonder what they are like behind closed doors.

DIVA

24. DANCE VARIETY
Queen B doesn’t just stick to the hip-shaking or low-key booty popping of her pop and hip-hop peers. In addition to her prowess in hip-hop dance, she also shows her technical dancing skill in other styles. Check out the video for “Countdown” to see her do contemporary/modern choreography, “Love on Top” for jazz and Broadway, and “Get Me Bodied” and “Single Ladies” to see her take on “j-setting” styled hip-hop dance,  which originated as a mixture of cheerleading and hip-hop stylization.

25. SEPARATE THRONES
Jay-Z and Beyonce are each superstars in their own right. Jay-Z is the king of hip-hop, she is the Queen of R&B.

26. BILLS, BILLS, BILLS
She ain’t need no man to pay her bills. Last year, Beyoncé made $40 million, while Jay-Z cruised in at a measley $38,000.

27. SASHA FIERCE
Bey describes Sasha Fierce as the alter-ego she takes on when she performs, and she says the persona helps her to stay humble and grounded and “not to lose herself” to the diva lifestyle.

28. RELATABLE FASHION
Bey’s fashion choices are much more relatable than the uber-sexed-up Rihanna, cutesy Katy Perry or extreme Lady Gaga.

29. BODY POSITIVE
B is very obviously not a size 0, but she’s never publicly bemoaned her curvy figure or tried to diet it away. In fact, a 2012 survey concluded that Beyonce’s bootylicious body was the “most desired” among women, more so than those of thinner models and actresses. Moreover, her clothing line, House of Dereon, is specifically tailored to fit well-endowed women.

30. GAYONCÉ
Queen B has repeatedly voiced her support for the LGBT community and wrote a letter of encouragement when artist Frank Ocean came out.

VOCAL FEATS

31. SUSTAINED NOTES
She can sustain a note in full belt voice and straight tone, without the use of vibrato to help, for more than 14 seconds, which is quite a feat, especially in pop singing.

32. KEY CHANGES
In “Love on Top,” Beyonce covers six keys total, with three of the key changes falling within two minutes of the song.

33. HIGH BELT
Her vocal break from chest voice to head voice is about a G sharp. Most female singers break at least 4 to 5 notes lower. In plain English: the diva’s range is above average.

34. LIVE SINGING
Facing accusations of having lip-synced, B very obviously sang live at the Super Bowl, and still maintained a full, gorgeous belt, despite dancing full out.

SUPERLATIVES

35. NUMBER ONES
Each of her personal albums have debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Charts, and each has gone platinum.

36. AWARDS ON AWARDS
She is the first female artist to win six Grammy Awards in a single night, which she did in 2010. She’s won 12 Grammys as a solo artist, and 16 if you count Destiny’s Child’s wins. She’s nominated for another this year: Best Traditional R&B Performance For “Love on Top.”

38. SONGWRITING
Beyonce is credited as a cowriter on almost all of her songs, and in 2001, she was the first African American woman to win Songwriter of the Year from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. She also cowrote Nelly’s “Grillz.”

39. SERIOUS ACTRESS
Her turn as Deena Jones in 2006’s “Dreamgirls” earned her a Golden Globe nomination for “Best Actress — Musical or Comedy,” and helped the film earn the 2006 Golden Globe for “Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy.” She also showed off her acting chops in a critically acclaimed portrayal of Etta James in 2008’s “Cadillac Records.”

40. COMIC ACTRESS
Although she wasn’t nominated for any awards, Beyonce’s comic roles in 2002’s “Austin Powers in Goldmember” and 2006’s “Pink Panther”  helped lead the two films to widespread commercial success and proved that she doesn’t take herself too seriously. 

41. “BEYONCÉ HAS ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS OF ALL TIME” ~Kanye West

THE DIVA’S DIVAS:

42. ETTA
B played Ms. James in the motion picture “Cadillac Records.”

43. DIANA
Ms. Ross is frequently cited as one of Beyonce’s big role models.

44. WHITNEY
A big role model for Mrs. Carter, Whitney Houston lip-synced her 1991 national anthem for the Super Bowl XXV.

45. PRINCE
Studying all the past Super Bowl performers, Beyonce cited Prince as a key inspiration.

46. MARIAH
Bey has testified that Mariah Carey was one of the first singers she ever heard riffing.

47. MICHAEL
The King of Pop is credited as Queen B’s major musical influence and idol, and we say she’s usurped his throne.

TOP TUNES

48. “CRAZY IN LOVE”
Beyoncé claims that this track was the debut of Sasha Fierce herself, and is widely considered one of the greatest pop songs of our time.

49. “COUNTDOWN”
Not only is “Countdown” a collaboration of nine songwriters, including Bey herself, but the music video is challenging, incorporating modern dance with the 60s mod culture.

50. “HALO”
Halo is a vocal feat. Queen B’s voice floats effortlessly between her raspy lower register and her incredibly pure head voice, gliding through a smooth middle belt. A song this technically difficult  would be almost impossible for anyone but B to sing.