10 Reasons Why Beyonce is NOT the Second Coming of Michael Jackson
*Warning: MJ stan on the mic*
Beyonce wants badly to be considered an icon. From film roles like Deena in ‘Dreamgirls’ and the melancholy and skip-worthy ’4′ album closer ‘I Was Here’, the 29 year-old starlet has been campaigning for sometime for the ‘remember me’ spot. Now recently her husband, ‘Watch the Throne’ emcee/mogul Jay-Z joined in naming his wifey “the second coming of Michael Jackson.” Isn’t this lofty, and a bit overzealous, yes? The blog-buzzing comparison made during Beyonce’s string of sold-out shows at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom seem calculated, contrived, and clearly biased. When Beyonce started with the ‘King B’ title, who would have ever guessed it would become so literal?
Whatever our thoughts may be on Michael Jackson – the alleged skin-bleaching, child-molestation, or his children who seemed to have fallen off the Jackson bloodline – we can not deny the late superstar’s incomparable global influence.
The new MJ? Geez, I would have settled for Janet. But even that’s a stretch.
Here’s 10 reasons why King B is NOT the second coming of the King of Pop:
1. Michael Jackson had 40+ years in the game. Period.
Beyonce is on her fourth album. This is clearly no match to Jackson’s loads of released and unreleased material – the chart-topping albums, films, and super-videos.
2. Beyonce will make me dance, but she can NOT make me cry.
Sure, we see Beyonce touring the world with thousands of fans swelling stadiums. And maybe they’ll be a few fights among “the kids” in the audience over room to “Pose for the camera, click, click,” but Jackson’s cross-generational appeal made grown men cry. Don’t believe me? Just YouTube the ‘Bad’ album tour. The man couldn’t even walk down the street. Beyonce, do you have to wear a fat suit to go grocery shopping for Frosted Flakes? No!
3. I mean, at least let the man be dead for 5 years.
MJ’s unfortunate passing was only 2 years ago…are we really ready to replace him already?
4. No one compares to MJ’s philanthropy. No one.
When MJ wasn’t in the studio or touring, the man was off in Africa greeting sick children plagued by HIV/AIDS. He founded organizations, and burn centers. He made a song for Willy and made us all cry at the 1993 Superbowl. Indeed there’s charity work by Beyonce to applaud, but lest we forget, MJ holds the Guinness World Book record for the most money given to charity by any entertainer.
5. She simply hasn’t had enough surgeries and law-suits. *insert humor here*
I’ll need for Beyonce to have a few more obvious surgeries to reach MJ’s appeal. And mega-stars are sued at least twice a week. There’s no record of earth-shattering Beyonce lawsuits interrupting a middle America episode of ‘As the World Turns.’
6. Who has Beyonce influenced? Don’t worry, I’ll wait…
There is no pop star since ‘Thriller’ – male or female – who hasn’t cited Michael Jackson as an influence. Usher, Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Ciara, Chris Brown, you name it – they all looked to the King of Pop for musical and dance influences. We’re not talking about who was first to wear a blonde lacefront, bag one of the Kings of Hip-Hop, or sport a high-shoulder Balmain jacket. What makes an entertainer iconic is that they set a standard. MJ set vocal and dance standards that changed everything when it came to performance. Sorry Bey stans, the ’4′ album sets no performance standards.
7. ‘Single Ladies’ is not ‘Thriller’ and ‘Who Runs the World’ (Girls) is no ‘They Don’t Care About Us’
The video for ‘Single Ladies’ was indeed a phenomenon. People took to YouTube creating their own versions, and unattached women everywhere had a new club anthem. But when MJ died, I witnessed children born post-’Thriller’ who lined Harlem’s Apollo Theater dancing the video’s entire choreography. And while ‘Who Runs the World (Girls)’ is a hyper-produced dance hit with feminist steez, it’s a far cry from the from the intrinsic protest and fed-up vocals MJ pushed out of his controversial hit ‘They Don’t Care About Us.’ All that topped off with a Brazil-based video directed by the king of protest film himself, Spike Lee.
8. MJ comes from an entire musical family.
MJ comes out of a family of entertainers. The Jackson Five, Janet, and yes, even 3T. Unfortunately Miss Tina’s super bedazzled costumes don’t qualify here. And is Solange even a Knowles anymore?
9. Let’s be clear, fame like MJ doesn’t exist anymore.
Arguably, there will never be another MJ. The late superstar’s infamy transcends age, race, and gender (no pun intended). It was a time that preceded celebrity gossip blogs, TMZ 24-hour star access, and Twitter celebrity rants.
10. Finally, where’s the Beyonce impersonators?
When I see a ‘Sasha Fierce’ fitted queen at the Time Square 42nd street station belting out ‘Dangerously In Love’, we can revisit this conservation again. Ok?
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Geneva S. Thomas.
You are grossly underestimating Beyonce’s stardom and influence AND your article is extremely biased.
What does having lawsuits, surgeries and philanthropy have to do with being a superstar? Not a damn thing.
Also, I’m sure people WOULD cry if they saw Beyonce, she has some diehard fans.
Yea, Beyonce may be a little egotisical, some may argue that she is greedy but she IS EVERYWHERE.
The fact that it only took her 4 solo albums and 15 years to get to the level she is on says enough in itself.
I love MJ and I love Bey.
I’m not sure about the comparison but she is definitely the biggest star of our generation..
NEXT.
I love this post and it speaks the truth. There is no equality to that of MJ’s. He is truly an artistic legend. Think back to Elvis Presley. He was a white guy, who rocked it in the 1950s–MJ rose to fame in the 1980s…it may take years before another performer reaches such Goliath fame. Beyonce is amazing and is rocking the globe, yes. But MJ dedicated his life to this; heis the master of musical performance. It will be interesting to see what story shapes out for Beyonce in time.
I have to agree with priceless, in 15 -25 years from now will her songs still be in heavy rotation like they are now? Depending on how music goes I could guess not. Will Cirque Du Soleil make an entire production based on her entire music collection? She may have influenced Ciara and Rihanna but Adele not by a long shot. I don’t know if that’s really influenced or record companies saw something that sells and decided to make a copy.
Icons don’t try to become icons it just happens because they have something of substance to share with people or they have set bar for that particular industry. Besides a couple of workout songs she has not given much to the music industry as a whole. Who Runs This (Girls) didn’t have a lot to do with female empowerment. Icons give credit where credit is do If I Were A Boy anyone she paid for the rights then said she wrote it how does that equate to icon statues? I don’t think she is as hard working as she is just over publicized.
I agree with u 200%!!!!
I believe she is over-hyped and with no real star power. If it wasnt for the media always putting her in our face, we really wouldn’t care about her. Yes she is young, and maybe with time we may think about giving her the title, honestly she is the closet, but she does not cross gender lines, and an icon MUST be able to cross gender lines. PERIOD. you don’t become an icon by influenceing one gender. My dad loves Diana Ross. she opened his eyes to so much, i first heard about her thru him-amazing right. Thats an icon. I love the fact that besides her father being an ass and her sister have a kid early there are no scandels tied to her. That makes her amazing in my book, or she surrounds herself with loyal people. take it how you want to.
We run the world (girls) was one of her worst songs and videos. i saw no types of empowerment in this video. she could have come better, so happy that people made their radio stations stop playing it. A first for her i’m sure.
I like her music, hate her film parts-always believed that they could have went to a better actress. Honestly, she should stick to music. That would make me happy :)
All in all, she IS a positive role model for all-especially these young lost girls/women.
Keep up the good work. I am a Beyonce realist-not a hater :)
Peace
I did not know how you were going to spin this, but job well done. I cannot argue that you are telling the truth.
While I in no way think that Beyonce is on the same level as Michael Jackson, the attitude I’ve seen in these comments along the lines of “HAHAHAHAHA And she never will be!! HAHAHAHA” show me how naturally hating some women can be. Why do you all hate her so much? Regardless of how you personally feel about her, there is no doubt that she’s one of the biggest music stars of our time, so why can’t she at least be given credit for that…
P.S. I always find the opinions of her so interesting. I can tolerate women who like Beyonce and women who don’t particularly care for her. But women who HATE her, it’s like why so angry? What did she do to YOU? I just don’t get it…
LMAO at all the haters! I will say it again…..COME AGAIN!!
Beyonce is an ICON,and on par with Michael Jackson,that is WELL recognized by the non threatened and the intelligent Music fan. Some of these posts show a lot of hurt feelings. She IS on par with MJ,and yall can stay mad. I wrote on this yesterday and went easy on MJ,but the way some of you talked about Beyonce shows how bad you envy and dislike her. NOTHING FACTUAL in most of these posts,just the same stupid hating on another Black woman that so many sites feature. It is what it is…Jay Z has worked with both,and yeah, he can say that–he is right. Prince cried when Beyonce performed Dangerously in Love at the Grammys,Tina Turner danced side by side with her,and MJ Duet partner Paul McCartney said that if Xfactor had Beyonce on it,it was good enough for him,ie she is a PEER of his,and YES,her TV special defeated his in the ratings one Thanksgiving! The Icons AGREE…she is one of them. Yall can stay mad. And Beyonce will stay the heiress to MJ….it is what it is…Come CORRECT!