# Beyonce **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298 "2013-02-04T12:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/1 "2013-02-04T12:59:23Z")
Maybe this ends up in the pit, maybe I go to hell. I don’t actively dislike Beyonce, but I don’t “get” her. And the adoration kind of exhausts me. Hopefully, now that the inauguration and the Super Bowl are over, the buzz will retreat to baseline levels, which are already very high. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/2 "2013-02-04T15:06:54Z")
Doper doesn’t like popular musician. Stop the presses. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/3 "2013-02-04T15:19:31Z")
Sexy, great singing voice, has great stage presence, puts out decent songs that young people can dance to… I don’t get it either. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/4 "2013-02-04T15:39:29Z")
Moved MPSIMS --\> Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/5 "2013-02-04T15:47:07Z")
I never used to like Beyonce, because I felt that she lacked that natural, raw talent that I usually like a superstar to have. Sure, she could sing, but her voice wasn’t one of those voices that were special…she just trained it to be as good as it could be, because she was hungry as hell. I actually had an irrational hate for that. I wanted huge superstars to have \*special \*talent…like Michael Jackson or Jimmie Hendrix or something. But Beyonce has finally set me straight. Sometimes mad ambition and blood, sweat and tears is enough to transform someone who doesn’t have special talent into someone who does. Because, I swear, I was impressed as hell at that superbowl performance. I guess she gets that icon status that I had been trying to hold away from her. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/6 "2013-02-04T16:01:02Z")
Her halftime show at the super bowl made for an excellent opportunity for me to carry dishes etc out of my living room, load the dishwasher and make a potty run. I watched her performance for a minute or two but there was just nothing there to grab me. Skimpy outfits aside. The songs seemed over repetitive, the dance moves even more so. I was expecting to recognize something she sang since she is supposed to be so popular. I’m an old man I know and I don’t listen to much pop music but it’s so common that I’m usually familiar with most of it as background music even if I’m not up on who’s singing it. For this performance there just never was that, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard this before” moment. I was hoping for a medley of her old hits so I could at least recognize something. Maybe there was and I’m just more out of touch than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/7 "2013-02-04T16:01:42Z")
I don’t enjoy her singing and I find her dancing just icky. But I acknowledge her talent & understand why other like her. What I hated was the year she sang ALL the nominated songs at the Oscars. ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/8 "2013-02-04T16:07:20Z")
I didn’t recognize anything and couldn’t dance to it till they got to “Single Ladies”. I had a 22-month-old on my lap, though, who was loudly insisting that I show her pictures of frogs instead of watching the pretty lady dance and sing, so I was distracted. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/9 "2013-02-04T16:19:57Z")
I the superbowl camera shots of Beyonce during her performance, there were a lot of people in front of the stage with their hands in the air, seemingly havin’ fun. Do they let the regular sport-fan audience down from the stands to do that, or were those actor/extras? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/10 "2013-02-04T16:30:12Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I the superbowl camera shots of Beyonce during her performance, there were a lot of people in front of the stage with their hands in the air, seemingly havin’ fun. > > Do they let the regular sport-fan audience down from the stands to do that, or were those actor/extras? Pretty sure those were people she brought with her – the halftime show started with a huge crowd of people running out purposefully onto the field. I don’t think they’d leave the chance for enthusiastically hand-waving people to chance or the whims of random stadium fans. You _choreograph_ that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/11 "2013-02-04T16:32:03Z")
The halftime show was like a cheeseball Vegas production … I expected to see Siegfried and Roy or Wayne Newton walk out anytime. If you want to see Beyonce actually sing, watch the movie Cadillac Records. Also, great performance by Eamonn Walker as Howlin’ Wolf. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/12 "2013-02-04T16:33:08Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > I don’t enjoy her singing and I find her dancing just icky. But I acknowledge her talent & understand why other like her. I’m kinda here, with a lot of **Nzinga’s** “and she’s worked hard to stay on top” thrown in. I respect her a lot more than I like her. She’s been sold as top-shelf R&B royalty since the beginning, and has ended up having the longevity and personal life to step fully into those shoes. More power to her, but I don’t put her music on. While I’m certainly no prude, I found her dancing amusing during half-time - so insistently stripper/sexy it didn’t jive with the all-America vibe, and, as others have said, with the crowd many of us were hanging out with. At least the sexy stuff Prince included was with a smirk - this felt a bit closer to Miss Jackson, who was nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/13 "2013-02-04T16:34:23Z")
She sings? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/14 "2013-02-04T16:37:48Z")
I was kind of bummed out- there was a rumor last week that she was removed from the halftime show for her lip-syncing and replaced with Bob Dylan. Though his live performances suck major balls, I would have watched it. I’m not sure I see what all the fuss is about, her voice is good enough but it’s hard for me to get worked up over a vocalist. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/15 "2013-02-04T16:41:00Z")
Maybe that performance appeals to a certain, limited crowd. She’s pretty, seems likeable enough from all I’d seen previously and her talent is genuine. Sure, she’ll be enormously appealing to a small, select niche. But I didn’t recognize a single song, there was a lot of dance move choreography but nothing that made me think “Woah” and little singing, it just was boring as hell. So I did something else, as apparently did a slew of others. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/16 "2013-02-04T16:47:43Z")
ETA: BTW, I did like Prince, the Who, etc. I get the show. But even my wife and daughter, she who loves cheer competition and singing and dancing on stage just looked at it with a ‘this is weak-assed sauce’ look. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/17 "2013-02-04T17:03:23Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I never used to like Beyonce, because I felt that she lacked that natural, raw talent that I usually like a superstar to have. Sure, she could sing, but her voice wasn’t one of those voices that were special…she just trained it to be as good as it could be, because she was hungry as hell. I disagree with this- I think as talent goes, Beyonce has as much singing talent (as well as overall performance talent) as any pop star today. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/18 "2013-02-04T17:11:55Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I disagree with this- I think as talent goes, Beyonce has as much singing talent (as well as overall performance talent) as any pop star today. Yeah, but this is where I get weird. If we are judging her as just a pop tart, then yes…she is as talented or more than most. But if I am judging her as a superstar icon, then we are at Michael Jackson levels of talent that I expect. Nevertheless, I admit that her insane work ethic has one me over. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/19 "2013-02-04T17:24:30Z")
Completely disagree. Alicia Keyes and Adele are much better. I am thoroughly meh about Beyonce. Obviously she has enough talent, maybe she needs better songwriters. Its not like Madonna could sing that well. She did have some great songs and a distinct style. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298/20 "2013-02-04T17:24:35Z")
She’s doing pretty well in [Your Top Five All-Time Voluptuous Women](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=680061) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beyonce/649298.md?page=2)