I know who Beyonce is. She was voted People’s most beautiful woman in the world a couple years ago. I know she is married to someone called Jay Z , they have a baby named Blue Ivy, and there was a lot of gossip and speculation she had faked that pregnancy (a surrogate was carrying it) because she was on a talk show on TV and when she sat down, her pregnant belly ‘folded’ right in half as though it was made of foam rubber or something, lol! I know she was the superbowl entertainment the night the lights went out in the dome.
Now, Rihanna is someone altogether different. I know she did songs called ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Disturbia’. I know she’s been hooked up with someone named Chris Brown who smashed her face in a few years ago. (In spite of this, he’s more popular than EVER, having legions of fans who keep him a 1%-er). She has been cancelling HER concerts lately due to the popular celebrity ailment known as “exhaustion”. She and Chris Brown play a game where they get back together (because she ‘understands’ him) - split - get back together - split. Drives her fans crazy because she won’t leave her abuser. They are NOT married.
This concludes my knowledge of these people, gleaned through tabloid headlines and occasional gossip sites online. As I’m not a fan of any of them, it’s surprising I know as much about them as I do. (O/T I just learned Eminem, who I know for about the same reasons - public hoo-ha’s, one or two songs or videos from some years back, has untold millions of Facebook followers, like in the top five Facebook sites. Astonishing! Why??)
I follow very little sports or celebrity gossip, and I don’t listen to hip-hop, but I had heard of Jay-Z years before I ever heard of Beyoncé or Destiny’s Child. And somewhere between the promotional bumpers and the pop-up news, I learned that they were married. If your browser ever lands on a broad-target internet portal, like Yahoo or Microsoft, or if you ever leave the television on in the background, I think some of these kinds of things are inevitably going to seep through.
He’s #5, above Coca Cola and below Rihanna. Only surprised in that he was just everywhere a few years ago and then AFAIK the excitement died down, but he’s still #5. I plead ignorance as to how his career is doing, but I haven’t heard anything about him in a long time. Yes, 1) I’m not in his demographic, and 2) I am an ignoramus. Just making a comment, I have nothing against Eminem and wish him well, but was surprised to see his high ranking on FB.
I imagine that more people familiar with Jay-Z will know of the marriage (Lord knows he drops references to the marriage in plenty of his songs) than will people only familiar with Beyonce. It’s a big part of his image, a small time hood who bootstrapped himself into fame, fortune, and a marriage to someone who arguably was the biggest star in her field. It seems to be a very minor part of her image.
Turned out that I knew but had to be reminded. I apparently have a decreasing amount of memory storage space and that little factoid was buried way down on the list, which I think is organized on how interesting a thing is.
From what I’ve gathered reading gossip magazine covers: That’s because he’s secretly still in love with Jennifer Aniston. Or Bethenny. Or Honey Boo Boo. Or the new Pope. I get confused easily.
Ok, but the fact is, if i don’t know who they’re married to, I don’t really lose out on pop culture very much. As far as important cultural information goes, who is diddling who ranks pretty low. I had an art history teacher that enjoyed detailing this among the European and American artists of the 20th century. She was the worst.
On top of that, while neither of them are flavor of the month variety artists, neither of these two artists has really done much in the way of groundbreaking or visionary work, imho. They’re certainly very popular, but for the most part they’re an incremental change in style. To offer a counter example, most people know Sonny was married to Cher, what difference does it make? It almost doesn’t matter now to even know who they were.
On the other hand, most people get along just fine not knowing who Sister Rosetta Tharpe is, and being oblivious to her influence on music. Heck, I did for most of my life. Even after I found out who she was musically, it was only in the last six months that I found out anything about her personal life. Before that, she was asexual as far as I was concerned. I still grew up playing guitar riffs that I found out later were probably first popularized by her.
And really, pop culture is one of those things that is very personal. Most people don’t consume the dominant culture exclusively. Some don’t consume it by will at all. As long as you’re getting some pop culture though, your pop culture tooth gets satisfied.
Yeah, this. “Hard Knock Life” sucked schweddy balls. I also know their daughter’s name.
On a related note, has anyone heard of a guy who goes by “Swizz Beatz”? Apparently he’s the babydaddy of a girl in my daughter’s class. I know nothing of this world.
Hip hop producer who rose to fame in the early to mid-2000’s with his horrible but immensely popular production. More famous these days for leaving his wife to be with Alicia Keys.
Michelle Williams. She is quite a hottie herself. Link
Destiny’s Child had some previous members too, but I’ve no idea of who they are and have no desire to learn.
Jay Z has become a sports agent lately. Among his clients is Skylar Diggins, the All-American hoop babe from Notre Dame. Link
There is no reason to be shocked. I’m not delighting in my ignorance, as others have implied. I know that there is a singer named Boyonce, and another one named Taylor Swift. It is not. however, hard to be alive and conscious in America and not know anything about them, or know who Jay-Z is. Sure, I might have seen a cover at the check out stand telling me that Boyonce and Jay-Z got married, and another one about who looks good at the beach this summer. It just doesn’t stick. Imagine seeing a headline at the supermarket that “the atomic number of zinc is 30.” You could read it, and move on to the bikini photos and sex tips. If I asked you a week later, you probably wouldn’t even recall reading about zinc. It wasn’t something you gave any thought to at the time, and it simply didn’t register. Same thing with most celebrity news I’m exposed to. It doesn’t make me better, smarter, or even more interesting. It’s just the way it is.
Yes they would hear about her. Because pop culture is mainstream culture. Those other genres are what would take special effort to be familiar with.
Beyonce is all over the media even for things that have nothing to do with her music.
I could maybe somewhat sorta buy someone who shuns all popular entertainment not knowing who Beyonce is, but Phèdre nó Delaunay watches TV and even reads gossip sites (!).