On Beyoncé

Lenten blogging year 3 begins here.

I am returning to a place where my thoughts live in this very private place called the Internet because it helps me have a record of them. Thoughts can be so fleeting. If not for just 40 days each year, then when?

Right now I am inspired by Beyoncé. I am amazed at her audacity (although I suppose that being a millionaire and multi-Grammy winning modern-day superstar gives you a certain amount of boldness) and I am inspired by the fact that she almost pulled a fast one on America. While most of us sat down in front of the TV with our seven-layer dip and wings waiting to only be entertained, she seized that moment, owned it, and sought to somehow bring meaning into a place where the rest of us just wanted to be wowed. And wowed I was, not just by the synchronized dance moves, but by the provocative cultural symbolism of the whole thing. I was floored and I didn't even really know what was going on.

Three days of cultural criticism on the Interwebs later, we see that America isn't quite ready for such an unabashed display of what blackness means, and that race and culture are still grossly misunderstood in our country. It makes me sad. But it also made me glad to think that the pop diva of our time still made an attempt to say something about this volatile culture we live in. Because a conversation about the "Formation" video and anything and everything in it is still better than where we were last week.

I long for any sound that I produce as an artist to have meaning. Some kind of meaning. And though I seldom find inspiration through pop culture, I tip my hat to Beyoncé for using this opportunity to say something - even if it was narcissistic, materialistic, or whatever other type of criticism one can think of. It wasn't inauthentic. And I think that's what matters.