Beyoncé’s pivot spotlights parasocial relationship with art

It might seem absurd, yet that’s where a lot of our engagement with art stands today. We are in the era of the parasocial relationship and art has failed to escape its grasp. In an isolating modern society, connection and reassurance can be an entirely one-sided affair, propping up and informing our identity and beliefs.

It’s increasingly rare to find perspectives that can compartmentalise and consider artistic works on their own merit. A wider branch of external influences plays on our interpretation, from social and political identities to the commercial world of branding and marketing.

And one of the strongest brands there is? The first name entity known as Beyoncé. The singer has not only dominated the music field but has become a massive cultural icon. Her every move is dissected endlessly, generating constant think pieces and analyses on the social and political implications of anything she does. Beyoncé is never judged on her work alone, but on how her work fits into our cultural landscape.

Read more:

Derek McArthur: The downfall of Taylor Swift is not a matter of if, but when

Beyoncé announced her new album on Instagram by saying “This ain’t a Country album. This is a “Beyoncé” album”. So why the outrage when it was felt that not enough fealty and recognition was placed at her feet by the Nashville establishment?

In February, Beyoncé surprise dropped two new singles in the country style. An Oklahoman country radio station received a request for these songs, unaware that the singer had taken a pivot. They refused to play the songs, with the refusal leaking out onto the internet and going viral. Soon the station was inundated by accusations of racism, becoming a topic of country music’s historic relationship with black musicians.

Despite being a mistake, it served as a focal point in substantiating a narrative. The relationship between country and black musicians has a frayed and complicated history. Black musicians have often been seen as ‘not country enough’, with an impossible-to-ignore association with the white South and its racial history. Working black musicians in Nashville see challenges that white musicians will never face in the city, and recognition and aim for solutions to that is very valid indeed.

But Beyoncé is not a musician trying to make it in Nashville. She is Beyoncé, a figure who lives far outside the normal concerns of the working musician. Once she enters the conversation, it is about her, with the social and political connotations of her involvement confirming and upholding her cultural position and public image.

Beyoncé's new album Cowboy Carter is a pivot into country music for the singer but has provoked conversation far outside of the music (Image: Columbia Records)
Why do we care so much about Beyoncé’s position in the world of country? Why is her success and acceptance such a personal mission for us mere peasants? It’s by design. This rejection from the country mainstream is an integral part of her album rollout, social media activism as marketing. The narrative she is creating, that she is returning country to its black stylistic roots in an effort to reclaim that part of the genre’s beginnings, is an interesting idea that could be examined quite successfully on her Cowboy Carter album, but instead serves as window dressing for the part of her branding that establishes her as a social and cultural leader.

This parasocial branding is so effective that when someone says they love Beyoncé, it’s likely not just that they like the music she creates, they’re buying into a wider social paradigm. She has made herself sacrosanct, where any criticism can be conveniently filed and dismissed under an individual’s social, cultural, or political beliefs. Celebrity worship and art have been popularly intertwined since Andy Warhol, yet art is now unlikely to comment on and observe the world of celebrity, instead celebrity and art act as a driver of legitimacy in other social areas.

Read more:

Derek McArthur: Pitchfork folding and the death spiral of music discovery

The parasocial relationship with art rests on how the work intertwines with our social and political identities but this ultimately boxes our perspective, making artistic interpretation insular and narrow-minded. Among art’s capabilities is providing the space to gain new perspectives and understandings – if our mindset relies on experiencing art that already reflects our values and identity then there is little growth to be had. This mindset reduces art to a secondary function, an afterthought to reinforce other forces outside its parameters. Art is never the best place for answers, but probably the best place for questions.

In the twenty-first century, we are desperate for a solidified sense of identity. The way we form our identity has shifted and complicated greatly, where these thoughts now cloud and distort our perspective towards the artistic object. Beyoncé is indeed an important voice, given the extent of her platform and her influence over the cultural moment, but is there any room left for an honest and critical view of her work without assumptions about one’s character or beliefs? Are we eternally stuck looking for ways to dismiss criticism through undefined personal goalposts? It seems just to be the modern way.