Beyonce Knowles “If I Were a Boy”

         Culture can be a very vague term, because a culture consists of numerous elements that make up what it is. Fortunately, we live in a society where various forms of media are flourished around us that advertise, display, and teach us who we are, and what ‘our’ culture is. Popular music is a form of media that defines the dynamics of culture. For example, the multiple genres of music already show a variety aspect on our culture. Jazz and R&B are frequently considered as ‘black music’; rock songs belong to rebellious, independent artists; techno music aims for younger generations, etc. And such grouping of the artists, albums, or performances, attracts different groups of fans as well. It is likely that certain fans of certain genre were perceived to have those characteristics. I am a fan of R&B music; I enjoy the emotional, soulful, and rhythmic aspects in music. Speaking of R&B, everyone must know diva Beyonce Knowles. Her powerful vocals, stylish presence, and fifteen years of hard work have earned her 160 awards in various places. One of her top hits released in 2008 by Columbia Records, called If I Were a Boy, written by Britney Carlson and Toby Gad, has been one of her best-selling singles to date. However, this song differs from Beyonce’s other songs in that it is not her typical R&B, dance-floor track style which involve heavy drumming, rapping, or electric guitar. Instead, If I Were a Boy is a pop ballad with acoustic guitars, drums, and strings as background instruments. This song raises the issue of gender stereotypes, which helps audiences define our culture in another way through her music.

This song is popular not only because it dominated the top hits on music charts from different countries, but also because of the style change in Beyonce’s music through this song, which allowed her to temporarily step down from her glorious, pop-star figure. In the music video of this song, we can see that she took off her normal heavy make-up look, and made a light makeup, simple presence that represents the ‘everyday woman’ figure. As a result, her entire performance depicted her in a more anonymous way. The video itself was recorded in black and white, and the video shows a lot of different camera angles, displaying Beyonce’s internal progressions. Those strategies that presented the clear and underlying messages are additions to the text of the video which helps us better understand how music, as an art form, acts upon our culture. Her engaging, emotional act in the video, which is different from her other music videos, also further solidify her other title as an actress in addition to adding authenticity to the video.  Her emotions, that show the sentimental side of her, are truly transmitted through her expressions and singing in the video, which helped to connect with the audiences more. The intended audience for this song is most likely for young adults, who have just became mature enough to be in a relationship, but do not understand the values of love, and the idea of cherishment.

The song’s lyrics gave references to the stereotypes in men who are in relationships. Beyonce played out her interpretation of the typical “guy” behaviors by pretending if she were a boy. For example, in her video, she rolled out of bed, and threw some random shirt on; she drank beer with other men in a bar; flirted with her colleague; and intentionally ignored her phone calls and claimed that her phone has broken. Those are examples or the ‘privileges’ that Beyonce highlighted which she believed that the men in our society are accustomed to, but that women are not. Nevertheless, no matter how much things she tried to imitate as a guy, her point is that she would never hurt a girl as much as men do because she knows how girls can be fragile and sensitive. She took on the role of representing the majority women in the society, and raised the issue of why women feel undervalued by men in many ways. I believe this theme in the song contributes to Beyonce’s strong feminist beliefs and independent attitude as well, advocating women to fight for equality, and their own independence. Beyonce has successfully managed to present the multi-dimensionality of a growing woman. Her later songs Single Ladies, Run the World all reflect the themes of feminism and independence, which might also be the reason why she is still working so hard as a top pop star- to advocate feminism and independence, as well as showing her individuality.  Her image represents independence, intelligence, confidence, and beauty. She understands the importance of being flexible as an artist, as well as keeping her own personality. That’s probably why she brought this song into her album for a change of taste and a raise in her selling records.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonc%C3%A9_Knowles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Were_a_Boy#Charts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWpsOqh8q0M