Freedom — Beyoncé (feat. Kendrick Lamar)

#365Songs: September 3

Every time Beyoncé releases a new record, I saddle up and I listen. It’s an event. I like events. I also like being able to discuss new music without being that guy. You know the one. The one that espouses hundreds of regurgitated opinions he cribbed from Pitchfork without having ever listened to the music he’s condemning (or celebrating — it works both ways).

So I listen and I consider.

And consider.

Consider that yesterday I picked a Foo Fighters song and I don’t ever listen to the Foo Fighters by choice. My #365Songs companions only gave me a frowny face in our chat. It’s fine. I picked a narrow theme to give me license to talk about an even broader range of music (read: more popular) than I normally would. This celebration of artists that have literally and figuratively slapped (with a lawsuit) Donald Trump is worth having. It’s also reason to consider the power and symbolic meaning of popular music.

So, today, I’m going to write about the biggest and most influential contemporary artist I’ve ever dared to write about for #365Songs, an artist that was used only as a political pawn by the Trump campaign — which seems extraordinarily stupid. Even for him.

So what about this artist’s place in popular culture resulted in a one-sided (kinda rapey) tug-of-war? I’m not sure what the metric would be. Albums sold? I was surprised to learn that Beyoncé didn’t appear on the list. Seeing as how this is a “singles” culture, most downloaded songs? She’s #13 on that list for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It).” So I’m struggling to establish Beyoncé’s claim to fame as Mcguffin in this toxic political climate.

Obviously, I’m leading the witness here. Beyoncé Knowles represents more than the sum of any sales figure. She’s been a part of the music industry for more than 30 years, first as a young pop singer in Destiny’s Child and then as a solo artist, businesswoman, entrepreneur, power couple. Those that write about such things attribute her impact to an ability to change with the times. She’s survived the transition from radio and MTV to YouTube and streaming rather seamlessly. It’s not just a willingness to evolve as an artist — but also create buzz and stoke the fires of that “event” status around every album drop.

An R&B artist announcing a country western album normally would have been met with widespread ridicule. When Beyoncé announced Cowboy Carter I may have had reservations, but I wanted her to pull it off. I’m in favor of artists taking risks, using their celebrity and popularity to tell other stories. I didn’t especially care for the album outside a couple of individual tracks, but I was happy when it received solid reviews and a warm reception by her fans.

If I’m looking at our current political landscape, I think Beyoncé going a little bit country may have set certain political machinations in motion. I can imagine Trump’s campaign geniuses seeing that shift and jumping at the chance to use it as a holy hand grenade.

The A.V. Club wrote: “For once, Beyoncé is behind the trend.” I couldn’t help but giggle; they’re referring to the growing list of artists who have sent the malignant Cheetoh a cease and desist. Indeed. I’m on the fifth day of my #365Songs week of celebrating these artist and there’s no shortage of options.

And despite those many options, I picked Beyoncé today because it’s one of Trump’s boneheadiest sonic blunders. And that includes using The Village People’s “YMCA” and picking a fight with George Harrison’s estate. (How dumb do you have to be to go after a Beatle? Or use a gay anthem at a rally for a candidate that spews anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric as rapidly as he breathes?)

A Trump spokesman used Beyoncé’s “Freedom” in a now-deleted clip on social media in yet another attempt to make the troglodyte look relevant as he boards or disembarks a plane at a campaign stop.

Let me put this into perspective in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last month. That particular song had already become Kamala Harris’ official campaign song. The Harris team not only secured the singer’s blessing, but her mother’s as well. A song to which Harris walked on stage at her first official appearance as the presumed democratic nominee in July and again at the DNC.

Trump’s team confessed later that he did it specifically to troll the opposition. And that brings us to one final point. The MAGA cult and Trump don’t care. They don’t care about decorum. They definitely don’t care about laws or regulations. They don’t care about you or Beyoncé or the memory of Isaac Hayes or Jack White’s clear political orientation or the legacy of the O’Jays. It’s all fair game, property to be taken, but they can’t read the room. By dragging Beyoncè into politics, they’re kicking the Beyhive.

To them, Beyoncé is just another pawn to be used as a sacrifice to their messiah. She’s a savvy businesswoman, an icon, a representative of for a coallition of strong black women — a perfect symbol for the Harris campaign. She is everything they denigrate. Everything they hate. You see it in every intentional fumble with Kamala Harris’ name, every time her race is called into question, every follower who feels emboldened to say she’s not qualified, that she’s a DEI hire, that she traded sexual favors for success.

Do I think that Kamala Harris will suddenly cure America’s ills? It seems unlikley (and through no individual fault of her own)— but it doesn’t really matter does it? Like Beyoncé, she’s representative of a greater idea, a greater good, a stronger future in which we might dare to imagine that the racist MAGA horde will crawl back under the infernal rock from whence they came, thoroughly shattered by a resounding loss to a competent, well-spoken, highly educated black woman who was granted permission to play the music of a respected, smart, and powerful black musician — an elusive conquest who denied a rich, old, white, self-entitled man the ability to own any piece of her.

So my choice today is none other than “Freedom,” because Kendrick Lamar’s presence gives this song an extra toothy ferociousness. I fucking love his verse. It’s a verbal rampage in the middle of one of Beyoncé’s most impressive and biggest vocal performances, channeling gospel and a deeper well of social frustration.

And I do like quite a few of Beyonce’s songs. I thought long and hard about “Deja Vu” and her song with James Blake (picking this one felt like cheating)… but it’s Freedom’s moment. So who am I to argue with the moment?

Ten Hail Marys, I meditate for practice
Channel 9 news tell me I’m movin’ backwards
Eight blocks left, death is around the corner
Seven misleadin’ statements ‘bout my persona
Six headlights wavin’ in my direction (Come on)
Five-O askin’ me what’s in my possession
Yeah, I keep runnin’, jump in the aqueducts
Fire hydrants and hazardous
Smoke alarms on the back of us
But mama, don’t cry for me, ride for me
Try for me, live for me
Breathe for me, sing for me
Honestly guidin’ me
I could be more than I gotta be
Stole from me, lied to me, nation hypocrisy
Code on me, drive on me
Wicked, my spirit inspired me, like yeah
Open correctional gates in higher desert (Yeah)
Open our mind as we cast away oppression (Yeah)
Open the streets and watch our beliefs
And when they carve my name inside the concrete
I pray it forever reads

[Chorus: Beyoncé]
Freedom! Freedom! I can’t move
Freedom, cut me loose!
Freedom! Freedom! Where are you?
’Cause I need freedom, too!
I break chains all by myself
Won’t let my freedom rot in hell
Hey! I’ma keep running
’Cause a winner don’t quit on themselves

~

Start following the #365Songs playlist today, and listen to each new song with each new article!