I am not a Beyonce fan. It is best advised that a 32-year-old Black woman never voice this in a room full of her peers. She will likely be tarred and feathered, forever shunned at the very least. I’ve never purchased (or even illegally downloaded for that matter) any of her albums. One time, I ran into her as she was leaving Urban Outfitters just before closing on a weekday evening. She was incognito (a hat, sunglasses, lowered head and a shield of 2 large men). The conversation went as follows:
Me: Hey, are you Beyonce?
Beyonce: Yes (smiling)
Me: Wow! Good to see you.
(Good to see you???) I should note that Sam Cassell visited my next-door neighbor a few weeks ago (weird) and with the exception of the name, the conversation was verbatim. As he waited for her to come to the door I tried to explain to the boys that he was a professional basketball player and why that had any significance at all. In doing so and hearing myself bumble over my words while they stared blankly back at me, I reached the conclusion that it doesn’t, so we continued hanging our Halloween decorations. Then I thought it would be a good idea to run inside and get a basketball for him to sign as it may be worth something one day. Maybe even today. But then I remembered I would also have to locate a permanent marker which could have taken upwards of 5 minutes. So we continued hanging our Halloween decorations. I suck at celebrity sightings.
But I’m thinking that if I bumped into Solange Knowles (Beyonce’s younger sister) these days, I’d have a lot more to say than I did in my previous celeb encounters. I don’t know much about her musical background, but I find her personal style as well as her photography to be quite inspiring. She is most definitely a risk-taker when it comes to fashion, but I think she looks pretty fly doing it.
***Clarification: When I say “not a fan” of Beyonce, I do not mean I have negative feelings towards her. I’ll be the first to sing along with her hits when I hear them in social settings. I’ve memorized the entire routine to “Crazy” on Just Dance 2. I think she’s a beautiful and very talented individual. I just don’t ever feel compelled to listen to her music or feel any emotional attachment to her as an artist. I notice that the second someone says they’re not a fan of Beyonce, the terms hater and jealous get thrown around. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. Just wanted to get that out there before that bag of feathers opens 😉
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Didnt know you blogged but I look forward to reading more of your thoughts! Love ya
Love you, too!
I almost cried about you not being a Beyonce fan. (How?!) But yes, DITTO on the Solange.
Great post. Thanks for sharing!
LOL at the tar and feathers. Even though I am a HUGE Bey fan, I can understand just not being moved by a particular artist…doesn’t make you a hater at all. Folks get so uptight about that kinda stuff. But, I am pretty sure Beyonce doesn’t care about the presumed “haters”, so why get my panties in a bunch?
I am also a HUGE fan of Solange — the singer, the DJ, the fashionista. I just think her whole vibe is so cool. I have also had the pleasure of meeting her, and she is just too cool for school (in a good way!).
Thanks for your input, Eboni. How cool that you got to meet her! I think I’ll make it a mission to bump into her here in Houston. For a minute I forgot that she was a DJ. Dang, she just got that much cooler.
I didn’t know Solange was a photographer? Do you have any links to her photo work?
Marco, she has a tumblr called My Damn Blog and I’m ASSUMING the images that she posts are her own as she never lists a source and they all have a very distinct (and similar) look. I wanna say she’s shooting with film at times. Check it out. http://mydamnblog.com/
LOVED this!!!!! I feel the same way about JLo.
Michelle, I never even thought about that. Exact same situation, I’m sure.