Beyoncé Knowles Carter

Beyoncé is an American singer, songwriter, and performer who is most known for her eccentric and impeccable performances, but has used her platform to empower women and most recently speak on the intersectionality of being black and a woman.

Biography
Beyoncé was born in Houston, Texas in 1981. She lived in a four bedroom home with her parents Mathew and Tina Knowles and her little sister Solange. Her father Matthew was a successful salesman for Xerox and actually quit his job after Beyoncé had peaked her towns interest and showed true potential to be a star. She made her first television debut in a R&B group called "Girls Tyme" on the TV competition show Star Search, but did not win the competition. It wasn't until 1997 when her new group "Destiny's Child" was signed to Columbia Records and dominated the charts in the late 90's and early 2000's. After Destiny's Child's success Beyonce released her solo album Dangerously in Love in 2003, which launched her solo career and made her a household name. Since then Beyonce has released 5 other albums and has collected 20 Grammy Awards.

Music:
Since starting her music career in Destiny's Child and becoming a solo artist, Beyonce has always empowered women by sharing the narrative of an independent women and reflecting on the double standards that women face. Destiny's Child pumped out songs like Bills Bills Bills, Survivor, Say My Name, and Independent Women, which told women and reenforced a persona of a women who could accomplish anything without needing a man in their life.

It wasn't until Beyoncé started her solo career that more of the female empowerment anthems truly began to emerge. Songs like Me Myself and I, Irreplaceable, If I were a Boy, Single Ladies, Diva, Pretty Hurts, and Flawless became songs that related to women across the world. Of course, We know the song Flawless that featured Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED talk, "We should all be feminists" that advertised the feminist movement in a positive and somewhat new light. This song became an anthem for the feminist movement and gave people the opportunity to re-think what a feminist was. The impact of Flawless carried to social media and helped popularize the movement with celebrities and young feminist using Flawless as a slogan.

In her latest album "Lemonade", Beyoncé focuses on the intersectionality of being black and being a women and what that means in American culture. In the beginning of the film you hear Malcom X say, "The most disrespected person in America is the black women", which sets the tone for the rest of the album. "Lemonade" features songs like Hold Up, which talks about infidelity and how women are supposed to react. Sorry features the famous tennis player Serena Williams who sensually dances around Beyoncé as Queen Bey talks about leaving her man and doing better for herself. Freedom talks about the ultimate black oppression in America and how being labeled free doesn't actually mean you're free. The album concludes with Formation which combines New Orleans culture with the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality.

Other Activism:
In 2013 Beyoncé announced that she co founded Chime for Change, which was an organization partnering with Global Citizen to help end extreme poverty by 2030, save young girls and women from harsh environments, provide education to young individuals including girls who weren't being given the same educational opportunities as the boys in their community, etc. Beyoncé took to the stage later that year for Chime for Change benefit concert in London to help kick start the organizations support and funding. Today, Chime for Change has countless commitments raising $35 billion, effecting 1.75 billion people in the world.

Beyoncé also started the Formation Scholars Scholarship last year, which awarded women who studied either creative arts, music, literature or African-American studies the opportunity for a full ride through their undergraduate or graduate schooling. On Beyonce's website is states, "To add to the celebration of the one-year anniversary of LEMONADE, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter announces the establishment of Formation Scholars awards for the 2017-2018 academic year, to encourage and support young women who are unafraid to think outside the box and are bold, creative, conscious and confident." This scholarship awarded four women from Berklee College of Music, Howard University, Parsons School of Design and Spelman College.

Critiques of Beyoncé Feminism
After the feature of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's on Beyoncé's Flawless, Adichie began to become more recognized by non-scholarly individuals within the feminist movement. In an interview in 2016 with a Dutch newspaper, Adichie said that she believed her feminism was not the same as Beyoncé's feminism because Beyoncé was too focused on men. She said that Beyoncé's music related everything back to men therefore reenforcing the idea of a necessity for men. Of course, Adichie did wait to share her discrepancies with Beyoncé's feminism after she capitalized of of Queen Bey's platform.