And You Thought It Would Fail: Apparently, Beyoncé herself in regards to her self-titled album. On "Ghost/Haunted", she ad-libs, "Probably won't make no money off this...oh well." She was proven very wrong as besides the album's rave reviews, cultural impact and popularizing of the "surprise albums" in the music industry, the album also had massive sales. Though, given BEYONCÉ's more experimental sound, the complete lack of promotion before its release, and the relatively less impressive performance of her previous album 4, it would have been understandable for her to lack faith in the album's commercial viability.
In the 57th Grammy Awards, BEYONCÉ was nominated for Album of the Year, but the award went to Beck's Morning Phase. Naturally, the Beyhive was livid. Other reactions were mixed (with most mainstream media saying it's an egregious snub, while other music fans feel Beck is a far stronger artist overall)
Two years later at the 59th Grammys, this time with Lemonade, an album many critics consider her best to date and one of the best albums of the year. Beyonce was shut-out from every major award, only winning Best Urban Contemporary Album. In all other categories she was nominated, including Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance, she lost to Adele. It got so egregious that Adele herself after winning Album of the Year, tearfully stated that she couldn't accept it over Beyonce[1]. The following discourse in the media on race and the out of touch nature of Grammy voters (particularly because of the vagueness of what Urban Contemporary even means, given that R&B and rap have their own categories as well) lasted for weeks after. For perspective, a black woman hasn't won album of the year since 1999.
Broken Base: Whether or not she's a good actress, unless you're talking about maybe Dreamgirls and Cadillac Records. Some think she's a fine actress while others think she should really stick to singing. Even members of the Beyhive have mixed opinions about her acting ability.
Creator Worship: There's probably no singer today that has a more stringently devoted following. She's a deity to the Beyhive, who regularly put her above basically anything else happening in music.
During a 2009 concert, Beyoncé stopped "Single Ladies" halfway through to introduce a fan in the audience, who then proposed to his girlfriend. (She said yes.)
Even Better Sequel: The common belief in the fandom is that Beyonce just keeps invoking this trope again and again. Surprise release Beyonce was an instant classic, yet somehow, follow-up Lemonade was considered an improvement.
Fandom Rivalry: Due the toxicity of her fandom, she has generated quite a few of these even though Beyoncé herself is known to be a nice person to other musicians.
She has one with the Michael Jackson fandom, mostly because Beyoncé fans continuously compare Beyoncé to Michael Jackson, undermine his achievements, and claim that she is better than him. This would seem ridiculous to Michael Jackson and Beyoncé themselves since the two were friends in real life. Michael Jackson thought Beyoncé was a great performer while Beyoncé considers Michael Jackson to be in a league of his own and cites him as the single greatest inspiration on her career.
There is also peculiar rivalry that some Beyoncé fans have with Janet Jackson and Beyoncé fans. Many Janet fans will go out of their way to let fans of Beyoncé know that whatever Beyoncé does, Janet did it first. Many Beyoncé fans will state that whatever Janet did first, Beyoncé does better. Despite this, Beyoncé (quite obviously) cites Janet Jackson as a huge influence, while Janet thinks these comparisons are very stupid.
"The Black Album" for Beyoncé, due to similarities with a certain Beatles album. Sometimes called "The REAL Black Album" or "The Other Black Album" to differentiate from her husband's album of said name.
Friendly Fandoms: With BTS's ARMY. The two fandoms have organized streaming parties together and have often hyped projects by both artists, like Beyoncé's Black is King and BTS's Dynamite.
Genius Bonus: A lot of the imagery and dance routines in her 2018 Coachella performance were inspired by the marching bands at historically black colleges and universities, as well as historically black fraternities and sororities. This was highlighted when she sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing", known as the Black national anthem and written in 1900, and some fans thought it was a new single.
Memo to Jay-Z: Beyoncé is probably about to start poking pinholes in your condoms.
***Flawless (Remix) was released about ten months before Donald Trump jumped into the Republican primary for the 2016 election. The song shouts out his oldest daughter, Ivanka who became a senior advisor to his administration. Both Nicki and Beyonce are Democrats, adding a wrinkle of irony to the song.
He want monster Nicki in Sri Lanka. I told him meet me at the trump, Ivanka
Hype Backlash: Beyoncé is one of the most infamous examples. Even some of her fans say that Beyoncé is overrated and overhyped. The fact that she's (mostly) a media darling and the rabid behavior of her Beyhive to the point where some are afraid to have any criticism of her, even of the constructive variety, only adds onto this.
LGBT Fanbase: Like many pop divas, Beyonce has a significant gay male fanbase. Renaissance is a love letter to her LGBT fans and they happily eat it all up.
Jay-Z's line "Your breastesses are my breakfast" in "Drunk In Love" is not one of his better lyrics.
Sampled Up: The recurring horn hook featured in "Crazy in Love" was sampled from "Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)" by The Chi-Lites. It is highly unlikely that people will recognize the hook from the Chi-Lites over Beyoncé.
Signature Song: "Crazy in Love", "Irreplaceable", "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "Formation" are probably her most popular to date, but depending on the time period, it could really be any of her singles.
Her song "Resentment." You can feel the emotion in her voice and the lyrics. The song is also about exs in relationships, so anybody who's gone through a breakup will relate.
The first part of "Mine" where she describes feeling confused about her marriage and alludes to a bout of post-natal depression.
The video for "Pretty Hurts", which shows her character struggling with bulimia and feelings of worthlessness in response to the rigid demands of the beauty industry and pageant culture.
. The following discourse in the media on race and the out of touch nature of Grammy voters (particularly because of the vagueness of what Urban Contemporary even means, given that R&B and rap have their own categories as well) lasted for weeks after. For perspective, a black woman hasn't won album of the year since 1999.