The Reluctant Whore

When Beyonce Knowles’ dress blew open at a recent concert revealing her breasts it was actually a big deal for her. Much bigger than if she’d been say, Lindsay Lohan or Britney. In order to be considered mainstream she has to walk the line between Madonna and Whore really delicately; she can’t let us forget that she has breasts but she can’t show them. That would be sinful and dirty. Just like when Britney was photographed with no underpants on, this blew the lid right open, so to speak and may have diluted the mystery.

Beyonce Knowles is a pretty fascinating product when you get down to it. She’s following in the line of viciously ambitious divas like Celine Dion who want desperately to be strictly crafted and marketed products that eventually don’t even resemble humans; with franchises and chemically addictive music that people consume for the same reason that they consume sugary cereal and corn syrup laden twinkies – because it’s a cheap escapist high. Admittedly, corn syrup and Beyonce are a better than crack but only just.

Plus, just as Celine Dion, Tina Turner (although, Turner did transcend it all) and Mariah Carey, Beyonce was rumoured to have been dating or was potentially engaged to her producer Jay-Z . These high maintenance diva product types need that kind of interdependent ego boost and paternal protection from a marriage. It keeps them safe and protected and pure and virginal. Sort of like being part of a harem.

But Beyonce is a trooper. Only a few weeks ago she fell head over heels onstage down some stairs and got right back up and kept churning it out for the audience and this time, her top flew open and her breasts were bared and she just kept right on moving. Part of it is that she knows that a professional performer just keeps on giving no matter what. The other part of her is a computer and simply continues on with what it was programmed to do and cannot feel emotion because it gets in the way of progress. Plus, of course, Jay Z was probably backstage with a gun to a puppy’s head with a special microphone that connected only to her earpiece which he used to remind her that if she screwed up, the puppy would get it. So, in a way she had to keep moving no matter what. That puppy’s life depended on it. [source]