Billboard magazine, which usually writes puff pieces in servile deference to Beyonce, wrote a particularly scathing op-ed piece about Beyonce’s shameless thievery yesterday.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but what if the person imitating is a polarizing icon that should be doing otherwise — someone like Beyoncé?
On Monday (April 29), pop singer Kerli posted a side-by-side photo on her Facebook page of her and Beyoncé donning the same Amato Haute Couture dress. The photo of Beyoncé comes from the pages of her 2013 “Mrs. Carter Show” tour book.
Except, it’s not just the Furne One designed dress — which also Nicki Minaj wore in her “Va Va Voom” video — that’s similar in the photo. Both singers can be seen painted in white, from head to toe, and stylistically posed as sculptures.
No one owns a look, image, dance move (after all, how many artists have pulled out signature Michael Jackson moves?), or in this case, an experimental costume. They’re not copyrighted property, but filed as intellectual property.
Any artist, including Beyoncé, can wear whatever another artist wore, but that multiplicity gets suspicious and easily pegged as stealing. And understandably so, when it’s not only the look of the artist that is being traced, but his or her entire idea.
Beyoncé first caught flak for working up a dance similar to Josephine’s Baker’s iconic banana dance in her “Deja Vu” video, then was seen sporting a skirt with dangling bananas when performing the “B’Day” track. But let’s be honest: that wasn’t that serious, at least not at that point in her 20-year plus career. She later borrowed from Bob Fosse’s routine, “Mexican Breakfast,” in the video for her girls anthem, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It).” There are also references to “Rich Man’s Frug” scene (of Bob Fosse’s “Sweet Charity”) in Bey’s “Get Me Bodied” video.
There’s a difference between inspiration and imitation. “Countdown” is a good example of Beyoncé doing both in one piece of work. She references Audrey Hepburn’s “Funny Face” dancing and both Hepburn and Peggy Moffitt’s late 50′s/early 60′s fashion, then elaborates with color schemes and pairs the choreography perfectly with the pace of the soundscapes. She also samples Boyz II Men’s countdown from their song, “Uhh Ahh.”
As the video continues, we see Bey’ using the same choreography, cinematography and costumes that Belgian choreographer and dancer, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, used in “Rosas Danst Rosas.
After listing Beyonce’s more notorious creative thefts over the years, the music magazine concludes:
But more bothersome than Bey’s inspiration-turned-imitation act – and less subtle as her career progresses – is that she’s playing off the risks that other artists have been brave enough to take (and appropriately praised for) instead of challenging herself and taken some herself.
Perhaps visual and dance concepts don’t come as naturally to her as vocal prowess, but I’m doubtful that she can recruit those for which it does. Even as a vocal performer, Beyonce is more of a canvas than a creator.
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