Daily Inspiration: We Still Love Bubble Gum-Snapping Bey

Necessary praise for the lady that leads the pack.

April 25, 2014


This week Time Magazine placed Beyoncé at the top of their list of influential politicians, performance artists and all-round international movers and shakers. Truthfully, Time didn't bestow a title upon her that feisty young girls everywhere hadn't already crowned her with. But before she was penning gender equality essays, shunning the word bossy and being lauded by the leader of the Lean In feminist phenomenon, she was championing torch songs for tenderonis to twerk, shake and throw it back. In her 2005 jam with Slim Thug, "Check On It", Bey taught us how to court the male gaze while maintaing control (You can look at it, as long as you don't grab it), demand patience while we decide if we want to sleep with you (You can't be abrasive, have to know to pace it) and assert a lady's prerogative to please or not (I can be a tease, but I really wanna please you). In a stark black and white portrait, Beyoncé appears on Time's cover in a pared down, pants-less look that leaves little room for fluff and commands the respect due her. While I love this modern-day iteration of her power, it makes me realize that her bubble gum-snapping, pink fur-flouncing, cornrow-rocking days, which were super important to me, are indeed behind her. My trifling 20-year old self was no less in awe of the power and influence that she wielded back then, teaching us how to entice and wrangle dudes. Now–a bit more mature and less concerned with chasing boys–I'm thoroughly excited for the next phase of her, and I guess my own evolution as well.

Posted: April 25, 2014
Daily Inspiration: We Still Love Bubble Gum-Snapping Bey