Beyoncé Stuns for GQ Magazine
Presenting GQ’s October cover star, @Beyonce
"It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being revolutionary.” In a rare interview, the superstar opens up to GQ about her extraordinary legacy, her new whiskey brand, motherhood and much more.
🔗: https://t.co/hqfkyaC5N9 pic.twitter.com/XcGjt2cOBs
- GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) September 10, 2024
In a very rare interview, conducted via email, Beyoncé answers some questions for GQ Magazine while promoting her whiskey brand, SirDavis.
On why she released zero visuals for Cowboy Carter and Renaissance: "I thought it was important that during a time where all we see is visuals, that the world can focus on the voice. The music is so rich in history and instrumentation. It takes months to digest, research, and understand. The music needed space to breathe on its own. Sometimes a visual can be a distraction from the quality of the voice and the music. The years of hard work and detail put into an album that takes over four years! The music is enough. The fans from all over the world became the visual. We all got the visual on tour. We then got more visuals from my film."
On retirement: "I retired from the formula of the pop star a very long time ago. I stopped focusing on what’s popular, and began focusing on the qualities that get better with time and experience. Good music and strong messages will never retire."
On the current pop girlies: "I love and respect all of the female singers-songwriters who are out right now.… Raye, Victoria Monét, Sasha Keable, Chloe x Halle, and Reneé Rapp. I love Doechii and GloRilla, and I just heard That Mexican OT, he’s from Houston…. He goes hard! I really like “Please Please Please” by Sabrina Carpenter, and I think that Thee Sacred Souls and Chappell Roan are talented and interesting. I’m obsessed with my backseat baby.... I’m a Smiler."
On Cowboy Carter: "I started Cowboy Carter almost five years ago. Pay close attention to my age in the lyrics of '16 Carriages.'
From the start of my career and on every album, I have always mixed genres. Whether it is R&B, Dance, Country, Rap, Zydeco, Blues, Opera, Gospel, they have all influenced me in some way. I have favorite artists from every genre you could think about. I believe genres are traps that box us in and separate us. I’ve experienced this for 25 years in the music industry. Black artists, and other artists of color, have been creating and mastering multiple genres, since forever."
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"I was so hyped to see a song like 'Texas Hold ’Em' gain worldwide acceptance. Even more exciting was how it helped reinvigorate the Country genre across music, fashion, art, and culture, and introduced the world to so much great talent like Shaboozey, Tanner Adell, Willie Jones, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, and Reyna Roberts."
On whiskey: "I’ll never forget the first day I had whiskey. It spoke to me nice. I remember thinking, Why have I never had this before? It was strong and warm, just the right amount of challenge. I loved the process, the ritual of it. Whiskey isn’t something you just shoot down. It’s a commitment. You gotta have patience. I like that. Then I got into vintage Japanese whiskey and started doing tastings. It opened up a whole new world. I love everything about whiskey. The color, the smell, the way it dances in the glass.… And I love the stories that come with it. Every bottle has a history. I also like introducing whiskey to people who don’t know they love it yet. I think a lot more women would love it if they tasted it, and if they were really spoken to by the whiskey world."
On her grandfather and her whiskey brand: "What is ironic and fateful is that I knew I wanted to create a whiskey brand before I knew the story of my great-grandfather. Discovering my history has been deeply inspiring and motivating. Our whiskey’s legacy dates back over 200 years to a Black man in Alabama in the 1800s...a man who was a businessman and an entrepreneur, but would have never had the opportunity to create a mainstream whiskey back then. Systemic barriers would not have allowed it. But it turns out that my great-grandfather’s hands planted the seed that laid the groundwork, and we honor him in the most profound way. This is more than just a business; it’s a fulfillment of a legacy."
On her album ‘4’ not following the dance-pop trends of the early 2010's: “I wouldn’t say that I was anti-pop. I respected pop. But it was a time where everyone was doing pop/dance music, and R&B and soul were getting lost. It was popular and fun, but it wasn’t my thing. It was not where I was going with my music career at that time. I was yearning for something deeper with more musicality. That’s when I put out ‘1+1’ and ‘Love On Top.’”
On why she named the album Cowboy Carter and not Cowgirl Carter and why she named her whiskey brand SirDavis: I wanted everyone to take a minute to research on the word cowboy. History is often told by the victors. And American history? It’s been rewritten endlessly. Up to a quarter of all cowboys were Black. These men faced a world that refused to see them as equal, yet they were the backbone of the cattle industry. The cowboy is a symbol of strength and aspiration in America. The cowboy was named after slaves who handled the cows. The word cowboy comes from those who were called boys, never given the respect they deserved. No one would dare call a Black man handling cows “Mister” or “Sir.” For me, SirDavis is a sign of earned respect. We all deserve respect, especially when we give it."
More pictures and her full interview at the source.
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