Beyoncé

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter (born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She started off in the girl group Destiny's Child, and soon became the Face of the Band.

In 2002, she started a solo career (mostly collaborations with rappers but without the other girls), and got her first big hit a year later, "Crazy in Love". Since then, almost every song she's sung has made it to the top of the charts.

Discography:

• Dangerously in Love (2003)
• B'Day (2006)
• I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008)
• 4 (2011)
• Beyoncé (2013)
• Lemonade (2016)

Selected Filmography

• Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001) -- Carmen
• Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) -- Foxxy Cleopatra
• The Fighting Temptations (2003) -- Lilly
• The Pink Panther (2004) -- Xaina
• Dreamgirls (2006) -- Deena Jones
• Cadillac Records (2008) -- Etta James
• Obsessed (2009) -- Sharon Charles
• Epic (2013) -- Queen Tara (voice)

Beyoncé provides examples of the following tropes:

• Absolute Cleavage: She get's quite a lot of mileage out of this trope in her videos, such as the one for Deja Vu.
• Alter Ego Acting: Sasha Fierce...or could be a demon possessing her, according to some people.
• Battle Couple: Her and Jay Z.
• But Not Too Black: Often cited as a reason for her success.
• Dark-Skinned Blond: Even though her hair is naturally dark, this has become something of a signature look for her.
• Dream Team: With Lady Gaga.
  • And Shakira.
• Distinct Double Album: I Am...Sasha Fierce. The I Am... disc being filled with introspective ballads and Sasha Fierce seeing Beyonce's signature R&B/Pop style complete with a new persona, Sasha Fierce.
• Fan Disservice: Not from her, of course. But NFL star Warren Sapp once imitated her famous "booty dance" during a TD celebration. 300+ pound Defensive Tackle Warren Sapp.
• Fairytale Wedding Dress: Although her actual wedding dress is a secret, she's worn a couple for performances. One for a video, and this one with a feather-trimmed skirt for the 2009 BET awards.
• Genre Shift: The song Diva was more hip-hop/rap orientated than her usual pop/R and B style.
• Hot Mom: To Blue Ivy Carter, her daughter.
• Melismatic Vocals: This and her vibrato's make it easier to note her on the radio
• Mood Whiplash: Not really with her music, but more with her videos, with her first solo album, most of her videos were rather fast-paced, elaborate, bright, and colorful (Look at "Crazy in Love.") Now, she's done a lot of video that are very simple (usually her and a couple of dancers in black and white ("Single Ladies.")
• Mind Screw: Her latest song- Run The World (Girls). Okay, it's a pop song, but there's no structure in the song whatsoever.
• Ms. Fanservice: Oh boy, she's the first musician to be on a cover of Sports Illustrated.
• Pretty in Mink: Has worn loads of furs, and even her promise to stop to please PETA was short-lived.
• Real Life Relative: Has done several songs with her husband Jay-Z, on both her albums and his.
• Signature Song: "Crazy In Love", as of late it's become "Single Ladies".
• Soundtrack Dissonance: All of her music being "Girl Power" anthems or having a "Men Suck, we're not just pieces of meat" theme, combined with Three Minutes of Writhing in tiny outfits on her videos.
  • Also, when you hear a song called "Single Ladies" coming from Beyonce, your first thought is probably a song about the joys of being single like "Independent Women," not a song that basically says "MARRY ME, DAMMIT!"
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: See Face of the Band and taken Up to Eleven at the 2011 vmas.
• Outrun the Fireball: At the end of the music video for Diva. Complete with Unflinching Walk.
• Three Minutes of Writhing: The video for "Single Ladies" is pretty much this.
• The Unfair Sex: "If I Were a Boy" falls hard into this territory, enough so that R. Kelly made a remix of the song, adding in his own verses from the male perspective.
• Whole Costume Reference: The outfit and hair cut from Countdown are based on Audrey Hepburn's most famous outfit from the film Funny Face.
• Urban Legend: There is a very persistent one that her pregnancy was fake and she actually had a surrogate. People were convinced after a video of her on an Australian talk show showed her stomach supposedly "folding". This theory ignores the fact that she would have no reason to hide having a surrogate.
• Zettai Ryouiki