Beyoncé.
We all know Beyoncé is a beast. At her height, she was wiping out just about every female singer that was out in the marketplace. Most of those singers were eviscerated from memory, commercials marketplace and other spaces in the music industry. Well, not memory because we love them all.
But there was one individual that Beyoncé was not able to get rid of. And that person is Rihanna. Somehow, the Barbadian beast was able to overcome, thrive and prosper in the era of Beyoncé. And some might argue that was actually the era of Rihanna.
RiRi continued to explore options in business, whereas Beyoncé sort of focused more on music. I know she has businesses as well, but it just seems like Rihanna disappeared from making music. We’re still waiting for that. But for a while there people like Ciara, Keri Hilson, Amerie and others had difficulty making big moves in the music game. Some even said that Beyoncé sabotage them, but that’s another rumor.
Beyoncé had a song called “Bow Down” a few years ago. The song reverberated pretty intensely, because people felt like she was talking directly to them! I know other women that were upset at the song because they felt it was disrespectful to women. You know B is a symbol of feminine solidarity! For the most part, we know Beyoncé to be a really nice person. But, she is a consummate competitor. So what happened?
The song “Bow Down” had a target. And that target was Rihanna. The people that cowrote the song, Rock City, just did an interview in a podcast and revealed that Rihanna was the desired target of bow down. I find this to be very interesting, because Jay Z was instrumental in Rihanna’s career. He basically made her successful. I suppose that gave Briana some safe Haven as well, especially when she was younger.
On another note, they say that the original song DEMO – “Man Down” was for Rihanna!
To this day, I don’t think that Beyoncé was able to destroy Rihanna. And, on the flip side, I’m not sure if she actually made efforts to do that. But, we do definitely know that Rihanna‘s existence influenced Beyoncé’s artistry. That Sasha Fierce personality was the response in my opinion.
What do you think? By the way, click here to hear that podcast.