Talk:Beyoncé

Beyonce fanpage

Beyonce is not one of the most influential figures in music history. She is not a Mozart or Prince so these false claims should be removed 2001:EE0:221:83E:A194:4A8B:DAC2:6A40 (talk) 09:37, 1 February 2025 (UTC)

I love that people keep complaining about this page, yet they don't mention a single statement that needs to be changed. (CC) Tbhotch^™ 01:20, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

So over the top a rewite is clearly in order. What can be suggested when as a whole there is a problem. Moxy🍁 05:32, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

For a starters, I toned down the evaluative language from the lead sentence to improve neutrality TheWikiholic (talk) 07:21, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

@Tbhotch: Thanks for this and completely agreed. There seems to be a coincidental influx of IPs and other accounts whose sole purpose is repeatedly saying on this talk page that the article is a "fanpage" solely because of their personal belief that "Beyonce is not one of the most influential figures in music history".

@TheWikiholic: Thanks for your edit to the article - I know you're not one of these accounts ;) I do disagree with the "downplaying" of the text though. As discussed previously on this talk page, the wording of "Regarded as one of the most influential figures in music history" is:

a) Widely used in several reliable sources (see "legacy" section of this article)

b) In full alignment with the WP:SUBJECTIVE policy, which says: "[I]t is appropriate to note how an artist or a work has been received by prominent experts, critics, and the general public. For instance, the article on Shakespeare should note that he is widely considered one of the greatest authors in the English language by both scholars and the general public. It should not, however, state that Shakespeare is the greatest author in the English language."

c) In full alignment with the precedent set by featured musician articles, such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, and Sex Pistols.

I hope we can reach a compromise on this - thanks! Bgkc4444 (talk) 17:06, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

Look at academic bios like Albert Einstein - this would be an example to follow..note how dispite being called the greatest scientists of all time the lead is not full of fluff of this nature....just the facts with no click bait media style headlines. Moxy🍁 17:25, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

This is a musician's article, not an academic's article, so the "other stuff exists" argument doesn't work here - especially given there's a clear precedent in musicians' articles as I said before, and WP:SUBJECTIVE explicitly says that such articles "should" capture how artists are received in the way this article captured it previously.

And side point, I don't think this article should make a subjective claim in Wikipedia's voice that she "made important contributions" like in Einstein's article, which also says in the lead paragraph that his work "has been called "the world's most famous equation"". Not sure how this is any less "full of fluff". Bgkc4444 (talk) 17:50, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

Aside from Donald Trump or perhaps Robert Kennedy... not sure I've ever seen an article where random people make criticism of the style of writing.... saying this as an editor who's been here for two decades contributing to academic subjects. Moxy🍁 19:43, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

Given that featured musicians’ articles (e.g., The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, David Bowie) use this “style of writing” and more effusive detail on their perception/influence to a much greater extent, and yet this is (in your view) the sole beyond-the-pale article where the ”random people make criticism”, says a lot more about the editors than it does about this article. Bgkc4444 (talk) 19:54, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

It goes without saying that this article warrants a Good Article reassessment. At one point, "Piano" was listed as one of her instruments in the infobox. I had to remove this in a prior edit, among other things, as it was blatant lie in what is supposed to be a Good Article. Isjadd773 (talk) 19:50, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

I’m confused. Beyonce can play the piano. That’s not a lie. Prince literally is on record saying he told Beyonce to learn the piano like Aretha because it makes for a better musician. And there is footage of Beyonce playing the piano. 147.10.101.93 (talk) 00:06, 8 February 2025 (UTC)

Adding conspiracy theories/speculations

Stop adding conspiracy theories and speculation to this article. I know you’re mad because she won TyJOrtiz (talk) 21:18, 7 February 2025 (UTC)

Infobox image choice

• 
  Option A
• 
  Option B
• 
  Option C
• 
  Option D
• 
  Option F
• 
  Option G

There has been some disagreement over the infobox image, so there should be a discussion to decide on which one to use. It appears that there is a consensus to use one of the images in the Commons category at [1]. The gallery above contains some choices that I have seen used, or that I think are otherwise suitable. Post your opinion below, and please add any potential candidates that I missed. — Goszei (talk) 01:34, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

C > A > G > D > F > B. An ideal image would have her facing the camera, have no obstruction from a microphone, and a smile or neutral expression instead of an open mouth. C is the closest to this ideal, in my opinion. A or G are a close second and third, with a preference for A due to a slightly favorable composition and expression. D has an unfavorable hand pose, and F isn't head-on. B is the worst on all counts, completely unflattering in my opinion. — Goszei (talk) 01:38, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 10 March 2025

Beyoncé is a singer not a singer-songwriter in the traditional sense. Songwriters write the majority of songs they sing, either alone or with a small team of other writers. Beyoncé has writing credits on her songs but they are written by 10-20+ writers. Just “singer” is more accurate. 2A02:FE1:D07A:5700:9C49:DC66:13B9:89D6 (talk) 15:40, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

•  Not done. She won several Grammy Awards for songwriting, which makes her famous as a songwriter. NationalWorld magazine wrote about her songwriting style, supporting her as a primary songwriter despite the many others involved. Beyoncé was listed as the top songwriter in Nashville for one week in March–April 2024. American Songwriter published a piece listing three songs Beyoncé wrote for others to sing. That, my friend, is a songwriter. Binksternet (talk) 16:29, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

  To be fair, the change from "singer, songwriter, etc" to "singer-songwriter" was made less than a month ago with no previous discussion [2]. ~~ Jessintime (talk) 16:43, 10 March 2025 (UTC)