International Sensation

Beyonce

BY JULIE HINDS

The astounding reach of Beyonce’s cultural impact is illustrated by a Saturday Night Live bit where first lady wanna-be Ann Romney (played by Kate McKinnon), blurts that she’d kill her equestrian-competition horse to meet Beyonce.

“I wouldn’t have pictured you as a Beyonce fan,” saysWeekend Update host Seth Myers.
“Everyone is a Beyonce fan, Seth,” retorts an adamant Romney.

Like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Madonna before her, Beyonce is more than the sum of her songs (or her 17 Grammys). A true global icon, she represents many different things to a broad swath of people, particularly women.

“She comes across as a woman who’s living her life on her own terms and realising her full potential,” says Cathy McClelland, who’s in charge of her own entrepreneurial training and business development service in Southfield, Michigan.

At age 31, Beyonce has become a prism for society’s defining discussions. When she’s not rocking the Super Bowl or shopping at Target (she was spotted at a Houston location last week), she remains a figure in commercialism, politics, privacy issues and female empowerment. Here’s a closer look.

Beyonce the marketer

Beyond being one the most successful recording artistes of the new millennium, Beyonce has demonstrated enormous clout as a pitchwoman for American Express, L’Oreal and Pepsi, among others.

Celebrities with such wide appeal are rare and sought after by all sorts of corporations. “You become the go-to person for everything from aspirins to zebras,” according to Michael Bernacchi, a University of Detroit Mercy marketing professor.

When she drew criticism recently from health advocates for supporting Michelle Obama’s fitness campaign while signing a US$50mil (RM158mil) deal with soft drink maker Pepsi, she didn’t flinch.

“Pepsi is a brand I’ve grown up seeing my heroes collaborate with,” she said. “The company respects musicians and artistry. I wouldn’t encourage any person, especially a child, to live life without balance.”

Besides pushing products for others, Beyonce has launched her own perfume lines and fashion label. She is the perfect entrepreneurial role model, says McClelland, who has launched the Propel Project, an initiative to help women entrepreneurs that’s a spin-off of the 2012 Urban Rebound Detroit Pitch Competition.

“We tell all entrepreneurs, look for every single opportunity, and she does that.”

Beyonce the social force

When she made Time’s 100 Most Influential People list, The Great Gatsby director Baz Luhrmann wrote: “Right now, she is the heir-apparent diva of the USA – the reigning national voice.”

The singer-songwriter, a friend and supporter of President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, has played a public role at both of Obama’s inaugurations. And when Beyonce and her husband, Jay Z, traveled to Cuba this year, there was a brouhaha among some congressional figures about their trip to a country that’s under embargo for ordinary visits by Americans.

But the entertainer doesn’t let academics or politicians define her. She speaks loudest through her philanthropy, which includes helping survivors of disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake and being an ambassador for 2012’s World Humanitarian Day.

And when she does raise her voice, it’s newsworthy. Recently, she called for a moment of silence for Trayvon Martin at her Nashville concert, which started not long after word spread of George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the death of the teen.

Beyonce the image controller