beylor forever

a drunk in love story

This is not an essay. this is a drunk in love story.

As you can see, we’ve been having this conversation for a while.

Ever since Kanye made a spectacle of himself on a night that should have belonged to them (they both, actually, won Moon Men), Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have been held up as…what?

Rivals? Trying to out-win and out-earn one another? Pushing each other to greater heights?

The twin pillars holding the music industry aloft? As we wonder, should one crumble, is the other strong enough to bear the burden alone?

Salt and pepper shakers? You reach for one based on taste and no one faults you, but your preference is oh so revealing?

Two faces of the Janus coin of culture? Some reflection of Where We Are and What Matters?

I think we (we the people living under patriarchy) tolerate having two insanely successful women at the top of the music industry because they are so different. We can carve up territory and assign them each a side, and in that way neither are a real threat, because she only has half.Each is an asterisk on the other’s name, a check and a balance. Threatened by Bey? Taylor breaks her records. Taylor too big? She can’t hit Beyonce’s notes.

We see two women without equal and we say, well, she may not have an “equal” but there’s someone else at her level, so she can’t be that special.

It’s almost too easy to slot them into opposing categories. Black and White, Hip-Hop and Country, the one who dressed and danced sexy but only ever touches her husband versus the pretend-chaste goody-two-shoes who’s not-so-secretly a heart-breaking slut. The Madonna/Whore references are almost too much, before we even get to Tina Turner and actual Madonna. (Diana Ross / Dolly Parton, Whitney / Stevie, Nina Simone / Patti Smith, I COULD GO ON)

For their parts, they’ve maintained that there’s room at the top for both. Bey attended the premiere of Tay’s concert movie and her 25th birthday (not the same event). Tay included Bay in her (drag queen) line-up of “girls who are killin it” in the “You Need To Calm Down” video. I don’t think they have much in common, but they seem to like each other well enough. And the line everyone’s going with is “hey, apples and oranges, aren’t you glad we get them BOTH?” which feels a little Golden Rules At Preschool, but it’s better than using one woman to take down another.

But I am tired of the implication that We The People have room for both, but An Individual must choose One. Sure, you can be a fan of two queens, but as they’ve never come together to maximize their joint slay (dear God, I hope they don’t collaborate, it would be a mess), only one will end up at the top of your Spotify Wrapped.

I refuse to play that game.

I belong to the church of Tayoncé

Dare you ask the Earth if she prefers the warmth of the life-giving sun to the beauty of the ever-changing moon, savior in the dark? Would you choose between your Mother and your Sister? I could no more split myself from the woman I am than the girl I was. To sing and dance, to write and play instruments, we do not debate if these are equal talents when performed above and beyond all equals, when they are merely the paints on the artist’s brush, and it is the finished picture we’ve come to see. I pray to a Goddess and it’s an Angel who answers. The people need a queen and a princess.

Like, but really! Love songs from one half of a power couple she’s been in since she was twenty or the break-up ballads of the eternally broken-hearted, and you ask me to PICK A WINNER?

Beyoncé is a lioness; Taylor has cats. Beyoncé has one name. Taylor Swift is probably the only person at the top of the music business who goes by her full birth name. I’m supposed to compare Glory to Power? Contrast the industry-shaped product of a girl group with the guitar girlie who learned to stay on-key along the way?

Apples and fucking oranges? How about LIGHT and AIR. How about WATER and OXYGEN. How about I NEED BEYONCÉ TO GET ME UP AND TAYLOR TO GET ME THROUGH?

One of them barely speaks, the other can’t shut up, and you’re just like, well, they’re both nice! Let’s be reSpeCtfUL

I’m gonna VOMIT. Are my lungs and my heart “both nice!”? Personally I would characterize it as MIRACLES COME IN MANY SHAPES AND SIZES AND IF TWO WERE ALIKE THEY WOULDN’T BE A MIRACLE.

Eras of the past, a Renaissance that looks to the future, the storyteller of her generation, the greatest voice of my lifetime. But yeah, let’s talk about ticket sales.

??????AREYOUDUMBAREYOUSTUPID???????

Taylor Swift is actively using her friendships to promote and protect other women who are having a difficult time in the spotlight. I don’t even know if Beyoncé has a friend besides Kelly Rowland because she said the world doesn’t get to know her life. If that’s not two visions of empowerment…

You can’t break my soul in half like this.

My parents split custody of me. But these two Mothers don’t have to split a thing. They can both have my all, my time, my heart, my life. Forever.

Lover on top, naughty girl at home, (freakum) dress, stay beautiful liar,

Lizzie