Brilliant and necessary writing, poetical but clear-eyed, shot through with some of that unblinking glare. You ask: “Who has transcended music superstardom alive and unscathed?” The shining exception I look toward is Tina, who worked at least as hard onstage as Bey, and did no less to infiltrate cultural spaces, and was also famously defined in the public imagination by her relationship to toxic male bravado. Tina got out, became a Côte d'Azur royal, lived her best life as a pop siren emeritus. I don’t think it’s too late for Beyoncé, but she feels she has work to do yet, and can’t seem to imagine executing it outside the queasy compromise you’ve articulated. So we spectate.
"...Adjacent Xmas Day headlines read: Airstrike kills journalists in Gaza, and Beyoncé sleighs at Netflix Christmas, ensuring one scene becomes the grave on which the other dances and gyrates for our viewing pleasure or trance..."
Like the characters in ‘The Love Songs of WEB Du Bois’, the mentation and feeling of the relationship dynamics seem similar to what you illustrated in your writing of Beyoncé’s attempts at reconciling her public/private persona with her artistry.
Perhaps Beyoncé is a contemporary manifestation of Sisyphus…perhaps she further pushes forth the contradictions of including Post Malone who can dabble in any genre and Shaboozey who is snubbed by the CMAs, despite winning in the Billboard and People’s Choice Country Awards.
Ur writing is so fucking unreal that I’m self congratulating on how the fuck I’m sailing soaring thru reading ur words like I’m best most accomplished reader and writer in the world with awards and everything in the world of the most cleverest of clever writing crafting beauty threaded thru every bit of the brain work in a way I’m squinting and looking like
I smelt a fart cos I don’t know how to describe it and scared I’ve lost the thread which is that
To write something like this that I genuinely thought I’d heart save restack send to
Myself for the day my brain could -
Ur writing means I can’t not?!!
And it’s despite how my initial “this is for the bookshelf I live in desire and hope” is abso correct assessment in terms of - how do I put it?! Like it’s every bit as -
Baso how can I express that u know the cool
Things AMAAZING rninfs abt all the writing I wanna read but can’t currently access cos my brain is unable? Whether in general in this moment or in this season ?
Well- the best things the most jaw dropping genuinely hell yes omg yay source accolade and everything u deserve aka infinity winning etc-
This has everything of that
AND I CAN SOMEHOW
GLIDE THRU IT LIKE IM A PELICAN IN WATER? Wind? Wot r pelicans doing I can’t recall
Thank you?!!?!?
I sat and fucking admired the word and ur use of the word obfuscated for
Like 89 seconds alone!!!!????!??!!
U made me proud of
Me for reading ur beauty?!!!! Woowwoowoowowowowowooowowoowowoowoowwowoowooqo
Thank u on every fucking level I don’t know how I don’t even wanna think about it cos all I’m thinking is selfish aka - I want to feel this good about reading espesh on like - how do I put it?? Is it - what heading cojld this come under - it’s the non fiction element of
It, the “current affairs” element of it that for whatever reason even in amazing comedy - unless I know exactly the language and have absorbed and it’s not
Affecting my dyspraxia dyslexia etc etc etc where it all
Feels technical
And new just cos it’s words in a context I have to unpack cos
I don’t already know -
I can’t explain but one example is Josh Johnson the comedian - there’s some of his work I for some
Reason feel so fucking
Guilty and silly and bad abt myself and confused re why I’m unable to
Tune in and stay engaged and sail thru compared to the other things-
And I worship
His material it’s a me thing -
Anyway -
I am finding myself wishing I could
Feel how I felt about how I literally am reading this oh lol btw I’m
Not done I just needed to
Let it out thank u for soace to do
So
I’m
Too
If it all xxx
all the time and I don’t get to;
Thank u.
Thank u thank u thank u.
God I’m so confused how it’s not even cos it’s like ur saying what I knew already I’m
Fully fucking learning - Aka u have like…I don’t like this analogy one bit but I dyspraxic hate and truly fucking
Resent having to ever debone or like deshell or like anything that isn’t possible for me
To
Pop in my mouth like
From
Seeds in grapes to like - I mean I don’t even know
What lobster tastes like besides probably fishy lol cos I don’t give a fuck
Cos
I
Cannot
Work like that for nmw how delish like I
Cant do it -
And I think I’m
Tryna say
It’s like u kept the thing that makes these things - like it’s not the most
Sophisticated way to serve something to de”faff” it - and so I rarely eat espesh god fucking
Forbid WITJOUT faff and with unadulterated pleasure and no
Stress -
Anything that has “bits that aren’t edible and need to be worked thru to get to what’s good and it’s obvs part of what’s magic about it and it’s part of the brilliance of the thing like
Omg - it’s
Like in my mummys cooking In a
Lot
If Indian cooking they’ll have like “Elegi”
Or whatever the whole
Spices are that omfg if I have to
Jump
To avoid them
I will cry and not
Touch cos I get so so so so
So
Stresses and frustrated
But that’s the epitome of the dish right there
And I feel
Like thanks to u here for some
Reason u have found a fancy Michelan star (I hate a using these loftiest of signages of “u are so fucking skilled and wowww!!!! So sorry abt the extreme white SUPREMECY of these reference points!!!!!) way of making those whole cloves or whatever - like cooked them in a way that means everyone gets extra level of amazement incl
Me it so happens -
Where the way u prepared and made and served them up
For us like the plate of writint im
Lucky enough to be before -
I get to tuck in and feel enriched without the drama of above
Tysm again for space I have taken to explore my amazement!!!! Xxxxxx
harmony your pen is a scalpel, every word an incision. i aim to be as surgical and clear eyed as you are.
Brilliant and necessary writing, poetical but clear-eyed, shot through with some of that unblinking glare. You ask: “Who has transcended music superstardom alive and unscathed?” The shining exception I look toward is Tina, who worked at least as hard onstage as Bey, and did no less to infiltrate cultural spaces, and was also famously defined in the public imagination by her relationship to toxic male bravado. Tina got out, became a Côte d'Azur royal, lived her best life as a pop siren emeritus. I don’t think it’s too late for Beyoncé, but she feels she has work to do yet, and can’t seem to imagine executing it outside the queasy compromise you’ve articulated. So we spectate.
Tina, the only one!
Painful to think of how this will turn out for her. Your writing is so elegant and emotional. Thanks for sharing!!
"...Adjacent Xmas Day headlines read: Airstrike kills journalists in Gaza, and Beyoncé sleighs at Netflix Christmas, ensuring one scene becomes the grave on which the other dances and gyrates for our viewing pleasure or trance..."
so fire, the whole essay.
Thank you for reading. Eagerly awaiting your first dispatch.
Harmony Holiday I mean this in the best way possible: you are a spooky writer!
like shit, I am gasping then taking in nearly too much.
I’m chilled. In shock.
Insane intro! love
Like the characters in ‘The Love Songs of WEB Du Bois’, the mentation and feeling of the relationship dynamics seem similar to what you illustrated in your writing of Beyoncé’s attempts at reconciling her public/private persona with her artistry.
Perhaps Beyoncé is a contemporary manifestation of Sisyphus…perhaps she further pushes forth the contradictions of including Post Malone who can dabble in any genre and Shaboozey who is snubbed by the CMAs, despite winning in the Billboard and People’s Choice Country Awards.
Who knows?
Thanks again for your insights
a most excellent piece
and: "a bandaid that suffocates a wound in need of air" that riff is breathtaking---pure poetry, perfectly prophetic
Ur writing is so fucking unreal that I’m self congratulating on how the fuck I’m sailing soaring thru reading ur words like I’m best most accomplished reader and writer in the world with awards and everything in the world of the most cleverest of clever writing crafting beauty threaded thru every bit of the brain work in a way I’m squinting and looking like
I smelt a fart cos I don’t know how to describe it and scared I’ve lost the thread which is that
To write something like this that I genuinely thought I’d heart save restack send to
Myself for the day my brain could -
Ur writing means I can’t not?!!
And it’s despite how my initial “this is for the bookshelf I live in desire and hope” is abso correct assessment in terms of - how do I put it?! Like it’s every bit as -
Baso how can I express that u know the cool
Things AMAAZING rninfs abt all the writing I wanna read but can’t currently access cos my brain is unable? Whether in general in this moment or in this season ?
Well- the best things the most jaw dropping genuinely hell yes omg yay source accolade and everything u deserve aka infinity winning etc-
This has everything of that
AND I CAN SOMEHOW
GLIDE THRU IT LIKE IM A PELICAN IN WATER? Wind? Wot r pelicans doing I can’t recall
Thank you?!!?!?
I sat and fucking admired the word and ur use of the word obfuscated for
Like 89 seconds alone!!!!????!??!!
U made me proud of
Me for reading ur beauty?!!!! Woowwoowoowowowowowooowowoowowoowoowwowoowooqo
Thank u on every fucking level I don’t know how I don’t even wanna think about it cos all I’m thinking is selfish aka - I want to feel this good about reading espesh on like - how do I put it?? Is it - what heading cojld this come under - it’s the non fiction element of
It, the “current affairs” element of it that for whatever reason even in amazing comedy - unless I know exactly the language and have absorbed and it’s not
Affecting my dyspraxia dyslexia etc etc etc where it all
Feels technical
And new just cos it’s words in a context I have to unpack cos
I don’t already know -
I can’t explain but one example is Josh Johnson the comedian - there’s some of his work I for some
Reason feel so fucking
Guilty and silly and bad abt myself and confused re why I’m unable to
Tune in and stay engaged and sail thru compared to the other things-
And I worship
His material it’s a me thing -
Anyway -
I am finding myself wishing I could
Feel how I felt about how I literally am reading this oh lol btw I’m
Not done I just needed to
Let it out thank u for soace to do
So
I’m
Too
If it all xxx
all the time and I don’t get to;
Thank u.
Thank u thank u thank u.
God I’m so confused how it’s not even cos it’s like ur saying what I knew already I’m
Fully fucking learning - Aka u have like…I don’t like this analogy one bit but I dyspraxic hate and truly fucking
Resent having to ever debone or like deshell or like anything that isn’t possible for me
To
Pop in my mouth like
From
Seeds in grapes to like - I mean I don’t even know
What lobster tastes like besides probably fishy lol cos I don’t give a fuck
Cos
I
Cannot
Work like that for nmw how delish like I
Cant do it -
And I think I’m
Tryna say
It’s like u kept the thing that makes these things - like it’s not the most
Sophisticated way to serve something to de”faff” it - and so I rarely eat espesh god fucking
Forbid WITJOUT faff and with unadulterated pleasure and no
Stress -
Anything that has “bits that aren’t edible and need to be worked thru to get to what’s good and it’s obvs part of what’s magic about it and it’s part of the brilliance of the thing like
Omg - it’s
Like in my mummys cooking In a
Lot
If Indian cooking they’ll have like “Elegi”
Or whatever the whole
Spices are that omfg if I have to
Jump
To avoid them
I will cry and not
Touch cos I get so so so so
So
Stresses and frustrated
But that’s the epitome of the dish right there
And I feel
Like thanks to u here for some
Reason u have found a fancy Michelan star (I hate a using these loftiest of signages of “u are so fucking skilled and wowww!!!! So sorry abt the extreme white SUPREMECY of these reference points!!!!!) way of making those whole cloves or whatever - like cooked them in a way that means everyone gets extra level of amazement incl
Me it so happens -
Where the way u prepared and made and served them up
For us like the plate of writint im
Lucky enough to be before -
I get to tuck in and feel enriched without the drama of above
Tysm again for space I have taken to explore my amazement!!!! Xxxxxx
My head and heart are SPINNING. You are holding us accountable and this is needed now more than ever.
(Why can’t I edit my subscription from the app?)
Thank you! I have to admit I stay on the desktop and don't know the app super well, hope there's a simple workaround. Really appreciate your read.
I figured it out quickly and upgraded. Thank you for your words and wisdom. Onward!
Thank you Harmony. So much to sit with here. re/reading is essential.
brilliant piece