“Genre is a cold word to keep us in our place as artists.”
Beyoncé makes a statement that is our clarion call.
Did you hear it? The reestablishing of boundaries? The expanding new norms? The unapologetic declarations of shifting world views? All of which is meeting and outshining the destructive attempts by the old ideas of power. Like the thrashing tail of the dying dinosaur, they will continue to tighten their grip in dramatic ways, like a child throwing a fit. But what is countering that dying beast of patriarchy is, in profound ways, getting brighter and brighter.
If the only reason Beyoncé won Best Album at the 2025 Grammy’s was to be given the platform to make this statement, it was worth it.
Her statement, “Genre is a cold word to keep us in our place as artists,” was not only referring to the fact that a pop/rap/R&B artist can be multifaceted and excel wherever she wants, it was also a clarion call for humanity.
Dr. Riane Eisler, social systems scientist, cultural historian, and author, shows us how we have all been duped by patriarchy’s charms in what she calls, “The Domination Trance.” It’s that system that keeps us believing we live in safe boxes designed and maintained by those “in power.”
Deborah Moldow’s endorsement of my book The Liminal Odyssey, The Alchemical Power of The Spaces In-Between referred to it as “…a genre unto itself.” Perhaps that is because I did not consider bumpers and guard rails of someone else’s ideals (box) when writing and publishing it. Yet, large publishing houses require my art to be defined by the genres they claim as worthy. It must fit in one section of a library or bookstore.
It's time for a new system.
While it was Beyonce and her team’s talent and imagination that created the Cowboy Carter album, it was the critical mass of us willing to follow her as she stepped over that line into uncharted territory of that magnitude. That line was an illusion, and she saw it and remained true to her artistry to beautify the world. This is a model for all of us. We are each equipped with our own artistry that only we can bring to this world.
It’s time to question assumptions of whose other’s boxes we are stuck in, and as Connie Baxter Marlow and Andrew Cameron Bailey point out in their book The Trust Frequency, create new assumptions for a new paradigm. That paradigm then becomes our new world view, our culture, the air we breath. It’s also a destination without distance and available to all of us right now. It starts now, with you and me.
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