Recently, social media has seen the “thank you, Beyoncé” trend take hold of music lovers and pop culture fans alike. The trend takes a serious allegation and makes it into a lighthearted joke. People give credit to Beyoncé for good things that happen in their life in short form videos or other types of social media posts, believing that if they don’t thank her, Beyoncé or someone close to her will come for them and will give them bad luck. The trend started with celebrities thanking Beyoncé when they win awards due to them genuinely feeling afraid of Beyoncé and her rumored Orwellian control over celebrities.
While a joke among the general population, Beyoncé’s control over the music industry is not to be underestimated. Iconic pop culture moments such as Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift in her 2009 VMA acceptance speech to say that Beyoncé “had one of the best videos of all time” and Adele breaking her Grammy to dedicate it to Beyoncé are solid evidence of the influence she holds over the industry. Fellow pop culture junkies such as myself have analyzed celebrities like Lady Gaga, Lizzo, Britney Spears, etc. praising Beyoncé and have come to the conclusion that Sasha Fierce is making fellow cower in fear for their lives.
The song “She Knows” by J. Cole was speculated to hint at Beyoncé’s connection to P. Diddy, also known as Sean Combs, with the repetition of the line “she knows” which sounds like Sean Knowles — Sean as in Sean John Combs and Knowles as in Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter. Diddy was recently arrested for racketeering conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution. The speculative connection in the trend says that Beyoncé was aware of Diddy’s freaky activities. Another theory comes from the lyrics of “She Knows” when Cole sings “Michael Jackson I’ll see you just as soon as I die.” As a result of the lyrics, I believe that any star that outshines Beyoncé will have potential serious repercussions in their careers.
Beyoncé, Jay-Z and P. Diddy, all have birthdays on the 4th while Aaliyah, Michael Jackson and Left Eye all have birthdays on the 25th. Potentially guilty parties all having similar birthdays while “victims” having similar birthdays is a coincidence that doesn’t seem likely to happen on its own. People connect Beyoncé and her friends to the unfortunate passing of these three artists. This isn’t substantial enough to pin suspicious deaths on Beyoncé, though I believe that there is no such thing as a coincidence. What does seem like substantial reasoning, though, is the fact that Diddy’s activities, which include striking fear in the minds of other celebrities who might outshine Beyoncé, would have benefited Beyoncé in the long run because it removes competition from her already iconic pop status.
While there isn’t enough evidence to say that Beyoncé was involved in the suspicious deaths of Aaliyah, Michael Jackson and Left Eye, if you see a large number of celebrities praising her at the Grammys, just know they may be doing it out of sheer fear as they would rather be safe than sorry.
