Dear Gossips,
Five months ago – howwwww was it FIVE months ago?! – Beyoncé released COWBOY CARTER, another masterpiece of an album; she was in Japan on the day, and actually held a meet and greet there. Since then, there have been a few sightings here and there but the Queen has mostly been quiet. It’s been over a decade now since Beyoncé has decided that she doesn’t do traditional promotion. We have learned to appreciate the crumbs.
What we do know this summer is that she has spent part of it in the Hamptons, because Jay-Z has been photographed a couple of times without her. This weekend, though, she resurfaced. B was monochrome in dusty rose with fringe and thigh-high boots while out with Jay to celebrate the relaunch of his 40/40 Club on Friday night. And last night she was in Brooklyn for pizza in Pucci.
All of this as, throughout the last month, her song “Freedom” has been heard over and over again as the theme song for Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. Speaking of, the Democratic National Convention kicks off today in Chicago with Madame Vice President expected to take the stage and officially accept her party’s nomination on Thursday…
CNN is reporting that, as usual where the DNC is concerned, there will be a significant Hollywood presence but in that article I just linked to, they also mention the rampant speculation about Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, and whether or not either of them will show up. Representatives for both artists have been asked repeatedly about the rumours, neither one has responded. Harris’s team and the DNC won’t comment either. Which means nothing…but people are hoping it means something.
While we wait to find out whether or not the two biggest superstars on the planet will show up to support the first Black and South Asian woman to lead the Democrat ticket in the United States, political analysts have been talking about how she’s largely avoided engaging directly with the media over the last few weeks since she stepped into her presidential candidacy. There may be a Beyoncé connection on that issue too – I read an interesting piece at Vox on Friday by Jonquilyn Hill, “What Kamala Harris and Beyoncé have in common”: as Black women, they are unfairly expected to be “twice as good”. But there’s also the comparison about how the Vice President’s “sidestepping [of] the press and eschewing other traditional forms of media” to how Beyoncé has, since before 2013 and the surprise release of self-titled, done the same.
One is a popstar, the other is hoping to be the president. And this strategy has worked for the VP in the short term but it’s impossible through the stretch. As Jonquilyn Hill writes:
“A politician, especially one asking to be installed in the most powerful office in the nation, should explain to the public why she wants that power and what she intends to do with it. And the public is better off (or, at least, better informed) when that candidate has to defend the vision in the face of media scrutiny.”
Near the end of the piece, it is noted that:
“[Kamala Harris is] a former prosecutor. She went to one of the top HBCUs in the country, a place that has gestated politicians and activists and tastemakers across the political spectrum since its inception. She is more than capable of making a case to the American people.”
On Thursday night, she’ll step into her biggest spotlight. Do we think Beyoncé and/or Taylor Swift will be her opening act(s)? Join us at The Squawk today and let us know your thoughts. (app link here)
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
