It's A Long Way Down

TIME MAGAZINE HAS NAMED BEYONCÉ AS ONE OF THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN OF THE PAST CENTURY

“When Beyoncé Knowles-Carter debuted as a member of Destiny’s Child in the ‘90s, no one could foresee that she would one day be the self-proclaimed “King Bey,” as big as Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, or Prince. By the time she released her first solo album in 2003, her star power was clear, but in the music industry, shooting stars often fizzle. Beyoncé treated each album like an opportunity to build. Her work ethic is rivaled only by her supreme ability to keep us out of her business. When she dropped her eponymous fifth album near midnight in December 2013, with no indication that was coming, her legend status was clear. Beyoncé was a visual album with sick beats and her signature girl-power anthems. But with “Flawless,” she went a step further, sampling a Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speech and explicitly claiming feminism for herself. Could a pop star really be down with smashing the patriarchy? Her performance in front of the word FEMINIST at the 2014 MTV Music Awards was a helluva way to punctuate a point.