Breaking the all-time record for the most Grammy wins ever by any female artist, we’ve already acknowledged Beyoncé is a queen, but the rise to the top has been everything but easy.
There are very few people in the world who don’t know who Beyoncé is and there is a reason for that.
She has been an icon for literal decades and when she performs, you can’t help but to feel inspired and empowered.
From the early days of Destiny’s Child to the plethora of Grammy’s she now holds, Beyoncé has had to spend her entire life working hard for the life she has and when you work as hard as one of the biggest artists in the music industry, it can be more pressure than we can imagine.
As hard as it may be to believe, Beyoncé turns the big 40 this year and while there are many people who would have this old misconception that once you turn 40 everything goes downhill, Beyoncé can’t seem to disagree more.
Surely, there are some people who are casual Beyoncé fans and then there are those of us who grew up listening to her and Destiny’s Child. Either way, if you love her or hate her, there is no denying the actual decades of work that she put in to have the booming career she has now.
In a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she reflected on her years in the industry and we could really see how she got to where she is. The short version, she worked hard, kept her head down and kept her vision clear.
Beyoncé stated during her interview: “Vision and intention weren’t enough, I had to put in the work. Am committed to always being a student and always being open to growth.” That is absolutely true in the work she does.
According to her homecoming concert performance film that streamed on Netflix, she started rehearsing over 115 days before her two-hour Coachella performance, not to mention that rehearsals were especially tough on her body. After having a difficult pregnancy with her twins Rumi and Sir, she’s no stranger to perseverance and keeping your head down to allow yourself to be the best you can be.
She also mentioned in her interview: “If something wasn’t helping me reach my goal, I decided to invest no time in it. I didn’t feel like I had time to kiki or hang out. I sacrificed a lot of things and ran from any possible distraction. I felt as a young black woman, that I couldn’t mess up.”
Needless to say, Beyoncé had to grow up fast and she had a ton of pressure on her. While this type of pressure could easily throw someone off their game, she stayed humble and continued to grow as a person and as an artist despite troubles.
For example, when she was feeling insecure after gaining weight, she turned around and wrote “Bootylicious”. There are no other words, she’s just that awesome!
Between the drama with other members of Destiny’s Child to having a seemingly endless work schedule, Beyoncé stayed true to herself.
She credited a lot of her drive and work ethic to the people around her who she loves and learns from. Family and people close to Beyoncé have had a huge impact on how she works as a musician as well as how she runs her business and it started from a young age.
Beyoncé started singing when she was only seven years old and by the time she was nine, she was already a part of a girl group called “Girls Tyme.” The group featured Beyoncé, her cousin Kelly Rowland and four of their friends. They even appeared on Star Search in 1992, but lost to another group. As they evolved over the years, they took things in a different direction and later became known as Destiny’s Child.
Throughout that time and even years before then, Beyoncé and the members of Destiny’s Child worked tirelessly and the pressure was on. Beyoncé’s father Matthew Knowles quit his job as a sales representative for Xerox to manage the group full time, while her mother Tina Knowles worked for several hours at her salon to help make ends meet.
This meant that the future of her family’s livelihood heavily depended on the group’s success. From an early age, Beyoncé was dedicated to honing her vocal skills and learning how the industry worked, which was shocking to those who knew her as an incredibly shy kid. But she shined when she was on stage.
Destiny’s Child went on to become a huge success which probably shocked no one. They brought us “Bills Bills Bills”, “Survivor”, “Independent Woman” and don’t even get me started on “Say My Name.”
Even their early songs were bangers, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for her. As arguably the most recognizable faces of the group, she got a lot of backlash for drama that ensued within Destiny’s Child.
The group which consisted of Beyoncé, Kelly, Letoya and Latavia in its early days, lost members due to drama surrounding their management. Letoya and Latavia felt that Matthew wasn’t representing them the way he should and that he didn’t have all of their best intentions at heart.
Matthew’s solution was to kick them away from the group. Eventually they were replaced by Farrah Franklin and Michelle Williams. But when Farrah left the group after only five months, only Beyoncé, Kelly and Michelle remained.
This trio would later go on to become the permanent faces of Destiny’s Child. While all that drama was going on behind the scenes, Beyoncé was often blamed for it. But despite the backlash, she stayed humble and grateful for the success they worked so hard to achieve and that helped her to really learn how the industry can be and how to stay determined when things go south.
When most of us were hanging out with friends or going on dates or partying it up in our teen years, Beyoncé was hard at work. She spent most of her childhood rehearsing, honing her craft and becoming the best version of herself she could be.
It seems to be paying off as she now holds over 20 Grammy awards.
Read: 13 popular fashion trends that started with Rihanna.
As the days of Destiny’s Child came to an end, Beyoncé has dominated the industry as a solo artist, actress, entrepreneur, philanthropist and all around icon. But even at the top of her game, there’s a price that comes with being one of the most influential and successful artists of an entire generation.
Beyoncé has been open about the toll her career has had on her mental and physical health and we definitely got a glimpse of that in homecoming. But during her Harper’s Bazaar interview, she mentioned that there has been a lot of other stress on her.
She stated: “I haven’t always made myself a priority, I’ve personally struggled with insomnia from touring for more than half of my life, years of wear and tear on my muscles. From dancing in heels, the stress on my hair and skin, from sprays and dyes to the heat of a curling iron and wearing heavy makeup while sweating on stage.”
When we see beyonce perform, we are so captured by how her music makes us feel that it’s easy to forget that she has been putting so much stress on her mind and body for decades.
Being married with three children can only add to the stress sometimes. Beyoncé always tries to stay positive when so much is demanded of her. She made a great point in her interview by pointing out that she’s now taking time to focus on her mental health and well-being.
She told Harper’s Bazaar: “Mental health is self-care too, I’m learning to break the cycle of poor health and neglect, focusing my energy on my body and taking note of the subtle science that it gives me.” She even mentioned how her children are picking up positive cues from her about decompressing and taking care of their mental health. We love how she wants to instill those values in her children.
Bey worked so hard for years to create a life for her family where they can achieve whatever they want and when looking at Blue Ivy’s accomplishments, it seems like Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s work ethic and determination rubbed off on her too.
Beyoncé has grown in so many ways and her style, music and even her fans have changed with her. As she steps into a new and exciting chapter in her life, we can’t wait to see what happens next with her.
