Queen B's Subtle Conservatism

In 2016, pop star Beyoncé released her genre mixing, critically acclaimed visual album Lemonade. In the film, she explores blackness, feminism and police brutality by evoking historical revolutionaries like the Black Panthers. Beneath this layer of social justice, however, lies a set of socially conservative values. Nowhere is this more evident than in “6 Inch,” a collaboration track with rapper The Weeknd that celebrates an unnamed, tireless, empowered stripper. Examined ideologically, this video reveals itself as a valorization of capitalism in the guise of female empowerment.

The scene opens inside a dimly lit apartment building. Beyoncé acts as singer and protagonist, narrating the very plot she performs. Moreover, the camera follows her through a rotation of apartment, car and club, illustrating the monotonous lull of life on the grind. Further, a subdued red light illuminates each setting, adding an air of noir and mystery. This nighttime imagery ultimately conjures a world of moral ambiguity and darkness, a stage on which the protagonist must persevere.

Despite the challenges, this working woman endures. And, moreover, succeeds. “She’s stacking money, money everywhere she goes,” chants The Weeknd, as a jaded Beyoncé stares out the window of a shiny black Mercedes-Benz. Beyoncé continues the accolades with “she got that Sake, her Yamazaki straight from Tokyo,” flouting her cultured and expensive palette. Of course, the laundry list of status symbols rounds out with the eponymous chorus line, “six inch heels, she walked in the club like nobody’s business.” Each of these lines confers respect and legitimacy for working women, no matter their chosen profession. Further, however, they celebrate the material and monetary accomplishments of a steadfast individual.

Herein lies the free market ideology that undergirds Beyoncé’s themes of social justice. Instead of critiquing capitalism, a system of inherently unequal distribution of power, Bey’s track valorizes the success of one woman’s capacity to yield it to her advantage. “She grinds form Monday to Friday, works from Friday to Sunday” sings the idol, offering an all-too-convenient formula for success. Ultimately, the “6 Inch” narrative differs very little from the “American dream,” a factually dubious ideal that alleges anyone can bootstrap her way to the top. As the ever-increasing concentration of wealth will counter, however, this narrative is not the rule but the exception. By glorifying the protagonist’s accumulation of capital, Beyoncé legitimizes such unequal social relations.

Lastly, listeners cannot ignore the parallels between Beyoncé and the protagonist she portrays. Beyoncé was born to a middle class family, and worked steadfastly to become the hundred millionaire pop legend she is today. In “6 Inch,” she stands fiercely in the apartment twirling a spinning a roped bulb around a la David and Goliath; later she sets fire to the building altogether. The message is clear: Beyoncé earned her wealth, without assistance, standing up to those in her way. Viewed from one angle, this message feels inspiring. Yet, contextualized to an album that values solidarity amongst racial and gender minorities, the blatant class-based exhibitionism seems to produce tension. When aligning revolutionaries across the axes of sexism and antiblackness, shouldn’t class figure into the equation? Ultimately, by revering individualism in “6 Inch,” Beyoncé cements an ideology of free-market capitalism.