Like I said before, she definitely has the talent and a good work ethic, however, she has no real drive or vision. In that sense, she's just like Ke$ha and Lady Gaga, talented, hard-working, but nowhere near innovative enough to matter, really. However, at least Beyonce sings about better things than the rest. As for IvoryKeys' comment about the likes of Beyonce and Gaga putting an interesting show, I definitely agree that they can put on a good visual performance, but that has nothing to do with music, and therefore I consider it irrelevant in evaluating who is and isn't worthy of icon status.
I think things like vocal talent and song-writing ability are the things that ought to count, along with anything truly innovative (i.e. Michael's idea for the short story/film music video). Obviously, no one in the past ten years has done anything which would qualify as innovative, so the only things we've got to measure thus far are vocal talent and song-writing ability. None of the "world's biggest pop stars" in this generation have written material which is worth a damn in terms of depth, feeling, and value, so even though singers like Ke$ha and Gaga write their own material, the stuff which comes out is not impressive in the least, with few exceptions ("The Harold Song" and "Animal" for Ke$ha, "Speechless" and "Americano" for Gaga).
Neither's voice is really powerful or touching in any way, although they are both competent singers (and yes, Ke$ha can sing). Beyonce, although she does not write her own material, has a voice which evokes both feeling and power. It is easily the most amazing pop female mainstream voice in the last five years, second only to Xtina Aguilera's, but in my opinion, Aguilera is more part of the "Britney and Justin" generation than this current one. So, keeping her apart, Beyonce is the most vocally talented pop music female in the industry today.
I agree with IvoryKeys, she
could make something memorable of herself. She has the talent, she just needs the desire to achieve her goal. If she really wanted to, she could transform from her current "lead" state into alchemical gold.
Ehm, no. You can't compare anything Beyonce's done to anything Michael's done, especially brilliant work like
Invincbile. I admire Beyonce's talent as much as the next guy, but currently, she's done nothing memorable. Up until now, there has been nothing brilliant about her music. The only brilliant thing Beyonce has at the moment is her voice, which she can use to
become something musically brilliant. If she really wants to be a legend, she's going to have to look deep into her own self and figure out what matters to her.
She has to step away from collaborating with so-so commoner singers who have nothing new or interesting to contribute (i.e. Lady Gaga, whom she easily outshines), and find someone whose talent is comparable to her own and collaborate with them instead. She should also step away from pop music a bit, leave the "girl power, yeah!" anthems alone for a bit, or at least elaborate on them with something which makes us think. The problem with pop music today is that it makes no one think (well, at least not with the right part of the body). It is all modeled commercially, with selling singles and making club hits in mind. If everyone follows the same beat to death model, how on Earth is one to become a legend? The conglomerate idea is just a quick and lazy way to do well financially, but these "club hits" are quickly forgotten as soon as the next catchy tune comes out.
Therefore, if Beyonce wants to be a legend, she needs to find something that matters, a calling. Michael, for example, found his calling in singing about things which are wrong with the world and the current system in regards to racism, media scrutiny, the government, war, etc.
Beyonce could do a lot more for the cause of gender equality than just urging single ladies to tell their guys to "put a ring on it," or pretending that girls run the world, because they certainly don't. She should try her hand at writing, even if it's just jotting down ideas and reflections on issues which matter to her. The music will definitely sound different if she cares about the themes behind her songs. It's so easy to tell when someone doesn't really care about what they're saying or singing--their voice sounds cold, there's no real feeling--in other words, it sounds like pop music today.
Anyway, she'll definitely not make any club hit singles if she goes down that route, but she might invest in a memorable legacy and rebuild her own image, which is what she was (failing at) attempting to do with the whole Sasha Fierce disaster.
