Visionary. Dedicated. Fearless. Risk-taking. Natural born leader. These are the qualities of a true boss. These are also some common adjectives that fans tend to associate with Beyoncé, in all of her queenly glory.
We all love to call and appoint Beyoncé as the queen of the entertainment industry because, let's face it, she is - otherwise, why else would she have a Bey Hive to rule over for so long - but above all else, Bey might be even bigger and more powerful than just a queen. She is a boss, and she has used every inch of her Ivy Park approved heels to assert her footprint into the industry as such, in multiple ways over the years.
10 Recording/Filming A Secret Album
Any musician will attest to how difficult it is to record a song, record an album, or even film a music video. It is a long, strenuous process that is hard to hide. Unless you're Beyoncé, who somehow managed to hide an entire album and music video from the public.
Which, sure, hiding an album is a little bit easier since recording sessions are kept between a tight-knit group of musicians, producers, and a few managers and agents here and there. Only Bey could spend a whole year filming out in public on her self-titled album - and a couple of other projects that followed - and not a soul knew about it.
9 Shutting The World Down With Her Album
Speaking of that self-titled project, this was the album that started a whole wave of artists dropping "secret albums" without notice and without any prior promotion to speak of. The day was December 13th, 2013 at midnight and the moment fans noticed it on all music platforms, the world went bananas. She became the leading trending topic for that day.
Let's face it, a lot of people can drop a secret album - even today - and it would stay a secret because no one's trying to hear it. When Queen Bey dropped a secret album, the whole world stopped just for her.
8 The Super Bowl Halftime Show
Speaking of shutting the world down, let's talk about that iconic Super Bowl Halftime Show. She had some impressive supporting players by her side in the form of Coldplay and Bruno Mars, but staying true to her queen nickname, she commanded the room - well, open door area - with her presence.
Most importantly, she instantly became the talk of the town not only with her performance but with an apparent homage to the Black Lives Matter movement. This divided viewers, but once again, she became the biggest trending topic on the planet.
7 When Her Hair Got Caught In A Fan
No one can ever deny how much hard work, dedication, and most importantly determination that the "Halo" singer puts into every single one of her performances whenever she finds herself on a stage.
A prime example came a few years ago when her hair got caught in a stage fan while she was singing. Despite the dangerous predicament, she didn't panic. Instead, she simply ignored it. She never skipped a beat or missed a tune, and right up until a crew member pried her free with a pair of scissors, her high notes were flawless.
6 "I Gotta Go Home"
Beyoncé gave a surprising, in-depth glimpse into her life behind the scenes with the Netflix documentary, Homecoming, that allowed us a peek behind the curtain into her backstage conversations, dance rehearsals, and in general, her personal life while also serving as a concert film.
One moment which went viral from the show saw Bey command the room by putting a halt to a long day's of work by saying, "I gotta go home to my fifty-eleven children" (she joked, referencing her songs "Black Parade" and "Yoncé").
5 The Ivy Park Experiment
Most of us will agree that 2020 has been something of a dumpster fire year, but originally, Beyoncé kicked off the year in style by launching her Adidas x Ivy Park clothing line. But she went about promoting it in a unique way.
She gave a free set of Ivy Park trademarked clothes to a lucky list of celebrities, who then showed off their new swag on social media. Enough celebs did this that we were all ready to buy our own Ivy Park sets. And that, ladies and gentlemen (and non-binaries), is what we call "good marketing."
4 Politely Turning Down Chris Martin
Chris Martin is the lead singer and co-founder of the band Coldplay. Long before he performed with the Queen at the Super Bowl Halftime Show that we mentioned earlier, he offered Bey to perform a song he wrote, but as he explained to Rolling Stone (h/t Vanity Fair), she turned down his song "in the sweetest possible way. She told me, 'I really like you - but this is awful.'"
A boss's job is often to turn down the projects that don't work on paper, but to do so with a smile and in a kind way ... that takes a special set of skills that not even Liam Neeson has.
3 Petty Feud With Target
Even bosses are prone to getting a little petty here and again. Beyoncé's pettiness stems from a feud with Target that lasted for several years. It all started because when that aforementioned self-titled album of hers first dropped, Target refused to stock it because of its sudden release at midnight.
Target eventually issued an apology, but it was too late. Bey openly supported Walmart out of vain, both on a business level and personal level, once going toy shopping there with Blue Ivy. From a boss's perspective, this was a big power move. Bey and Target eventually squashed the beef and now, once again, Beyoncé embraces the establishment as her favorite go-to retailer.
2 Investing In Uber Before Anyone Else
Did you know that Uber was in existence as far back as 2009? Yeah, not a lot of people do. What is known now as one of the most used vehicle cab apps on the planet was barely a blip on anyone's radar a decade ago. But the Lemonade musician was wise enough to take a risk on investing in the brand back when it merely had potential.
Back in 2013, Beyoncé performed for Uber and, originally, according to Inside Edition, was supposed to be paid in $6 million. Instead, she decided that she wanted to be paid in stocks. She received a small percentage of Uber stocks and today, those same stocks are worth $300 million.
1 Starring In The Lion King
This may not sound like as big a deal on the surface, but trust us, it is a whole lot bigger than you may think. When Beyoncé was cast in The Lion King as Simba's love interest, Nala, she instantly became the film's star despite the part itself is a supporting role.
As such, this offered plenty of spinoff material. Namely, a soundtrack that basically serves as a new solo Beyoncé album and was even treated as such, earning the songstress a Golden Globe nod for Best Original Song and three additional Grammy nominations for the soundtrack. And don't get us started on how much she made from the movie.
