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Entity loves the talented and unapologetic, Beyonce Knowles-Carter.

NAME: Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter

LIFETIME: September 4, 1981 – Present

WHAT SHE IS KNOWN FOR: Beyoncé is best known for being an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. Before her solo career, she was a member of one of the world’s best-selling girl groups, Destiny’s Child. Since her debut solo album in 2003, she has risen to become one of the most successful and best-selling artists in her industry. As Elle writes, “She’s the most nominated woman in Grammy history, with 20 awards and 53 nominations. She has sold over 120 million solo albums. As she puts it herself in ‘Formation,’ ‘Sometimes I go off, I go hard / Get what’s mine, I’m a star / ‘Cause I slay.’”

WHY WE LOVE HER: Throughout her career, Beyoncé has made a name for herself as “the most important and compelling popular musician of the twenty-first century,” as music critic Jody Rosen says via The New Yorker. Rosen continues, “It’s not just that she’s a dazzling, gale-force performer. She’s got the finest set of ears, the sharpest musical mind, of anyone in her pop generation. No one else has blended contemporary sounds and attitudes – the beat and bravado of hip-hop – with so much musical tradition.”

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Not only is she talented, she is also unapologetic about the political statements ingrained within her most recent albums. During her Mrs. Carter Show tour and her 2014 VMA performance, she displayed the word “feminist” in bold, pink letters across the screen. In Beyoncé’s interview with Elle, she says, “I put the definition of feminist in my song [‘flawless’] and on my tour … to give clarity to the true meaning … We need men and women to understand the double standards that still exist in this world, and we need to have a real conversation so we can begin to make changes.”

Additionally, her “Formation” single and Super Bowl performance featured an arresting message about police brutality and criminal-justice reform in America. As Elle writes, “With ‘Formation,’ Beyoncé declared herself as an artist willing to use her power to provoke difficult but necessary conversations about the most fraught topics in American life.”

Beyoncé tells Elle, “I hope I can create art that helps people heal. Art that makes people feel proud of their struggle. Everyone experiences pain, but sometimes you need to be uncomfortable to transform.”

FUN FACT: Beyoncé told Forbes, “I’ve never met anyone that works harder than me in my industry.” She is very deliberate in the way she crafts her image and she is constantly seeking to improve. According to GQ, Beyoncé said, “One of the reasons I connect to the Super Bowl is that I approach my shows like an athlete. You know how they sit down and watch whoever they’re going to play and study themselves? That’s how I treat this. I watch my performances, and I wish I could just enjoy them, but I see the light that was late. I see, ‘Oh God, that hair did not work.’ Or ‘I should never do that again’ … I want to grow, and I’m always eager for new information.”

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