Beyonce and the Benefit of Collaboration

In Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan’s book Faith, Hope, and Carnage, Nick Cave talks about the way it’s sometimes held against him that he “always needs a collaborator.” To the criticisms of relying on collaboration, he provides the very strong counter argument that collaboration as a musician is beneficial, not a negative, because being open to others’ ideas is a great way to improve the quality of the art you're putting out. 

I agree with Cave's argument, and I think a modern day artist who unfairly receives this same criticism is Beyoncé. For years, a way people have attempted to discredit Beyoncé’s artistry is by mentioning the amount of writers listed in the credits of her songs. Countless snarky comments have been made about how she needs a ton of writers to be able to put a song together because she cant do it herself. 

The reason the list of writers on some of her songs is so extensive - specifically on songs from her two most recent albums RENAISSANCE and COWBOY CARTER - is mostly due to the use of samples. Since a focus of these two albums is to highlight her previous influences of house and country music, and paying tribute to those influences, samples are included as a part of that vision. 

But even without the samples, Beyoncé still does have multiple writers on her songs. And this is a good thing. While it’s impressive when an artist does everything by themselves, Beyoncé’s ability to collaborate with other musicians is what has kept her fresh and exciting for so many years, because each album is something new.

Beyoncé’s ability to collaborate is the reason she was able to release the studio albums BEYONCÉ, Lemonade, RENAISSANCE, and COWBOY CARTER back to back, each project a defining sound for her in completely different ways, each project further solidifying her status as an icon. Collaboration is not a weakness, but a tool for making strides in your artistry that you might not have been able to access alone.