JiveSync

Beyoncé’s first stadium tour was more than 20 years ago. In the years since, she has proved her staying power and then some. She spent much of 2023 starring in her Renaissance World Tour, which is projected to add $4.5 billion to the economy. Her economic impact has been dubbed the “Beyoncé bump,” with her fans flocking particularly to Black-, women- and LGBTQ-owned businesses.

Renaissance is camp — and pure fun. Queen Bey asked her fans to show up in silver, and so they do, literally mirroring each other’s joy. A 42-year-old mother of three, the superstar is also (subtly) sharing lessons about work, motherhood and strength. She does more than balance her roles; she blends them: This is her first tour since the birth of her twins, Rumi and Sir, and her stage is shared proudly with 11-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, who has in the past been the target of online harassment. Some might be driven out of the public eye in the face of such abuse. But Beyoncé and Blue Ivy are having none of that.

Like Swift, Beyoncé released a concert film that is already on track to be one of the highest-grossing films of the year despite a December opening. But rejecting the inevitable competition narrative, the two attended each other’s premieres. Here, too, these superstars altered the mechanics of the industry: Rather than a major studio distributing their films, they cut out the middleman, produced them themselves and are distributing them through AMC, a theater company, rather than a traditional studio. That new model, powered by a recent shift in antitrust law, is another example of these female artists exerting their power to control their art, and its profits.

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