Intimacy, Authenticity and ‘Worlding’ in Beyoncé’s Star Project

This chapter argues that Beyonce constructs an intimate, holistic world across her music videos, concert performances, media images, and public appearances, and that ‘worlding’ informs her entire star project. Beyonce is a significant subject for star studies not only for her huge commercial and artistic achievements, but also because her worlding represents new articulations of stardom and authenticity in the contemporary media landscape. Using Victor Perkins’ (2005) and Daniel Yacavone’s (2014) theories of film worlds, this chapter examines the construction of Beyonce’s world, the ‘worlding’ processes of visual style and audience immersion, within her music video Best Thing I Never Had (2011). It argues the worlding practices of Best Thing I Never Had reflect stylistic elements of the classical Hollywood film musical. The illusion of spontaneity and the video’s subject matter enhance the intimacy of the video, allowing an articulation of authenticity that draws on Beyonce’s real-world marriage to Jay-Z.