In light of Kanye once again pulling a Kanye at this year’s Grammys, some new SoundClown mashup artist – fittingly going by “Beckyoncé” – threw together Beck‘s “Loser” with Bey‘s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It).” The result: “Single Loser (Put a Beck On It)” has gone viral:
In case you missed it, Yeezus started to interrupt Beck’s Album of the Year acceptance speech, but he turned away from the stage en route. We all thought he was just meta-yanking our chain, but he later clarified the opposite, confiding to E!, “Beck needs to respect artistry and he should have given his award to Beyoncé,” essentially saying Beck’s record, of which Beck Hansen produced, played every instrument, wrote every lyric, sang every vocal, should have been cast aside in favor of Beyoncé’s over-compressed effort that required dozens of producers, songwriters, musical clichés, and lifetimes of radio play.
Kanye only thought better of his plan when he decided that rants against ‘commercialism’s ill effect on music’ might have an ill effect on his own commercial goals, like his new clothing line, claiming “voices” in his head made him act the way he did.
As for the mashup, both tracks are pitched to match each other, which makes it technically fit. But the real question is: does it actually work? Does it improve on either track, or does it muddle them both? Does it “ruin the artistry of music” as Kanye put it? Did Kanye’s insatiable love of both his own voice and Bey’s albums actually open up a door for her to tour or duet with Beck? What do you think?
If nothing else, it takes the sting out of the whole ordeal. Kanye’s not the first to notice that Grammys are a complete waste of time, patting the backs further of whomever sold the most albums, regardless of musical “artistry,” particularly when award-winners plagiarize their hooks from Tom Petty in a gospel style, but at least Beckyoncé came out on top.
