Hivemind

Music awards, it has been said, are much like chess: partly because White always takes priority,¹ but mostly because no-one wants to go head-to-head with the Queen.

Last night Beyonce took her 32nd GrammyThe Grammys, short for "Gramophone Awards", are the musical equivalent of the Oscars. The first ever awards were held in 1959. Award, the most of any artist in history. But the night was not all rosy for Queen Bey. She was snubbed for a fourth time for the prized Album of the Year award, which instead went to Harry Styles. 

In truth, Beyonce hardly needs the accoladesAwards or strong praise. to prove she wears the crown. Everything she touches seems to turn to gold.

Her next tour does not begin until May, yet 400,000 people are already in presale lines for her London appearances alone, and some have even started raising money to buy tickets on GoFundMe.²

That is why some think we should treat her like other icons of music and literature, and study her works at university. They say there are striking similarities between Queen Bey and the great names that we already study, like William ShakespeareAn English playwright and poet who is often called the greatest writer in the English language. .

Shakespeare's legacy has lived on throughout the centuries in part because he redefined the English language. He invented many of the words and phrases we use today, including "wild goose chase", "green-eyed monster", "break the ice" and "puke".³

Even "swag", a Beyonce favourite, comes from a word Shakespeare introduced: "swagger" first appears in A Midsummer Night's Dream to describe the mischievous Puck.

Beyonce seems to have the same power to reshape language. Many of her lines, like "Got hot sauce in my bag" and "Becky with the good hair", have entered the lexiconAll of the words used by a particular person or in a particular language..

And Beyonce's music always has a finger on the cultural pulse. Formation is a commentary on Black people's place in US history and on police brutality. The music video for her 2018 collaboration with Jay-Z made a statement on the historical exclusion of Black artists from high art.

So some think we ought to act on this message, and recognise Beyonce as a great, historic artist who deserves to be studied.

Indeed, one institution has already recognised Queen Bey's contributions to world culture. The University of Copenhagen offers a course called "Beyonce, Gender, and Race".

Yes: Beyonce is easily the equal of any of the musicians and writers that we already study as a matter of course. It is time to put her in her rightful place in university curriculaThe plural of curriculum - the subjects studied at school or during a course. .

No: Beyonce might be a great pop artist, but that does not make her the peer of a sublime composer like Beethoven, or of an extraordinary wordsmith like Shakespeare. Universities should study high art.

Or... This is not really about Beyonce: it is about where we draw the line between high and low art. And that is mostly a matter of time. In a hundred years, it will be very normal to take Beyonce Studies at university.