Go back and watch Beyonce’s performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” from Monday’s inaugural. Do you see how Beyonce is making sure that everything is all about Beyonce? Do you see her 130 carats worth of emeralds? Do you see her Pucci gown? Do you see her special inaugural wig? Do you see how Beyonce pulled out her earpiece half-way through? Well, you were only supposed to be paying attention to all of that stuff and not the actual song. Because as it turns out, Beyonce lip-synched the National Anthem. Which seems like a really bizarre thing to do, right?

Beyoncé did not sing the national anthem live at President Obama’s inauguration.

Millions of viewers around the world were stunned by the singer’s spectacular rendition of the anthem but The Times has learnt that she was lip-syncing to a pre-recorded backing track.

A spokeswoman for the Marine Corp Band Kristen DuBois said it was standard procedure to record a backing track and Beyoncé decided shortly before her performance to rely on the studio version rather than risk singing it live on the Capitol.

[From The Times]

The Marine Corps band director first told media outlets that Beyonce only had a chance to rehearse with them the night before the inauguration, which is probably when she recorded her vocals, don’t you think? The Marine Corps band spokesperson later confirmed that Beyonce pulled the plug on singing live at the last minute (DIVA!). Kristin DuBois said, “All music is pre-recorded for the ceremony because there are so many eventualities and conditions that day. We performed, live, the band. But we received last-minute word that Beyonce was going to use the pre-recorded vocal track. Those were the instructions we were given. We don’t know what the (sic) reason why.”

So, do you judge Beyonce for this? I’m of two minds. One side says she’s a drama queen diva who just wanted to be on stage with President Obama and she didn’t want to do the heavy lifting of singing live on a cold day. The other side of me says… maybe it doesn’t matter? I don’t know. Now that I know she was lip-synching, I find her performance theatrics to be much, much too much. I do think this makes her look bad. By the way, Kelly Clarkson sang live. And I thought her performance was the best, right?

Oh, so after I had written all of this up, it turns out that another “spokesperson” for the Marine Corps band is all “No, Beyonce MIGHT have sung live, we have no idea.” His actual statement is: “Regarding Ms. Knowles-Carter’s vocal performance, no one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded.” Hunh.

Photos courtesy of Kelly Clarkson’s Instagram, screencaps from performance.

GQ has slowly been parceling out bits and pieces of their February cover shoot and interview with Beyonce. I covered some of the interview excerpts (plus a couple of photos) here. GQ just sent us this link to some outtake images and interview outtakes too, because I seriously don’t remember reading many of these quotes from Beyonce. If this all happened in one interview, I’m surprised they didn’t lead with some of these quotes. But I guess dudes aren’t interested in what she has to say. They just like looking at her. Was anyone else watching MSNBC during the inauguration yesterday? Chris Matthews is pretty much in love with Beyonce. It’s adorable. Anyway, some highlights from the “outtakes”.

On being married (and not wearing a wedding ring sometimes): “I was independent before I met my husband, and we have such a natural chemistry and a genuine relationship, and it’s based on the things that relationships are supposed to be based on. I’ve seen, growing up, when a woman or a man in a relationship—it doesn’t matter which one—doesn’t feel confident, they feel a bit trapped. Your self-worth is determined by you. You don’t have to depend on someone telling you who you are.”

She totally gave birth: “When I gave birth, that was the first time I truly let go and surrendered. And it taught me how amazing that feels… Giving birth made me realize the power of being a woman. I have so much more substance in my life. And expressing that excitement and that sensuality and the connection I have with my husband—I’m a lot more comfortable with that now. I actually feel like my child introduced me to myself.”

On the rumors she fakes her pregnancy: “I felt like I kind of had to protect my mother, because when people made up the silliest rumor about me not really being pregnant. She was there when I went through all of those things. And my sister. They were very, very defensive. It’s not personal to me, and it comes along with the job, but the lack of respect—people will just go too far sometimes.”

She’s a Virgo: “Because I’m a Virgo, I will think myself into a crazy frenzy, and I will re-think and re-think and figure out, you know, way too many things.”

[From GQ]

Do you mind if I skip over the heavy analysis of her “I totally gave birth” quotes? I just feel like… there will always be people who believe that she never gave birth, and there will always be people who believe that she would never lie about it. This controversy is SO 2011! I will say this – as a fellow Virgo, I understand exactly what she means about “thinking myself into a crazy frenzy”. I do that all the time. Virgos think and overthink and doubt and re-think and spiral and we can just get super-neurotic about everything.

There’s a video too. It’s heavy on the Uncle Terry and it’s all style and no substance.

Photos courtesy of Terry Richardson / GQ.

Since we cover celebrities and gossip and fashion, let’s talk about the inaugural performances yesterday! Everybody is talking about Beyonce, who closed out the public inaugural events when she sang the National Anthem. Beyonce decided to go full-on show-stopper by wearing a long Christian Dior coat, a Pucci gown and absolutely gigantic Lorraine Schwartz earrings. And yes, those were real emeralds. 80 CARATS WORTH! She also wore a 50 carat ring. And a special orange manicure. Because… you know, the day was about Beyonce. It was HER day. Jay-Z was there too – he escorted his wife to the inauguration, and Jay wore head-to-toe Tom Ford. Here’s video of her performance:

I actually thought Kelly Clarkson’s performance of “My Country Tis of Thee” was just… cuter, you know? She’s so bubbly and she seemed so nervous, but her voice was strong. And I was wrong when I said several weeks ago that Kelly had probably gotten the invite because of Pres. Obama’s daughters – as it turns out, Kelly was invited because Sen. Chuck Schumer (chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, which overseas inaugurations) is a HUGE Kelly Clarkson fan. Truly.

I hate to say it, but I thought James Taylor was the weakest performance. Right?

And just because I liked him, here’s Richard Blanco a gay, Cuban-American poet who was the youngest poet ever selected to read an inaugural poem.

Screencaps from the videos.

I didn’t realize it yesterday when we were talking about Beyonce’s GQ cover that the pictorial is by Terry Richardson. So… of course. Of course it looks so trashy and p0rny. Because that’s Uncle Terry’s speciality. You know what I spend too much time thinking about? I think about whether these white-backgrounded, antiseptic, sleazy-p0rny Terry Richardson photo shoots really affect the way men think about sex and women on an aesthetic level. It just feels like the fast-food version of “sexiness” – no art, no mystery, no shadows, no nuance, just clinical, too-bright photos of scantily-clad girls looking sort of bored and vapid. Speaking of, you can read Beyonce’s GQ piece here. Some highlights:

Beyoncé on her work ethic: “I worked so hard during my childhood to meet this goal: By the time I was 30 years old, I could do what I want. I’ve reached that. I feel very fortunate to be in that position. But I’ve sacrificed a lot of things, and I’ve worked harder than probably anyone I know, at least in the music industry. So I just have to remind myself that I deserve it.”

…on her upcoming Super Bowl performance: “One of the reasons I connect to the Super Bowl is that I approach my shows like an athlete,” she says now. “You know how they sit down and watch whoever they’re going to play and study themselves? That’s how I treat this. I watch my performances, and I wish I could just enjoy them, but I see the light that was late. I see, ‘Oh God, that hair did not work.’ Or ‘I should never do that again.’ I try to perfect myself. I want to grow, and I’m always eager for new information.”

…on her power: “I now know that, yes, I am powerful. I’m more powerful than my mind can even digest and understand.”

…on her work: “I love my job, but it’s more than that: I need it. Because before I gave birth, it was the only time in my life, all throughout my life, that I was lost.”

Solange Knowles on her sister’s pursuit of perfection: “I have very, very early‑on memories of her rehearsing on her own in her room. I specifically remember her taking a line out of a song or a routine and just doing it over and over and over again until it was perfect and it was strong. At age 10, when everybody else was ready to say, ‘Okay, I’m tired, let’s take a break,’ she wanted to continue—to ace it and overcome it.”

[From GQ]

The GQ piece is pretty short – it’s only 2 pages, less than they would give to a male cover profile – and I would recommend that you read the whole thing. There are even more gems in there, including Beyonce’s thoughts on encouraging women to be financially independent from men, and there’s a lot about “The Beyonce Archive”. She has a working archive of everything she has ever done, said, written, sung, etc, and it’s all contained in a “temperature-controlled digital-storage facility that contains virtually every existing photograph of her, starting with the very first frames taken of Destiny’s Child, the ’90s girl group she once fronted; every interview she’s ever done; every video of every show she’s ever performed; every diary entry she’s ever recorded while looking into the unblinking eye of her laptop.” It also includes, oddly enough, THOUSANDS of hours of footage from her full-time “visual director” who has literally been following her around with a camera SINCE 2005. I seriously can’t even imagine living like that.

Photos courtesy of Terry Richardson / GQ.

Beyonce is the cover girl for GQ’s February issue, also known as the nonsensical “Hottest Women of the 21st Century” Issue. For real? We’re only at 2013 and we’re already ranking the hot girls of the century? Who made the hottest girls of the 20th century? I hope Eleanor Roosevelt made that list! She was HOT. Anyway, Beyonce’s cover is quite a lot of HIPS and under-boob (what is that called?) and belly jewelry. She looks good, don’t get me wrong. She looks very sexy. Are we still going to be talking about how sexy she is in 2099 though?

Meanwhile, did you hear that Beyonce is once again taking center stage at Pres. Obama’s inaugural? In January 2009, for Obama’s first inaugural, Beyonce was given the task of singing “At Last” for Pres. Obama and Michelle’s first dance of the evening. This time, Beyonce actually gets to be on stage for the actual inauguration, I think:

After supporting him throughout his campaign, Beyonce will perform the National Anthem at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration. The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Wednesday, Jan. 9 the three special musical guests who will take the stage at the 57th Presidential Inauguration.

Beyonce is set to sing the National Anthem, Kelly Clarkson will perform “My Country Tis of Thee” and James Taylor will sing “American the Beautiful.”

Obama’s inauguration will be held on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

“Vice President Biden and I are honored to have these wonderfully talented musical artists perform at the Inaugural ceremony,” Obama, 51, said in a statement. “Their music is often at the heart of the American story and speaks to folks across the country.”

Beyonce, 31, and Taylor, 64, both had the honor of performing at Obama’s first inauguration in 2009. Jay-Z’s wife also performed a cover of Etta James’ “At Last” for Obama’s first dance with First Lady Michelle Obama during the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball.

[From Us Weekly]

I’m kind of fine with that list. James Taylor is a national treasure, and Beyonce will do the National Anthem justice. Kelly Clarkson was a bit of a “WTF?” moment, but then I realized that the president’s daughters are probably fans, and Kelly is probably seen as a “good pop star” in the Obama household. Huh… I wonder if Jay-Z gets invited to sit with the inaugural party because his wife is performing?

Last thing – Jay-Z posted this photo of Blue Ivy while the family was on vacation. He posted it with the message: “Last day of vacation, playing UNO.”

Photos courtesy of Jay-Z, cover courtesy of GQ.

As I grow older, I’ve noticed that I’ve grown more and more wary of wealthy people. Maybe it’s a reaction to the 2008 financial meltdown, or maybe my suspicion was always lurking in the shadows, and it’s just come out to play recently. But whenever I see ridiculous conspicuous consumption these days, it disgusts me more than it used to. I have to remind myself, “It’s their money. If they want to spend on ridiculous things, so be it.” Speaking of, the past few years have been filled with a litany of conspicuous consumption from Beyonce and Jay-Z, from overpriced baby clothes for Blue Ivy,to buying “baby’s first diamonds.” This one might take the cake though:

Nice crib! When Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z watches basketball games at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, their daughter, Blue, 12 months, chills downstairs in a nursery!

“Jay rents a luxurious basement suite for $1 million a year,” a source says in the new issue of of Us Weekly, on stands now. “It has an area for Blue filled with toys.”

Jay’s VIP space — the priciest of 11 spreads for rent (average cost: $550,000) — also serves as an adult playground. “It’s all glass with a champagne bar and TV screen,” says the source. “Jay lets friends use his digs when he’s not there.”

In October, helped Jay-Z close out his eight performances at the Barclays Center as a surprise guest. Blue’s parents, who wed in April 2008, performed “Crazy in Love” together, and shared a kiss on stage.

“Of course I had to let BK touch the stage in BK,” Jay-Z joked to the audience. “Well, BKC now.”

Beyonce kicked off the new year with a private performance in Las Vegas. “In our perfect ways, in the ways we are beautiful, in the ways we are human — we are here,” she wrote in a handwritten note on her Tumblr blog. “Happy New Year’s. Let’s make it ours.”

[From Us Weekly]

I kind of understand the idea behind “sky boxes” and courtside seats, but I don’t understand paying a million bucks to have a basement lair – a lair devoid of good views or close action – just so you can bring your baby to a game and have her chill out with a nanny. Nor do I understand the basement lair thing for “hanging out with friends” – for $1 million?!? Bitch, go to the 40/40 Club!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here are some photos of Beyonce and Jay-Z doing some very last-minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. Why does Jay look so pissy? Is it because they’re being pap’d and he just wanted to get his Bergdorf on? That’s where they were – Bergdorf-Goodman. Global Grind says that Beyonce and Jay might have met up with Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin at the department store too, which is kind of cute. Double-date shopping spree on Christmas Eve? Or maybe they were just getting food or something.

Did you know that Beyonce is going to be on the cover of Vogue in a few months? Rumor going around is that Annie Leibovitz photographed Beyonce for the March cover… which is Vogue’s annual “Power Issue”. Beyonce deigning to cover the Power Issue? Yeah. I could see that. I hope the interview is good too – Vogue has some good celebrity interviewers these days (unlike Vanity Fair – has anyone else noticed a marked decline in the quality of VF’s celebrity interviews?), so I hope we’ll have a lot of good/weird/interesting Beyonce quotes to analyze. Bey will probably be covering the March issue because: A) she’s the Super-Bowl half-time show, and B) she’s dropping a new album… soon.

Last thing: Note the prominent BLUE all over the place in Beyonce’s outfit. Little Blue Ivy will be 1 year old on January 7th. Cough. It feels like longer, right? It feels like Blue Ivy has been around for longer than a year, but maybe that’s because Blue’s early months were overanalyzed and nitpicked. I wonder what kind of birthday party Bey and Jay will throw for their daughter?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

In the history of endorsement deals, this is one of the biggest. Beyonce and Pepsi have just inked a deal that will see Pepsi paying Beyonce $50 million for the honor of being associated with her. The New York Times has an epic story about the endorsement deal, but don’t come out of it thinking that this is just a straight-up endorsement thing – Pepsi and Beyonce are going to be synonymous by the end of 2013, I think.

FOR its campaign with Beyoncé next year, Pepsi doesn’t just want to sign up the telegenic pop star for another TV commercial. It also wants to get into the Beyoncé business. In an expansion of the recent marketing experiments that have brought PepsiCo ever closer to the music industry, the company has embarked on a hybrid project with Beyoncé that will include standard advertising like commercials as well as a multimillion-dollar fund to support the singer’s chosen creative projects.

“Pepsi embraces creativity and understands that artists evolve,” Beyoncé said in a statement. “As a businesswoman, this allows me to work with a lifestyle brand with no compromise and without sacrificing my creativity.”

The campaign will coincide with a blitz of promotion for her next album, which has no title or release date so far but is expected in 2013. Sometime after she performs at the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 3 (also sponsored by Pepsi), Beyoncé will appear in a new TV ad — her fifth for the soft drink since 2002 — and her face will be on a limited-edition line of soda cans.

The less conventional aspects of the deal are meant as collaborative projects that indulge Beyoncé’s creative whims, and might well have no explicit connection to Pepsi products. They are still at the brainstorm stage, but could include live events, videos, “a cool photo shoot” or almost anything else, said Lee Anne Callahan-Longo, the general manager of Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé’s company.

[From The New York Times]

The NYT piece goes on to talk about synergy and vertical integration, only those words have been replaced by other terms like a “transactional deal to a mutually beneficial collaboration” and “massive disruptions in music industry… as an opportunity for Pepsi.” I mean… sure. I’m no longer concerned about what artists are “selling out” and what artists are “keeping it real.” The only time I think about that is when artists try to push an image of themselves as super-authentic and non-corporate when in reality they are the biggest shill and sell-out ever. Beyonce is walking a fine line, but this doesn’t annoy me as much as I’m sure it will annoy others. Bey has always done endorsements, and it’s fine. It doesn’t affect her “creativity”. It only affects her fat bank accounts.

Some pics of Bey at Art Basel:

Photos courtesy of Beyonce’s Tumblr, additional images courtesy of Pepsi.

For the American Thanksgiving holiday, Beyonce deigned to release some new photos on her Tumblr. If that came across as bitchy or Goop-y… well, I guess I meant it slightly, although I don’t think Beyonce is as passive-aggressively patronizing as Gwyneth Paltrow. I actually enjoy it when Bey releases new photos on her awesome Tumblr.

I’m including all of the “top” photos from Bey’s Tumblr, but the newest of the new pics are the two featuring Blue Ivy, although you can’t really see Blue’s face clearly in either of them. I’m not quite sure why that’s such a thing with Beyonce and Jay-Z. I mean, I guess they’re trying to say to the world: “We know you want to see baby photos, but we’re being so super-careful about showing her face because PRIVACY!” It seems like a weird place to draw the line, though – I mean, Beyonce shilled every part of her pregnancy (side-eye) and we have actually seen Blue’s face a few times, and since Beyonce is already posting photos on her Tumblr…? Still, I guess I understand.

I really don’t think this is a “Beyonce doesn’t want to show the baby’s face because Blue looks like Jay” situation – from what I’ve seen of Blue, she’s a very pretty, normal-looking baby. Meaning the Carter genes aren’t overwhelming or anything, so I don’t get why everyone is so mean about “the baby looks like Jay-Z, that’s why we don’t see Blue’s face!” Stop making fun of babies!!!!!!

Photos courtesy of Beyonce’s Tumblr.

These are some new photos of Beyonce and Jay-Z having a “date night” on Saturday in New York. According to Fame/Flynet, they had a “romantic, sunset dinner in Battery Park.” As you can see, it doesn’t seem like Bey and Jay really dressed up for their dinner date whatsoever. I’m sorry, but Jay’s “date night” turquoise hoodie looks really, really cheap. And Beyonce just looks dated in those high-tops and unflattering leather pants. You know my first thought when I saw Beyonce’s leather pants? “Huh, I wonder if she borrowed them from Kim Kardashian.” Still, maybe THIS is when you know that you’ve married your true love – when a romantic date night involves your husband wearing a turquoise sweat-hoodie and you don’t care about how out of date you look. And seriously, I wish Bey would stop trying to make those glasses happen. They do not suit her at all, and she’s been wearing them for most of the year. Somebody needs to take them away from her and break them.

In other Bey and Jay news, during a recent radio interview with Cleveland’s z107.9, Pres. Obama was asked about his friendship with the Bey and Jay. By the way – because I know some of you will be like “I hate Obama because he gave a radio interview about Beyonce, NOBAMA,” let me just point out that the interview was wide-ranging, it was about politics and the economy and all of the presidential stuff, and Obama took a few pop culture questions as well. Anyway, Obama said he gave Jay parenting advice like, “I made sure that Jay-Z was helping Beyonce out [with the baby]. And not leaving it all with mom and the mother-in-law.” Obama also said that he has “gotten to know these guys over the first several years. They’re good people. They’re down to earth. Beyonce could not be sweeter to Michelle and the girls. So they’re good friends. They really are down-to-earth folks. We talk about the same things I talk about with all my friends.” Huh. Pres. Obama thinks Beyonce and Jay are “down to earth”? That makes me question EVERYTHING.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.