The Real Reason Your Auntie Thinks Beyoncé is a "Horror"
Candice Talks About Everything | Episode 2
I really can’t believe the podcast is out and that we’re already moving into Episode Two. Thank you to everyone who listened or watched on Youtube last week.
This week’s episode started small, which is usually how the best spirals begin. I noticed something that certain women in my life, women who I love deeply, don’t just dislike Beyoncé. They harbor a palpable, visceral hate. It’s the kind of strong judgment that makes them pull out the nastiest names for her (you’ll hear a few in the episode). It’s condemnation, not criticism.
I started researching the phenomenon, first on social media, then in books, academic texts, and old interviews. What began as curiosity turned into a whole thing that led to this episode where I share my theory on why our aunties hate Beyoncé.
Inside the Episode: Marketing, Memory, and the Crooked Room
I use my marketing brain to break down why Beyoncé is the ultimate case study on controlling her narrative. She’s her own CMO, agency, and focus group. And why we, the audience, distrust her polish over perceived “raw mess” because of the effort heuristic.
We look at the theological nerve of “Church Girl“: how blending the Clark Sisters with “drop it like a thotty” isn’t rebellion, but a bold, generational claim to liberation that shocks the women who internalized that modesty equals worth.
We wrap with the real weight of this argument: nonfinite grief. The hidden ache that comes from refusing to contort for the “crooked room,” and what happens when someone finally shows up full and free.
🧠 Featured Voices & Concepts
Tia DeNora
Music in Everyday Life
Explores how audiences read authenticity through emotion, imperfection, and what feels unscripted.
Melissa Harris-Perry
Sister Citizen
Introduces the idea of the crooked room, a metaphor for how Black women adjust themselves to fit distorted expectations of strength and respectability.
bell hooks
Talking Back and Ain’t I a Woman
Writes about silence as survival and the generational cost of being unheard.
Candice Marie Benbow
Red Lip Theology
Interprets “Church Girl” as a hymn for women who hold both faith and freedom, proof that joy and holiness can coexist.
Effort Heuristic
A psychology concept that explains why we value what feels hard-won and distrust what looks too perfect. We believe the mess more than the polish.
Crown and Cloak Theory
Candice’s framing of two kinds of power. The crown represents visibility and command. The cloak represents service and restraint. Neither is better. They just move differently through the same world.
The Question I Left With
“When you’ve worn the cloak your whole life, watching someone wear the crown boldly, unapologetically, and without flinching stirs something up.
Listen and tell me what you think.
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Candice Talks About Everything is available now wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow me: @itscandicebee