During his appearance in a Twitter Space hosted by Alicia Keys – which the singer launched to promote her recent eighth album, ‘KEYS’ – Jay-Z made a comparison between his wife, Beyoncé, and the late Michael Jackson.
“Bey’s gonna be mad at [me] for saying this but Michael Jackson never had a Coachella,” he said in the Space, calling Beyoncé “an evolution” of the ‘Thriller’ icon – whose posthumous reputation has been muddied due to resurfaced allegations of sexual abuse – “because she watched him at nine”.
“The kids are the same,” Jay continued. “Find me a concert that’s as culturally relevant and thrilling as Coachella. Beyoncé is gonna be one of the best singers we ever heard because she is such a student.”
Naturally, fans on both sides of the argument erupted into debate. Take a look at some of the responses below:
Beyoncé was pregnant & singin upside down at FWT, pregnant & throwin up when she did glastonbury, sick when she sang her face off at oprah’s show. Michael jackson sprained his ankle & did an entire perfomance sittin down & lipsyncin for his life. the bar is SO low for men.TUH
— 𝕬𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖓𝖆 (fan account) (@Athenadrip) December 22, 2021
Jay Z is comparing Beyonce to Michael Jackson when it comes to Coachella, but Michael left before various ave of digital streaming were created. He was pulling Coachella’s reaction at any given concert without social media and entertainment platforms.
— Pamela Isley (@MoodiesPoint) December 22, 2021
Beyonce is one of the greatest entertainers the industry has ever seen and will ever see.
Nobody is operating at the same level as her creatively, as a vocalist, as a visual artist and as a live performer. Not her peers, not her predecessors and not anyone working right now. pic.twitter.com/Fn9aU9rqNG
— Sisa (@TheTitanBaddie) December 22, 2021
I Love Beyoncé but don’t take it too far saying she’s better than Michael Jackson
— Ty (@tysorosey) December 22, 2021
It’s not the first time Beyoncé has been compared to Jackson. In 2015, for example, Charlamagne Tha God said: “I think she’s the greatest entertainer that our generation has seen. I mean, the previous generation had Michael Jackson. But for our generation I think it’s Beyonce. And I even put—You can’t compare anybody to anybody. Michael Jackson is a god. He’s legendary. He’s on a totally different level.
“But Beyoncé, if she’s not already, she absolutely will be on that same level. She will be looked upon in the same regards, if not more, as Michael Jackson was. That’s just the truth to the matter. People hate when I say that, but you’ll see in the future. It’s gonna happen.”
Elsewhere in the Space chat, Jay said there was “not a chance in hell” that someone could take him on in a VERZUZ battle. The comments came after Rick Ross recently said that it was “a possibility” for the pair to enter a battle.
In other Beyoncé news, yesterday (December 22) saw the singer and her children share a theme song written for her mother’s new webseries, Talks With Mama Tina. Tina Knowles’ new show premieres its first episode on Facebook Watch today (December 23), and will see her interviewing stars from Zendaya to Kevin Hart, as well as Beyoncé’s former Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland.
Beyoncé was also nominated for Original Song at the 94th annual Academy Awards, set to be held in March of next year, for her King Richard track ‘Be Alive’.
She confirmed she was working on new music over the summer. “I’ve been in the studio for a year and a half,” she explained. “Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies.
“Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio. After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old. Yes, the music is coming!”