Episode 44: Beyoncé Part I with Shaan Sachdev

Welcome to Part 1 of our Beyoncé special, with my friend and the Beyoncé evangelist Shaan Sachdev! This week, we take it all the way back to Wayne Koestenbaum’s 1993 book The Queen’s Throat, the seminal text on the Diva, fandom, and Vicariousness. We discuss the border between true Divadom and generalized cuntiness, and use Shaan’s recent piece in the Wall Street Journal to discuss Beyoncé’s supreme athleticism and what it means, then, to watch her age. Shaan Sachdev is a cultural critic and essayist based in New York. He writes about ontology, city life, and his two favorite Divas: Hannah Arendt and Beyoncé. He co-hosts Diva Discourse, a Beyoncé-centered podcast. Discussed: Tinx’s podcast episode on weightlifting Alix Earle for Sports Illustrated Swim Kim Kardashian and Chloe Sevigny for Variety The Queen’s Throat: Homosexuality, Opera, and the Mystery of Desire, Wayne Koestenbaum (1993) “Beyoncé the Athlete Is Adjusting to Midlife” Shaan in WSJ “The Key to Beyoncé’s Lasting Success” Shaan in Slate “Beyoncé Is Finally Embracing Her Role as Fairy Godmother to the Gays” Shaan in The Daily Beast“Taylor Swift’s Invisible Merchandise” Shaan in Salon

Om Podcasten

STARGIRL is a mythology I created to make sense of things. It’s a show about girls who stand out, but it’s also a way to understand the world through patterns, both externally (by examining the type of women who reign over public life), and internally (by exploring how we deploy our own forces of projection). It’s a call to get into your body and follow your intuition—to explore your admiration and judgment of the Stargirls, and let that be a guiding light. Subscribe to the STARGIRL Patreon to unlock exclusive content: https://patreon.com/STARGIRLpod By @emmaglennbaker