My central argument

The central argument of my analysis is that our society is so involved and interested in all forms of media, that in order to be a successful artist, singing is not enough. A successful artist in this culture, is rather a popstar that is prevalent in several parts of the entertainment world. For example one of the greatest superstars, Beyonce is a singer, songwriter, actress,  entrepreneur, and fashion designer. To be famous now, means that people must take an interest in you, and the more you appear in the media for various reasons whether it is a commercial or a new album, the more people will know your name and the more recognizable you will be as a star.
This is the most argument of my paper because the question I wanted to answer was: Why is Beyonce, and almost every famous singer, like Miley Cyrus, involved in so many forms of the entertainment industry. I will prove that an artists must present themselves like this by using examples through my paper such as Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lopez, and Justin Timberlake. Moreover, I will contrast it to other artists such as Vanessa Carlton or Carly Rae Jeapson who only focus on their music and did not branch out- by default they are not as successful or well known by all ages and people as the previous artists.

Methods of Argument

I think it will be most effective to present my evidence in the classical arrangement where I begin with an introduction, background information, my proposition, proof, a refute, and then a conclusion. My driving question is "Why does a musician this day in age have to get involved in various form of artistry to become well known and successful? What factors in our society cause this?". I am using my artist, Beyonce, as an example because not only is she a respected artist, but she also appears in movies, campaigns, TV shows, commercials, etc. Her publicity exists way beyond the barriers of the music scene.

Thus, I think the classical arrangement will be most useful to present my evidence because I can spend a while explaining the background of the concept, and how many famous artists now a days use this approach to gain fame, such as Beyonce of Miley Cyrus. I can then compare it to artists in the past such as Madonna or Cher, who stuck strictly to music. Also, I think it is better to start off with a presentation of an argument and then mention a refute, as compared to the rogerian argument, where the refute comes first. Also, considering this idea is considerably well known and evident among most of our society and culture, I do not think I will find much refute, therefore I think it should be mentioned last.

My chosen topic!

After much deliberation, I have chosen to pursue the topic: In this day in age, in order to be a popular, well-known artist, one must branch out into multiple realms of the media; you must not just be an artist, you must be a celebrity. I will use my artist Beyonce, as an example of this growing phenomenon because she is not only involved in producing music, but she is in movies, has her own perfume line, and appears in multiple campaigns, like Covergirl and Coke-a-Cola. She is ubiquitous.

3 questions I would like to address:
1. Why is there such a need for artists to get involved in so much aspects of fame and publicity to be successful.
2. Does this take away from the artist's music?
3. Compare Beyonce to other artists who have done the same, such as Taylor Swift or JLO, and contrast her to artists who have not done what she has done, such as Pink or Avril Lavigne.

I will look at Beyonce's documentary from last year "Life is but a Dream", to show how she gets involved with many forms of publicity, but still remains very personalized and not commercialized.
Also, I will look at personal interviews with Beyonce or with her publicist to help understand the purpose behind involving Beyonce in all these different forms of publicity.

3 topics/ issues for my paper

I have outlines 3 possible topics for this next paper:
1. Beyonce and how she has tackled the issue of race through her works
2. Beyonce and gender: her ongoing theme of female empowerment and how that has shaped the music industry today especially regarding female pop stars
3. Explore how now in oder to be a well known pop star, you have to branch to various forms of media not just music. Use Beyonce as an example, how she has been in movies, a covergirl, her own perfume, and a coke spokesperson

I am leaning more towards topic 3, just because it is something different than what I have written about on my past 3 papers, and I think I can find a lot of interesting evidence and commentary on it. This topic interests me, because I have noticed now with almost every singer, they have branched out into other forms of media and I think it will be a really interesting topic to explore.


http://visionaryartistrymag.com/2011/11/beyonce-multi-faceted-diva/
This source talk about all the different ways Beyonce has appeared on media. She has her own clothing line, she is a grammy award singer, she was in several movies. Beyoncé is a World Wide Woman with her hands in more than just music. We all know her name and at the rate she’s going, we always will. It shows in order to be a successful artist, you must be involved with more than just music. 

Topics I would like to pursue

Beyonce is much more than your typical female pop star today. Although, she is greatly involved in pop culture and pop music, her role in the music industry is much greater than that of let's say Selena Gomez. Thus, I would love to focus on really more personal issues of Beyonce. I think I have covered a lot of musical topics in my last 3 papers, but I love love to focus on her music's social impact on our country and on the music industry as a whole. I think she has done a great deal in paving a pathway for woman to feel more confident in themselves, and to accept diversity and imperfections. Beyonce is not the typical "stick" you see in music videos like Miley Cyrus. She is a proud, full figured woman who is not afraid to show her uniqueness or her ethnicity for that matter. People are obsessed with Knowles. She is a wife, a mom, and a superstar- she does it all. I would love to explore her social impact on this music industry since she has become such a megastar.