Connect with us

CELEBRITY

How Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Solange Going to a 2009 Grizzly Bear Concert Ended Up an Iconic Indie-Pop Crossover Moment

Published

on

 

In 2025, artists from the indie and pop worlds collaborate and co-mingle regularly enough that it’s almost hard to remember a time when it was ever really that novel. But earlier this century, indie and pop were still isolated enough that in 2009, when Solange took her sister Beyoncé and Bey’s husband Jay-Z to a concert by the band Grizzly Bear at the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn, NY, it ended up making for a media sensation — especially when Jay started raving about his experience and about the entire “indie rock movement” in TV interviews later that year.

 

On this Great Moments in Pop Star History episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Stereogum writer/editor Chris DeVille to fully unpack this oddly historic moment of the Knowles-Carter clan checking out one of the buzziest indie bands of 2009. We start by discussing Chris’ new book Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion (now available for preorder) and how it tells more than just the story of the genre, but rather the story of the whole audience — including both of us, as millennial indie rock fans who came of age during the period covered, and who saw our own tastes evolving along with the music.

 

 

 

Then, it’s back to 2009 — when Beyoncé was already one of our greatest pop stars but not necessarily one of the hippest, when Jay-Z was looking to distance himself from an increasingly inhospitable hip-hop mainstream, and when Solange was still finding herself as an artist. We look at how this moment ended up being both a telling and a consequential one for all three of those iconic artists, as well as how it ended up marking the cultural peak for Grizzly Bear, and perhaps for late-’00s indie in general. We also ask: Was Bey really making fun of hipsters with her Fauxchella getup? Was there another band we might’ve found more likely to have really blown Jay’s mind about indie rock’s possibilities? And if we were to re-stage a similarly mind-blowing pop-meets-indie moment in 2025, which artists would we go with?

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CELEBRITY2 hours ago

Shocking: Philadelphia Eagles Chairman Jeffrey Lurie has bluntly announced the termination of the team’s sponsorship deal with tech company Astronomer after CEO Andy Byron was caught in a disgraceful act of attempting to engage in an extramarital affair with subordinate employee Kristin Cabot. “We will stand by and protect mothers—no matter what… See more

CELEBRITY3 hours ago

UPDATE: Music Icon Jay-Z puts daughter, Blue Ivy in family way as Beyoncé threatens to divorce husband of 17 years. Beyoncé, who is the mother of Blu Ivy, said “I find it hard to believe that he could do this to our daughter; I have notified the…”See More

CELEBRITY8 hours ago

From the Court to the Afterlife: Serena Williams Dies at 43 – The Shocking News You Need to Know”

CELEBRITY10 hours ago

HEARTBREAKING NEWS: At the last tribute to WWE icon Hulk Hogan, surrounded by white wreaths and the soft shimmer of candlelight, his cherished Chihuahua — Duke — was carried by the family to rest quietly by the casket, his mournful eyes still seeking the resonant, familiar voice that once summoned him…

CELEBRITY14 hours ago

Princess Kate Left Speechless as Pope Leo XIV Refuses to Shake Her Hand in Public — His Whisper Leaves the Royal Family in Awe: “Your Type of Cancer Is….SEE MORE BELOW

CELEBRITY14 hours ago

15 MINUTES AGO! Palace’s announcement of King Charles’s ‘funeral’ plan sends shockwaves; Meghan and Harry granted permission to ‘open the ceremony’: The entire UK falls silent… See More Below

CELEBRITY1 day ago

Breaking News: Taylor Swift is dragged into Blake Lively’s drama with It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni – as cruel trolls unfairly label the pair ‘mean girls’

CELEBRITY2 days ago

“I DON’T ACCEPT IT” – Camilla in PANIC After King Charles Bestows Princess Anne A NEW ROYAL TITLE But SNUBS Her in Unexpected Move! READ MORE

CELEBRITY2 days ago

Taylor Swift just revealed a surprisingly romantic bedroom tour video of her and Travis Kelce — and fans are going crazy. The intimate details, soft lighting, and subtle hints of an engagement may have sent social media into a frenzy, racking up billions of views in just a few hours. But a hidden symbol in the video has sparked wild theories about a place fans are calling the “Sanctuary of Destiny.” What’s really going on behind those

CELEBRITY2 days ago

15 MINUTES AGO! Palace’s announcement of King Charles’s ‘funeral’ plan sends shockwaves; Meghan and Harry granted permission to ‘open the ceremony’: The entire UK falls silent… See More Below

Copyright © 2024 USAenquire