Why So Blue, Beyonce? Why Do We Care About Celebrity Pregnancies?
In case you missed it, Beyonce had her baby. Unless you have been hiding in seclusion with no access to any form of media or public contact, this is not news.
JayZ and Beyonce's little princess is named Blue Ivy Carter. The current theory is that Blue is after JayZ's album Blueprint and Ivy is a riff on the Roman numerals for four (IV), the name of Beyonce's current album and the couple's favourite number. Personally, I hate the use of everyday words as first names. Poor little Blue will have to live with the 'why so Blue?' jokes for the rest of her life. But I guess she can retaliate with, "an apple a day" joke to you-know-who.
Also, I think it is extremely egotistical to name a child after a current album, as if producing a child is on the same level as producing a record. And since I'm writing about their current albums, I guess it works. (Not to mention the obsession with a lucky number, I wonder if celebrities are more superstitious than us regular folk because they have been so lucky.)
I know that many of you are going to disagree with me because for some reason we all care. We cared that Beyonce was pregnant. Her showstopping announcement at the VMAs set a Guinness record for the most tweets sent per second. The news created a bump in traffic that saw 8,868 Tweets being sent per second.
So we care; not just about Beyonce, but also about Jennifer Garner, Jessica Simpson and Sienna Miller. We can't get enough about celebrities pregnancies; so much so that rumours are circulating that stars are getting pregnant just to get in the news.
Why do we care? Why do I want to know if Beyonce had a C-section or had the baby naturally? Why am I secretly hoping for a C-section so I can make a "too posh to push" comment? Do I seek out information so I can get all judgy?
Or does it normalize a star when she gets a big belly? Does it make someone more human when we know that at some point she endured pain and discomfort? Sleepless nights and crying babies? Do we think we could be her friend because she has felt the emotional pain and joy of holding a newborn? And what's with the obsessive monitoring of celebrites "getting their body back"?
Or is our obsession with celebrity baby bumps part of the commodification of parenting in general?
Little Blue already has a song written about her by her proud Papa, Glory featuring B.I.C, in which he sings: "Baby paint the sky blue: My greatest creation was you." Normally, I would be all cynical about the rush to the microphone but I'm still a little teary after listening to the lyrics. (Check out these other songs written in "postpartum euphoria").
Do you follow celebrity pregnancies? Are you a member of "bump watch"?
Want more chaos? Last year, I wrote about how the vaccination link to autism was wrong and based on bad, bad science. Coincidentally, I got my flu shot today.
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