Q Is For Queens

Urban Dictionary defines a Queen as a beautiful girl who doesn’t take disrespect from nobody! She’s smart and does what she wants when she wants. She doesn’t let nobody bully her and kicks ass!

For today’s post I am highlighting 13 Queens, both local and international, who inspire me with their take-no-prisoners approach to everything they do.

Adele.

Chasing Pavements is the first song of Adele’s I heard but I cannot remember if I heard it on 90210 or on Rick Dees. What I remember is being captivated by her voice and wondering who dis?!? The song is from her debut album 19 which did pretty well, but her second album 21 absolutely exploded. She won Album of the Year for 21 as well as Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Rolling in the Deep at the 2012 Grammy Awards. Adele took home six Grammys for 21, subsequently joining an elite group of only seven women who have won five Grammys or more in one night.

Adele then went and outdid her damn self with her next album 25. Buoyed by the lead single Hello, the album shitted on a record previously held by the 2000 *NSYNC album No Strings Attached by selling over 3.38 million copies in its first week. The music video for Hello beat Psy’s Gangnam Style record for shortest time to reach one billion views on YouTube and the album won five awards at the 2015 Grammys. Three of those awards were Album of the Year for 25 as well as Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Hello, making her the only artist to win those three major awards for back-to-back albums.

Adelle Onyango.

Adelle may be my BFF but if you were to ask me to list all of her accomplishments I would probably get stuck at number 89 as they are just so fucking many! Adelle has been kicking major ass for well over a decade and she is the main reason why I cannot settle for basic. Ati my BFF has shaken hands with the Duchess of Cambridge then me I am just here not making moves of any kind!? Nah fam! Can never be me.

The same way I cannot list all her accomplishments is the same way I cannot list all the various projects Adelle runs simultaneously. I often wonder how I have the same 24 hours as Adelle as she always seems to get 10 million things done in a day. Adelle may be two years younger than me but I want to be her when I grow up.

Ariana Grande.

Lawd I love me some Ariana Grande. I got an ntltc tattoo in my mum’s handwriting because no tears left to cry is the song that helped heal my heart and kick-start this wave of happiness, positivity and exuberance that I am currently riding. I have been a fan of Ari’s music for years now but I really started paying attention to her during the Dangerous Woman era. That album brought out her sexual side and I stan just how unapologetic she was about it. It is very clear that Ari loves sex and is well aware of her sexuality and I am here for it. Last year super troll Piers Morgan tried coming for her and she was having none of it.

In less than 1 ½ years Ari has survived:

1. A terrorist attack at her Manchester Arena concert.
2. The death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller due to an accidental overdose.
3. The very public end of her engagement to Pete Davidson.

She has since been diagnosed with PTSD but despite that she is currently kicking ass every (other) night on her Sweetener World Tour. I super stan a person who continues to thrive despite the many difficult situations life inevitably throws our way. In her own words:

Been through some bad shit, I should be a sad bitch
Who woulda thought it’d turn me to a savage?

Beyoncé.

Need I say more? Like really, need I say more?

First of all, happy motherphucking birthday to Queen Bey.

Second, I will not get into Bey’s many, many, many, many accomplishments and accolades otherwise we will be here all day and all night. But goddamnit Beyoncé has been kicking major ass for well over two decades now and shows no signs of slowing down. From Destiny’s Child to Crazy in Love to her game-changing eponymous album to her epic, history-making Coachella performance, Beyoncé just shits greatness. Which is why I get really, really, really pressed when people say she is overrated.

You do not have to like her or her music, but you cannot deny that Beyoncé is one of the greatest entertainers of this generation. She is a living legend and it is my utmost desire to see her perform live in my lifetime.

Edith Kimani.

From winning The Presenter to anchoring Prime Time News on KTN to Deutsche Welle, Edith personifies onwards and upwards. She is the quintessential definition of beauty and brains and I have had a crush on Ms. Kimani since circa 2013. Just peep how she featured on my Instagram as my #WCW all the way back in 2014.

So when she followed me back on Instagram this year (a whole five years later, lol) I promptly and definitively lost my shit. Ready when you are Edith.

Fena.

Fun fact, I went to high school with Fena.

She was a few years behind me but I am still going to claim those bragging rights because Fena is the shit, the whole shit and nothing but the shit.

As you can see, I have been a Fenatic of this Fenamenal Woman for quite some time and I am loving how she is finally getting the attention she so richly deserves. Fena is the embodiment of what happens when you work hard, stay focused, dedicate yourself to your craft and mind yo goddamn business. I started writing this post around the time Fena was saying she would like to collaborate with my faves Sauti Sol, and all I could think was “Sauti Sol would be so lucky.”

Meghan Markle.

If there is someone I want to be sooo bad it is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Not only is she beautiful, she seems to be a kind, classy, funny, intelligent woman who just wants to do her bit to make the world a better place. On top of all that, Prince freaking Harry is the man she gets to come home to everyday. How fortunate can one person be yawa?!!?

Prior to meeting Prince Harry, Meghan was a global ambassador for World Vision, an advocate for UN Women, a counsellor for One Young World, among other causes. While filming Suits she made sure that any leftover food on set was donated to a soup kitchen she volunteered at in Toronto.

I could go on and on about Meghan (and did in this post) but for today all I will say is even Beyoncé is a Meghan stan.

Gotta love that ‘Melanated Mona’ stamp of approval.

Michelle Obama.

The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.

Malcolm X.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama is beauty, strength, grace, intellect, style, kindness, humour personified. I mean, she went to Princeton AND Harvard!! Jeez! During her tenure as FLOTUS Michelle carried out her duties with enviable aplomb and till this day she continues to be a major inspiration for both women and men of all ethnicities.

Plus she is just so goddamn cool. Case in point her Carpool Karaoke episode with James Corden, which is quite simply TV gold. I won a writing competition in June and one of the prizes was a book voucher; without a doubt her memoir Becoming is what I shall buy with it.

Nicki Minaj.

I may not be the biggest fan of Nicki’s personality but I cannot deny the fact that she has made an indelible mark in the male dominated field of hip-hop. For over 10 years Nicki has steadfastly put out great music which is no mean feat. Plus she always holds her own with her male counterparts, sometimes even shitting on them on their own tracks (Monster, anyone?) and that is some impressive boss bitch shit.

Also:

Rihanna.

Everybody has a crush on Rihanna and I am no exception. I have been a fan from her debut single Pon de Replay but it was during the LOUD era that I fell hard for Rih. I remember watching the Only Girl (In The World) music video not long after it came out and having this ensuing conversation with my mum:

Me: Aki mum I would go full lesbian for Rihanna.

My Mum: 😐

Me: Would you come for our wedding?

My mum: I wouldn’t even come for your funeral.

Me: 😐

After conquering the music industry Rihanna is now making powerhouses in the beauty, lingerie and fashion industries shit their pants and it is beyond inspiring to witness. Rih is also the wealthiest female musician in the world (with a fortune of $600 million according to Forbes) and is quickly on her way to becoming a billionaire. Yes we are all clamouring for new music, but can we just let sis collect her coins in peace and secure the bag.

Sarah Paulson.

If I were an actor, American Horror Story would be my dream job. First of all I love, love, love the show. Everything about it is so over the top – the violence, the gore, the sex, the storylines – and I. AM. HERE. FOR. IT! I am also crazy about how it is an anthology series with almost everyone dying in one season only to come back in the next one playing new characters in new settings.

Sarah nails it each and every year. Kuna venye Ms. Paulson has the same amount of talent in her little finger that I have in my whole mind, body and soul. Lol. For real though. Last season on AHS she played not one, not two, but three characters and she nailed each performance. Almost every year Sarah gets nominated for an Emmy for her work on the show because she is talented beyond words and deserves all of the awards. All of them! She has opted out of Season Eight this year and I am so sad about it. I’mma still watch it though, lol, because AHS is dope AF!

Sia.

Wow. Where to start with this one. I am planning to write a blog post about Sia because I cannot possibly capture what she means to me in a paragraph or two. I had initially planned the post for December 18^th (her birthday) but my content calendar for this year expanded and now that date is no longer free 😐 But I will definitely get to it as her music was such a huge soundtrack to my life in 2014 and 2015 when my mum was being admitted to hospital on a monthly basis.

Taylor Swift.

Last but definitely not least, Taylor Alison Swift. Yes I know that Taylor’s favourite number is 13 and she is the 13^th Queen I am highlighting but that is just a beautiful coincidence as I have listed the Queens alphabetically.

In case it is not obvious by now, me I love Taylor Swift. I have written about Tay three times so far on the blog so I will not repeat myself. If you want to read about why I think she is a Queen you can do so here. If you want to read about why her previous album was such a lifeline after my mum died I even got the title tattooed on me you can do so here. I also did a Taylor Swift Book Tag that you can check out here. Hell I even have a Taylor Swift Lyric Tag that I debuted in Fuckboys Are Not My Aesthetic.

What I will write about today is her new album Lover. True to form, Lover opened at number one on the Billboard album chart with the equivalent of 867,000 sales in the United States in its opening week, the highest for any album released so far this year.

The titular track is the most gorgeous, magical song I have heard in a long time and it must play at my wedding. I am not dating, no one is ardently pursuing me, but if Lover does not play at my wedding I ain’t going.