The Great Resignation: How Beyonc became the anti-work movement queen we didn’t know we needed – New Zealand Herald

Beyonce makes history winning 28 Grammys in 2021, more that any female or male performer. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION:

The Great Resignation has got a new, unexpected icon: Beyonc.

In her latest single, Break My Soul, Queen Bey is sort of, maybe, kind of suggesting that people should quit their jobs, leaning into the Great Resignation movement that has been sweeping the globe.

"And I just quit my job / I'm gonna find new drive / Damn they work me so damn hard / Work by nine / Then off past five / And they work my nerves / That's why I cannot sleep at night," she sings.

The song then includes a vocal sample from Big Freedia's 2014 song "Explode":

"Release ya anger, release ya mind / Release ya job, release the time / Release ya trade, release the stress / Release the love, forget the rest."

(Which is all well and good unless you can get your landlord on board with it - otherwise, forget releasing your anger, at least during business hours).

Time is moving at an uncomfortable speed and we are now centuries away from March this year, when we had Kim Kardashian telling us that the problem is that no one wants to work these days. We've since gone from that to Beyonc telling us not to work so forgive us for feeling a bit of emotional whiplash.

Beyonc's song isn't really, truly, about quitting your job, as much as it is about quitting jobs you are not passionate about in favour of pursuing your passions. With that, it is definitely an anthem to freedom - she's "lookin' for motivation" and a "new foundation", something a lot of workers, burnt out and exhausted from keeping a job while coping with a pandemic, can relate to.

Some people, it appears, have taken the lyrics quite literally. Buzzfeed interviewed one person who, after listening to the song, decided she would not show up for her job the following day - or any of the days after. Instead, this Starbucks barista, taking the song as a flashing neon sign from the universe, has decided to pursue her theatre dreams. Another worker they spoke to says the song was part of the inspiration for him to quit his office job and focus on his passion as an illustrator.

Freelance network Fiverr made use of the single release to call on people to resign their full-time jobs.

"Beyonc wants us to quit our jobs and make a living on our own terms. You heard the woman," they wrote on Twitter.

An economist quoted by CNBC in the US says that the song is proof that the Great Resignation has "seeped into the zeitgeist".

Beyonce's track "is one instance of a broader public awareness or discussion about people quitting their jobs, which is reflective of what's happening in the labour market and society," Nick Bunker, an economist at job site Indeed, told CNBC.

In the US alone, more than 47 million people voluntarily left their jobs last year - and the trend is showing no signs of slowing down.

The Great Resignation "tidal wave" is also said to have reached New Zealand.

New data shows between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022, nationwide staff turnover in New Zealand increased to 58.2 per cent, up 10 per cent from 2020 to 2021.

"Those numbers really do show the 'Great Resignation' as a tidal wave has crashed on the shores of Aotearoa," Jarrod Haar, Professor of Human Resource Management at AUT, told the Herald last month.

"That's a decent snapshot. That's half the workforce churning over."

It looks like, in reality, Beyonc is just singing about what's already happening.

Sure, it's pretty rich to have an actual millionaire suggesting we should just quit our jobs - but it would be silly to dismiss Beyonc's influence on the very generation that is driving the global trend.

That said, a lot of us will have to settle for turning up the volume really loud as we blast the song on our way to work on Monday morning.

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The Great Resignation: How Beyonc became the anti-work movement queen we didn't know we needed - New Zealand Herald