Dionne Warwick says Beyoncé isn't an icon yet

'That’s not, as you guys say, throwing shade. That’s just looking at it with reality.'
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Lauren Keary24 May 2019

According to a recent interview with Dionne Warwick, Beyoncé is not iconic quite yet - despite her history-making Coachella performance, Netflix documentary, and the staunch support of her Beyhive.

If you were born after 1980 and don’t know who Dionne Warwick is, allow us to fill you in.

Warwick is a singer known best for her many mega-hits, including "That’s What Friends Are For," "I Say a Little Prayer" (immortalized in the 1997 rom-com "My Best Friend's Wedding") and “Walk on By.” She’s arguably an icon herself, as she had 56 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 and won five Grammys.

However, the Beyhive will definitely have something to say about her recent interview with ESSENCE.

When asked if today’s artists create timeless music, she said, “I don’t know if 10 years from now, anybody can actually sing the songs of our babies today. That’s not, as you guys say, ‘throwing shade.’ That’s just looking at it with reality.”

Dave Benett

“When you speak of folks who have been in the industry, recording for as long as I have, and my peers…These babies, who are approaching 20 years, maybe, which is amusing to me because I’m certain they wouldn’t even last that long. But since they have, when they get into the 50- and 60-year range, that’s when you can start saying, ‘Well, maybe there is a classic hidden somewhere amongst them.’ But at this very moment, I don’t see it," she said.

Beyonce inevitably came up in the conversation about pop stars. Warwick is a fan but maybe not her biggest supporter.

“I have an admiration for Beyoncé,” Warwick said in the interview. “Watching her grow has been quite refreshing. It’s wonderful to see how she’s been able to create what and who she wanted to be and who she is. Now sustaining and become the icon [like] Gladys Knight, or Patti LaBelle, or Johnny Mathis, or Frank Sinatra, or Sammy Davis Jr.? I doubt that. I really do. I love her to death and can appreciate her talent. But that iconic status that I just mentioned before? Those names? It’s a long road [ahead].”

Getty Images for Coachella

Yikes, Dionne. It looks like you're going to have a bone to pick with Queen Bey’s fan base. The Beyhive is a force to be reckoned with - and they surely gave Beyoncé "icon" status the second she hit the stage with Destiny's Child.

Beyoncé's Coachella performance - in pictures

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