Dionne Warwick is clarifying her comments about why she doesn’t think Beyoncé is an icon…yet. The 78-year-old music legend called out Essence magazine after the Bey-related snippet from her interview after the publication went viral Thursday (May 23).
“It takes a long time to reach and achieve iconic status,” Warwick clarified. “That’s not to say that Beyoncé isn’t well on her way. She is a gifted performer. That was a reach from Essence.”
What I said is in quotes. What @Essence said is not. It takes a long time to reach and achieve iconic status. That’s not to say that Beyoncé isn’t well on her way. She is a gifted performer. That was a reach from Essence. pic.twitter.com/nWlZcrgdqg
— Dionne Warwick (@_DionneWarwick) May 23, 2019
In the interview, Warwick proclaimed that there are no new music icons and that Beyoncé has yet to reach the coveted status.
“I don’t know if 10 years from now, if anybody can sing the songs of our babies [artists] today, and that’s not as you guys say ‘throwing shade.’ That’s looking at it with reality,” said Warwick.
The “Walk on By” singer explained that recording artists with at least 20 years in music have to survive a few more decades before they can be considered iconic, Beyoncé included.
“Watching her grow has been quite refreshing,” Warwick added. “It’s wonderful to see how she’s been able to create what and who she wanted to be and who she is…very proud of that, I really am. Now, sustaining and becoming a big icon that Gladys Knight, or Patti LaBelle, or Johnny Mathis, or Frank Sinatra, or Sammy Davis Jr. is? I doubt that. I really do. And I love her to death and can appreciate her talent. But that iconic status that I just mentioned, those four names? [She has] a long road [ahead].”
Although Warwick is a fan of Queen Bey and other “youngsters” in the industry, she thinks that today’s popular artists have a “long way to go” before their music can be considered classic.”