“I fell in love, I left my job, I will find a new motivation”. For some Americans, it didn’t take more than this mantra proclaimed loud and clear by Queen B to quit their job right away.
The highly anticipated first title of his latest album unveiled on June 29 (the Renaissance album will be released on July 29) has become a real hymn to resignation in the United States. So much so that Beyoncé’s words have turned into memes on Twitter and Instagram and the title appears in the background of a whole series of TikTok accompanied by the hashtag #QuitMyJob.
Is she telling us to quit our jobs?? Because I will, Beyoncé, I will! pic.twitter.com/K6lbMWCBoJ
— Bran. (@HeyyBran) June 21, 2022
Beyoncé ‘quit your job’
Me in HR this morning: pic.twitter.com/Bed3aZjB6u
— KWAJO-Social Housing (@KwajoHousing) June 21, 2022
Kim K: Get your fucking ass up and work!
Beyoncé: Quit your job. pic.twitter.com/MkGkVPNuXg
— Jada Twinkett Smith✨ (@___bodacious) June 21, 2022
“It’s me !”
Would Honey B be able to cause a wave of resignations thanks to a tube? Yes and no. He was a real trigger for some Americans tired of their working conditions. “Damn, they make me work so hard. Work at 9. Then leave after 5. quite a lot of people.
Witness the various stories collected by Buzzfeed, which relates how a Starbucks employee decided to leave everything after hearing “Break My Soul” play on the radio. An office worker at a printing and packaging company also dumped everything to pursue his passion, after thinking “that’s me!” listening to the lyrics.
The “Great Resignation”
In reality, its title is part of a much larger phenomenon dubbed the “Great Resignation” (“The Great Resignation” in English), and which directly follows the Covid crisis. In 2021, several million employees left their jobs following successive confinements which led many Americans to question their priorities in life (hobbies, family, friends, health, etc.).
According to Le Monde, they would be in total nearly 48 million to have slammed the door of their company in 2021 in the United States. A reality that had even given rise to a viral phenomenon on TikTok: live resignation videos. The most famous is undoubtedly that of the young employee of Walmart, Shana Blackwell, who had immortalized herself announcing at the microphone of the store that she was leaving. A sequence that quickly became viral on the networks.
@shanablackwell And here is the video of me quitting my toxic, sexist, racist workplace. #walmartchallenge #fyp #viral #walmart #walmarthaul #walmartfindspart1 ♬ original sound – Shana
Be your own boss
It’s not easy for everyone to quit their job on a whim. The comments about the fortune of Beyoncé have also been quick to rain. According to the annual ranking of Forbes, the singer would indeed have a fortune estimated at nearly 400 million euros. The more pragmatic will have understood that through her song, Beyoncé is not trying to push us towards unemployment – the star is undeniably a capitalist – but to take matters into her own hands, by becoming her own boss for example. More generally, it encourages us to seek freedom in our life in general (relationships, self-confidence, traumas, etc.), to free ourselves from the weights that weigh us down.
“I quit my job” is therefore above all a thinly veiled threat to abusive bosses, overloaded schedules for a salary that is not really up to par, disrespectful working conditions and lack of outlets… All of this coupled with what some experts call the “Beyoncé effect”, it gives a small revolution in mentalities, very slow, but which calls for employees to take power. It would be time.
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