I loved The Writings On the Wall. Who didn't? It was a great album! It's how I first became aware of Beyoncé Knowles. And, from best I can tell, she's had a pretty good career AND managed to be an upstanding example for women. She's had a lot of good songs about being a strong woman, and even though they aren't my personal flavor, it's good stuff to get out there to counter a lot of the turds that float in our musical ocean.

But then something like this happens.

And I am greatly, greatly saddened by the massive misstep such a smart, savvy artist can make. There is nothing wrong with fluffy love songs- not every piece of music needs to be high art, and songs that aren't high art can still be very enjoyable to listen to. The problem is using audio from the Challenger tragedy. The deaths of six astronauts and a teacher is not something I would feel inspires desire in the minds of listeners. It was almost unbearable to listen to the open of Zero Dark Thirty for me- and I didn't even lose a loved one. But that movie was directly about events that happened as a result of 9/11. "XO" isn't about space, or teachers, or anything that even remotely relates to Challenger.

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If you want to know about the loss of the Challenger mission, NASA has a lot of documentation on it here. It isn't the most recent loss of a space mission in our history, sadly, but the information has been used to improve future missions.

When you view it, though, please don't try to excerpt it to write some fluffy love song. And, Beyoncé? I hope this is just a small misstep in your otherwise pretty awesome career.

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