Exploring the sexual Nine/Beyonce & Janet Jackson

I thought it might be interesting to discuss two singers that have similar energy. I see both Janet Jackson and Beyoncé as sexual 9w8. 

Thomas Condon says this of the 9 with an 8 wing:

"...have a modest, steady, receptive core. They are charged by the dynamism of 8-when focused on goals they often have great force of will. Get things done, make good leaders. May have an animal magnetism of which they are only partly aware. Can seem highly centered, take what they do seriously but remain unimpressed with themselves...Relatively fearless and highly intuitive. Generally not intellectual unless they have it in their background"-Enneagram Movie and Video Guide (1999), Thomas Condon

With that in mind I want to explore these two artists:

Beyoncé

Beyoncé is sort of the embodiment of the visceral, firey energy of 8 mingling with the subdued and complacency at 9. The sexual subtype gives her a certain "sass" that allows the sexual energy to bubble up during performance. She has that sort of shy, innocent countenance off stage that explodes into a consummate, highly sexualized performer while on stage. She has been given the title of "diva" and even calls herself a "diva" but I just don't buy that she fully believes that label herself. There's something removed about her, a sort of disembodied ego that she's able to access while performing but seems relatively unphased when she's not. There is an odd mixture of seeming centered and grounded while simultaneously seeming dreamy and light (9 mingling with 8 again).

Her music is begs the question as to whether she is even singing about her own experiences. She has many songs that relate to heartbreak and love relationships but when interviewed reveals that much of her music is not about her personal experience. In fact, much like other 9 artist, she is very protective of her personal life and highly private. Some might be incited to place her in the heart triad (due to her glossy, Pop-Soul Diva image, but image management is a mainstay of the industry). Her lack of personalized association with her music puts her more in the gut triad, and more specifically in the sleepy, ego detached space of 9. She wrote an entire album from the point of view of a character she merged with for the film Dreamgirls. 

I get the sense that she might conceptualize a lot of her success as a dream, however I do think she enjoys her career and the success she's derived and might be able to occasionally inhabit the princess space that one typically sees with 2s. However I think that the 9 will take on the princess/prince persona as a sort of replacement for actual embodiment. I think her mother is a 2w3 and very much wanted her daughter to be successful, a sort of vicarious development of talent that I see alot with image type parents (2,3,4) therefore Beyoncé has a bit of that "pageant child" orientation that will often produce a pretty strong superego voice (likely her mother's) telling her to succeed. She's positively identified with both parents and allows them to manage most aspects of her career (her father was the manager of both Destiny's Child and manages her solo career). I think to some extent she might be living the unexpressed dream of her parents (which isn't uncommon for 3s and 9s). Whatever the case Beyoncé has a pretty developed connection to healthy 3.

She seems to have slightly slow processing (double gut energy), and when someone asks her a question you can see it takes her a moment to come back to earth so she can answer. I think she maintains an energetic tether to the earth but probably inhabits a pretty vivid dream world. The slow tempo, breathy, raspy voice is very much indicative of the sexual subtype mixing with the 9 space, and the naive, sometimes childlike, wide-eyed wonderment usually says 9 or 7 to me.

In the following clip she mentions having to learn "to have boundaries" and then corrects herself and says she meant to say she needed to learn  "to have balance." I found this particularly telling as it speaks to the feeling Beyoncé gives me of being very willing to merge. I think she embraces the merging process and you can occasionally see this come up in some of her lyrics; "dangerously in love," and  "Halo" as examples, and probably is aware of a need for boundaries.

She speaks about her stage persona, "Sascha Fierce" and have noticed that a many 9 performers will split themselves in order to inhabit the assertiveness that is needed to be a public figure. Janet Jackson did the same with "Damita Jo", or "Miss Jackson".  At about 7:21 in the video above she speaks to her shyness and vulnerability and the necessity stage persona is necessary in order to work.

The ferocity of her suppressed aggression comes out in various songs and music videos like Ring the Alarm;

"Ring the alarm
I been through this too long
But I'll be damned if I see another chick on your arm
Won't you ring the alarm?
I been through this too long
But I'll be damned if I see another chick on your arm"

or the larger the life expression of her 8 wing and sexual subtype coming to a head in songs like "Diva"

"..When he pull up, wanna pop my hood up,
Bet he better have a six-pack in the cooler
Gettin money, divas gettin' money,
If you ain't gettin' money, then you ain't got nothin fo' me
Tell me somethin', (tell me somethin'): Where yo boss at? (Where yo' boss at?)
Where my ladies up in here that like to talk back? (that like to talk back)
I wanna see her (I wanna see her), I'd like to meet ya (I'd like to meet her)
What you say? (NOT TO ME!), she ain't no diva (she ain't no diva!)..."

Conversely we see the softer side, which she claims is more her (not realizing they are both expressions of her) in videos/songs like "Halo"

The dichotomy is obvious.

One can see the thread of aggression that shows itself periodically in the music of the 9 as it seems to be a safe place to express the anger that they try to keep hidden from themselves and others. She explored her 8 wing further in her portrayal of Etta James in the film Cadillac Records. Beyoncé told Tyra Banks that she had to "search hard" to inhabit a place of anger all the time and that it "was scary". On the same broadcast she alluded to being a positive person (9 joins 7 and 2 in the positive outlook triad) and that accessing that kind of deep anger was a challenge.

Beyoncé attempts to vocalize the sort of existential loneliness that can often come up for the 9 and desire for a rapturous union that one finds with all  sexual subtypes in her song "Scared of Lonely":

"I need your strength when nobody is around
'Cause I'm tired of this emptiness, I think I'm drowning
I can't be lonely no more
Cause I'm lost in this dream, I need you to hold me

I'm scared of lonely
And I'm scared of being the only shadow I see along the wall
And I'm scared the only heartbeat I hear beating is my own
And I'm scared of being alone
I can't seem to breathe when I am lost in this dream, I need you to hold me
I'm scared of lonely
I'm scared of lonely....."

All in all I think Beyoncé nicely personifies the sexual 9w8 who has galvanized into action, finding her strength through the support and guidance of ambitious, supportive parents. Despite her success I think she remains fairly humble and seems to have found safe harbor in her husband Jay Z (whom I see as a self preservation 2w3...yeah...we'll get to that some other time). I see Beyoncé has having both 3 and 7 in the tritype which personifies her ability to steam roll toward success (with the support of the two assertive types and the 8 wing).

Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson has many of the same qualities of Beyoncé but the seem to be undercut by a relatively strange childhood that casts a slightly darker shadow across Jackson's enneagram style (as opposed to the more overtly positive Beyoncé). While I do believe that Jackson is positive above all else, she seems to personify the sexual 9s similarity to 4. Her lyrics have a sort of melancholy about them that can accompany the sexual 9 (which frequently leads to mistyping). However, underneath the sadness of Jackson's lyrics one gets the sense that ultimately she can endure it. In fact, in her darkest album "The Velvet Rope" many of the songs express sadness about the world at large (prejudice, abuse, etc.) and not her own personal experiences (although due to her privacy one can not be sure). All in all Janet writes fairly personal music but maintains a distance from her art that makes her seemingly less affected by her own personal demons.

Jackson also presents a bit shier and more delicate and childlike than Beyoncé. Perhaps a bit more cloaking of the self due to growing up in a high profile family and being the youngest (not an uncommon birth order for 9s). I believe she might have phobic 6 and 4 in the tritype which exacerbates her withdrawn nature. The quiet, coquettish, little girl vibe, very much sexual 9, 6w7, 2, 7, or sometimes 4.

She seems even more dreamy and floaty than Beyoncé and I think this is due to the characteristic shyness that most members of her family have. She talks about how she rarely gets nervous or stressed out and appears to maintain a relatively even keel. When there is emotional expression it's typically sadness or anger which primarily is expressed through her music. She is humble and I get the sense that she has difficulty watching herself interview or perform (as it reminds her of the giant presence she has in the eyes of others).

As with many 9s when she is interviewed one gets the sense of being sleepy. Sometimes their relaxed manner has a lulling effect that can by quite hypnotizing to the viewer. I found this French interview with her has a languid quality. She doesn't really ever seem to embody herself unless she's performing (much like Beyoncé).

Janet Jackson, l'interview
by madmoiZelle

Janet pretty clearly outlined her personality early in her career as she recognized the need to separate herself and outline her own path in life. Songs like "Control", and "What have you done for me lately" show a young 9 trying to find her footing amongst the pressure from her controlling 8 father attempting to direct her career.

"This is a story about control, my control
Control of what I say, control of what I do
And this time I'm gonna do it my way
I hope you enjoy this as much as I do
Are we ready?
I am
Cause it's all about control
and I've got lots of it

When I was 17, I did what people told me
Did what my father said, and let my mother mold me
But that was long ago."

Janet Jackson also understands the state of loneliness that plagues many people, however the song "Lonely" shows Jackson's willingness to be a friend and listen to those who need her. I get the sense that many of Jackson's songs (which have this theme of being a gentle listener) are a sort of plea to the lonely, withdrawn, broken people that might be listening to her music, the sort of plea she might have made to her own brother, Michael to ensure them/him know she's always there to listen:

"So don't isolate yourself
Every time that I come around
A person all alone
Is an unhappy one
We need somebody near to love us
Someone who cares
Living life all by yourselves
Impossible to do and I'll be there for you
Anytime you feel the need
Call me when you're lonely
Cause everybody needs a friend
And I'll be yours if you're lonely
(And if you're all alone)
If you're all alone
And a friend you need
Like a river flows
You hurt, I'll bleed
If you can trust in me
We can find a way
Take away the pain
Time heals all things
Even a lonely state of mind
Cause happiness is oh so hard to find
If you're lonely I will be there..."

I'm particularly struck by the line "you're hurt, I bleed" which sums up the ability of the 9 to heavily empathize with others, a sort of boundary free existence. So you get the dichotomy of merging and boundary definition that often personifies the fickleness of the sexual 9. A sort of, "I want to merge with you but I can't lose myself."

Janet explored the darkness of her youth and her own negativity and anger in the album The Velvet Rope. Many of the songs are filled with dark, and sometimes violent imagery. However, I'm particularly struck by the mingling of 9 and the 4 in her tritype with the song "Velvet Rope." The desire to feel "special", the velvet rope metaphor in which everyone can come into her accepting den and feel the warmth of specialness she believes everyone should experience. So here we can see the desire for inclusion of the 9, and the craving for uniqueness of the 4. The album was not only for her but for her misfit fans (likely the LGBT movement that supported her so wholeheartedly). She also explored her own sexuality and sexual confusion. The video to The Velvet Rope shows the melancholic tone of the album.

Despite the melancholy tone there is still a sense of the complacency and gentleness of the 9.

"We have a special need
To feel that we belong
Come with me inside
Inside my velvet rope

We have a special need
To feel that we belong
Come with me inside
Inside my velvet rope

We all wanna feel special...

This special need
That's within us
Brings out the best
Yet worst in us."

 Janet's 8 wing comes out fiercely in songs like "Son of a Gun" in which we get the visceral imagery of the 4 in her tritype mingling with the 8. The song and video are decidedly more assertive although paired with her characteristic whisper. I think the 4 in her tritype makes the expression of her anger more understated compared to that of Beyoncé's.

 

Janet has a pronounced connection to her 1 wing and it seems to come out in the expression of her need for discipline, a concept worthy of her 2008 album entitled Discipline. There's a sexual ferociousness that is kept fairly hidden in interviews but rears itself in her music and performances which are notoriously provocative...anyone remember the Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" which in my opinion might have been a bit of the 9 and 7 (Justin Timberlake) trickster archetypes coming out. She has a mixture of shyness and raw sexuality that translates most explicitly as she dances which for me seems characteristic of this 9w8 performer archetype...(Rhianna is another example of a 9w8 with this dichotomy). However Jackson's dance style is more crisp and technically polished compared to Beyoncé purely soulful movements.

Here's a good example of the coquettish 9 mingling with the rawness of the sexual instinct and 8:

Janet Jackson SO EXCITED video
by hitme1tyme

 

Because Jackson's career spans such a long period of time it would take forever to cite all the examples of her 9ness. However, I trust I've somewhat made my point. I found it difficult to find interviews in which she talks about her personal life because she is so intensely private, so much of my analysis is based on her career, music, and of course, how she feels to me.

The word of the day on this post is: mingling

Final Weigh In:

Beyoncé 9w8 sx/so (9w8-3w2-7w6 tritype).

Janet Jackson 9w8 sx/sp (9w8-4w3-6w5 tritype)-Now that I think about it I think she might have pretty balanced wings but the 8 seems to be a little more prevalent.