Name 3 Songs

Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus… and now Jesy Nelson. A growing list of pop artists who have used Black culture as an aesthetic for a song or an album cycle. The former on the list eventually discarded those same aesthetics when it no longer served them. (Stay tuned to find out if Jesy follows suit.)  This phenomenon is part of a larger cultural trend of Blackfishing. And...

As‌ ‌we’ve‌ ‌explored‌ ‌throughout‌ ‌the‌ ‌podcast,‌ ‌the‌ ‌music‌ ‌industry‌ ‌loves‌ ‌to‌ ‌put‌ ‌people‌ ‌in‌ ‌a‌ ‌box.‌ ‌For‌ ‌pop‌ ‌stars,‌ ‌the‌ ‌expectations‌ ‌are‌ ‌strict‌ ‌–‌ ‌be‌ ‌a‌ ‌sexy,‌ ‌womanly‌ ‌figure‌ ‌that‌ ‌men‌ ‌will‌ ‌find‌ ‌desirable‌ ‌and‌ ‌keep‌ ‌your‌ ‌opinions‌ ‌to‌ ‌yourself.‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ But‌ ‌Halsey‌ ‌(she/they)‌ ‌can’t‌ ‌be‌ ‌contained‌ ‌by‌ ‌stereotypes‌ ‌or‌ ‌expectatio...

Olivia Rodrigo has been accused by Courtney Love and others of stealing concept ideas for her album artwork and promotional photos. But is it really theft if the concept isn't original? And what's the difference between similar ideas and copying someone's artwork? For more reading, check out: Why Does Everything Look Like a High School Burn Book? ( Harper's Bazaar ) Lauv vs Colouring Blue Paint Ar...

If you grew up as a teen on the internet, odds are you came across fanfiction of your favorite band – whether by accident or on purpose. And if you dove even farther in, you wound up discovering Slash Fiction... Reading/writing fanfiction is a totally normal way to participate in fandom! But of course, anything loved by teen girls is stigmatized.  But why was Slash Fiction so popular within the em...

Harry Styles is not the first straight man assumed to be queer. Years before Harry Styles was praised for carrying a rainbow flag around on stage and ignoring questions about his sexuality, Pete Wentz dominated the covers of gay magazines while proclaiming to be straight.  So is Harry Styles really a queer icon? Was Pete Wentz ever one?  In this episode, we’re examining assumed queerness and its c...

Why do labels sign artists but not allow them to release an album for years? Why do labels control an artists’ image or ghost them when they’re ready to drop music?  These are just some of the stories artists like Megan thee Stallion, Raye, JoJo and Sky Ferreira have been through. So how did we get here in the first place?  We’re digging into how record labels work, why they have so much power, an...

What’s all this talk about fans “gaming” the Billboard Charts? In recent months, music critics have argued that BTS’ “Butter” is not the biggest song in America, despite sitting at No 1 on the Hot 100 for 9 weeks, pointing fingers at BTS’ ARMY fanbase for manipulating their position by buying and streaming the song.  If it sounds hypocritical, it is. Since the creation of the Billboard Charts in 1...

Can women ever truly own their sexuality? How do we empower ourselves in the face of objectification? What does empowerment even look like? For our one-year anniversary episode, we are diving into the psychology of sexualization in an attempt to find answers to these questions. From Megan the Stallion and Cardi B to Lizzo and Billie Eilish, we take a closer look at how these women have empowered t...

Why are kpop fans considered crazed consumers? Why are kpop idols undermined for “not writing their music”? Why does the American music industry only recognize BTS when they release songs in English? In this episode, we break down some of the myths around kpop and turn the narrative on ourselves as Americans to ask – what makes us believe these myths in the first place? Let’s put on our critical t...

Paris Hilton is now a well-respected DJ, but in the early 2000s, she was treated as a blonde bimbo from reality show The Simple Life with a sex tape. So naturally when made her debut as a singer with “Stars are Blind” in 2006, the world said “no thank you” before they even gave it a chance.  This week we’re talking about Paris, Lindsay Lohan, Heidi Montag and Kim Kardashian – maligned women from t...

The rise of the internet in the early 2000s ushered in a new era of pop stars – one where teen girls like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were suddenly available for mass consumption and subject to the omnipresent male gaze. This gave way to pressures for female stars to walk the fine line between virgin and whore. And all the while, the world was watching, waiting for the day they turned fr...

Why does the music industry insist on relegating female musicians into this mythical “women in rock” genre? Instead of continuing to ask women the tired question “what’s it like to be a woman in music?” why don’t we start asking men “what’s it like to benefit from male privilege in music?”. In this episode, we’re joined by She Will Rock You podcast to look back at the women who have defined rock m...

As much as everyone loves Dolly Parton’s honey-sweet vocals and big hair, country music has a diversity problem – and not just the lack of women, but the even greater lack of people of color and queer folks.  This week we’re breaking it all down to understand how country music has come to represent such a deep divide of American diversity. From The Chicks and Marren Morris to Kacey Musgraves and M...

When the music industry tries to put you in a box, what do you do? For Fefe Dobson, “Brandy Spears'' was the box industry executives tried to force her into. Referring to a black girl like Brandy with a pop voice like Britney, Dobson knew she would never be successful playing a role that wasn’t true to herself. Instead, she made her mark in music history with her 2003 rock-infused debut album at t...

There comes a time when every teen boy bander or male popstar turns from innocent heartthrob to promiscuous adult — and they make a whole album to let you know about it.  This phenomenon all started when Justin Timberlake traded the N*SYNC’s teen pop bangers for the sensual R&B tunes on his debut solo record Justified (2002) – ultimately distancing himself from the fangirl stigma to be taken s...

Did you know that it’s scientifically proven that creative individuals are more likely to stray from gender norms of masculinity and femininity? From David Bowie and Prince to Jaden and Harry Styles, some of the biggest musicians in history have challenged masculinity by leaning into the feminine. Whether these choices were an expression of their gender identity or strictly a means of sticking it...

Remember when Tramp Stamps made that song saying they’d rather die than sleep with another straight white guy? It’s like they thought they were being progressive while singing about sexuality, but it really missed the mark. Throughout music history we’ve seen artists using music to express their sexuality. But just like misogyny is ingrained in us, so is the male gaze and the fetishization of lesb...

TW: drug use, overdosing and suicide Has your favorite celebrity ever done something that shocked you? Like finding out Harry Styles does juice cleanses, or that Taylor Swift seemingly dyed her hair the colors of the bisexual flag for a music video. Maybe your fave did something that doesn’t sit right with you on a moral level, like Justin Bieber having dreads or Demi Lovato glorifying substance a...

Olivia Rodrigo just became the youngest artist to start a career with her first three singles in the top 10 on the Hot 100 chart, according to Billboard. But not many people know that she’s one of Disney Channel’s brightest stars – appearing in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.  Which makes us wonder if Olivia learned from the careers of her predecessors – Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and...

How does TikTok and a juice cleanse lead to a war over a fat woman’s body? A heated debate broke out last December over Lizzo’s juice cleanse, with members of the body positive and fat liberation communities sharing their outrage.  Lizzo is a fat, black woman. By simply existing, Lizzo inherently challenges the norms of the music industry, and like Mama Cass, Adele, and Kanye West, everyone has an...

TW: brief mentions of suicide and overdosing Little Mix just made history as the first female group to win Best British Group at the 2021 Brit Awards, and they used their acceptance speech to call out white male dominance, sexism, and lack of diversity in the music industry. With over 60 million records sold in their 10-year career, what leads the biggest girl group in the world to call out these...

The music industry is no stranger to long work hours, underpay, and white- and male-dominated spaces that lead to power imbalances, sexual harassment and so much more that leaves us feeling overworked and undervalued. In short – it’s toxic.  What is it that makes the music industry such a toxic work environment? And how can we as individuals combat these scenarios? This week we’re joined by LJ Mal...

Have you ever noticed how rock history tends to be filled with white men? You know, the likes of Elvis Presley aka “The King of Rock n Roll,” The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and on and on. But what if we told you this was only half of the story? The truth is, these men drew inspiration from the vocal styles and dance moves of African American women like Big Mama Thornton, The Shirelles, and Tina...

Why are industry plants and why is everyone suddenly talking about them? This week we discuss what defines an industry plant and how the term came about in music history. We also unpack what is happening with female pop-punk trio Tramp Stamps and where the band went wrong. Plus, we examine other artists such as Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, and The Runaways to see how they compare under the industr...

Over 15 years and 11 Grammy wins, Swift has received criticism for writing silly love songs for girls, for dating too many men, for writing songs about her exes, for allegedly being a “snake” (thanks Kanye & Kim). The hate never ends! In this episode, we’re joined by long-time Swifities Soph, Lizzy and Joss to discuss how Swift squashed the criticism with her sixth album Reputation (2017). Aft...