“I Didn’t Mean to Turn You Kong” – Seeking out #MeToo in Pop Music
Listening to Cherrelle’s “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” in the #MeToo moment.
Imagining What Silence Looks Like: Prince & Queering the Popular Love Song
The dark sound and minimalist instrumentation on “If I Was Your Girlfriend” demonstrates Prince’s willingness to bend and distort expectations with a lyrical and sonic playfulness that challenges the listener to think beyond the obvious gender stereotypes inherent in most popular love songs.
“Nobody Speak” – Pulling Back the Curtain on Trumpist Politics
You wanna hear a good joke? Nobody speak, nobody get choked.
Hip Hop Levels Up: Sammus & Pieces in Space
Sammus embraces the kind of freedom afforded to grassroots, independent artists who don’t have corporate overseers menacing with strange gazes and mandates to sellout.
Songs in Conversation: Don’t Knock the Intimacy of Urban Sound
Tony Orlando & Dawn’s “Knock Three Times” vs. Suzanne Vega’s “Luka” in the soundscape of urban living.
“Forever is Already There” – On Thumb of the Maid
The best band no one has ever heard (or at the very least a quirky band whose one record brings me joy).
Songs in Conversation: Those are Some Fragile Men, Baby Doll.
Defamiliarizing gender to highlight its constructedness.
