Final (Un)Conference Photo Essay and Group Project – Group 5

Sophie Edson, Ronak Ved, Jasmin Rivera, Paolo Eleccion

Photographs

Photo Title: Soul Dancing
Photographer Name: Ronak Ved
Photo Date: March 16, 2019
Caption: Milvia Pacheco and Iris Viveros perform a traditional dance, aimed to heal the mind and spirit
Archive Categories: Making Scenes
Image File Name: DSC_0007

Photo Title: The Bomba
Photographer Name: Ronak Ved
Photo Date: March 16, 2019
Caption: Ivelisse Diaz, Monice Rojas-Stewart, and Amarilys Rios play the Bomba, while Jade Power-Sotomayor describes the roots of the bomba
Archive Categories: Making Scenes
Image File Name: DSC_0040

Photo Title: Dancing One
Photographer Name: Ronak Ved
Photo Date: March 16, 2019
Caption: Jade Power-Sotomayor leads the group in a traditional, improvised dance
Archive Categories: Building Communities
Image File Name: DSC_0081

Photo Title: Dancing Two
Photographer Name: Ronak Ved
Photo Date: March 16, 2019
Caption: Ivelisse Diaz leads the group in another traditional, improvised dance
Archive Categories: Making Scenes
Image File Name: DSC_0091

Photo Title: Local Talent
Photographer Name: Ronak Ved
Photo Date: March 16, 2019
Caption: Local artist Leslie showcases some of her cultural artwork
Archive Categories: Write to Rock
Image File Name: DSC_0104

Photo Title: Group Discussion
Photographer Name: Ronak Ved
Photo Date: March 16, 2019
Caption: The women of the conference share their unique experiences of being a woman in our society
Archive Categories: Building Communities
Image File Name: DSC_0109

Summary Explanation of Photo Categories

Photo: Soul Dancing – We chose to categorize this photo as Making Scenes because we believed that Milvia Pacheco and Iris Viveros were making an inspiring and powerful scene as they performed a traditional dance that was aimed to heal the mind and spirit

Photo: The Bomba – We chose to categorize this photo as Making Scenes because we believed that Ivelisse Diaz, Monice Rojas-Stewart, and Amarilys Rios make a loud and rythmic scene as they performed on the Bomba, while Jade Power-Sotomayor describes the roots of the instrument and music style

Photo: Dancing One – We chose to categorize this photo as Building Communities because we believed that as Sotomayor lead the whole group in a traditional dance it united the whole conference, even though many of us come from different cultures and upbringings

Photo: Dancing Two – We chose to categorize this photo as Making Scenes because we believed that as Ivelisse Diaz lead the group in another traditional and improvised dance, she moved with passion and with emotion – which made an exciting scene at the conference

Photo: Local Talent – We chose to categorize this photo as Write to Rock because we thought that local artist Leslie’s cultural artwork was very unique. As we talked to Leslie we learned she had the right to rock and also the write to rock, since all of her artwork was written and created by her

Photo: Group Discussion – We chose to categorize this photo as Building Communities because we believed that putting all of these different women on stage who have formed a community thus having different upbringings and even language barriers was truly powerful and uplifting. This conference has obviously built a community for so many people.

Summary Explanation of Why We Chose These Photos

The reason that we selected the 6 photos that we did is because we felt that they represented the action, emotion, and energy that was present at the conference. We chose many pictures of the performances in action because we believed that it displays the talent that was present at the conference and how the music brought all of us together to embrace different cultures. We enjoyed hearing the stories of the women involved in the conference as they sat on stage so we decided to include a photo of that and we also enjoyed the local art that was on display at the conference so we needed to include a photo of that as well.

What We Learned from Working as a Group and Attending this Conference

What we learned from working together throughout the class was that everyone has a different opinion and outlook on genre and music, but by working together we learned many new things and even re-shaped our own definitions of popular music. We all learned how to grow and how to compromise through genuinely hearing each other’s ideas. As a group, we were all very impressed by the conference and humbled by the talent of the performers and artists. For us, it was an awesome way to step outside of the classroom and experience such a moving environment full of love and spirit.

Live Blog Posts

By Paolo Eleccion

(Live Blog Post) Women Who Rock: Bomba Workshop – AFRAM 337 Section A, Group 5

(Live Blog) Bomba Panel – AFRAM 337 A, Group 5

Interviews

Interview #1

The True Meaning Behind The Women Who Rock (Un)Conference

Interviewee One: Iris

Interviewer: Jasmin Rivera

Video Length: 1 minute and 39 seconds

What does this conference mean to you?

Iris: This conference, I have been involved with the conference since it began since years ago, so I have participated every time. When I began participating, I wasn’t into academia, so I was just a performer and artist, so it means space to center women artists and just women identifying artists. It changes the whole environment you know because I’ve been in spaces as a performer I’ve been in spaces where its mixed sometimes because we’re not accustomed, we’re not used to seeing women in positions you know at the center.

Jasmin: Yes, I didn’t even know this was a thing until recently, but I really like this. What is the most significant part of this conference would you say?

Iris: I would say community. I think the community, the people who come, everybody who comes and the space that I open and the people it attracts. It attracts people of different races, many races and different ages. You see children, you see women over 50, you see you know people of different ages but the intention being feminist and the intention being justice, the intention being reclaiming yourself as an act of justice.

Jasmin: Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

Interview #2

Interviewee Two: Weecho Gutierrez

Interviewer: Jasmin Rivera

Video Length: 1 Minute

Jasmin: What is significant to you about the conference?

Weecho: What’s significant to me about the conference is that it’s a place where you can be yourself, free of judgement, free of fear, happy smiles, happy feet, and it’s just a way to invoke yourself.

Jasmin: And what does it mean to you personally?

Weecho: To me personally, I’m going to take a minute for this one. Ya I am just going to go back to the judge free part, like here I feel like I am surrounded by people who more or less understand where I am coming from and if they don’t, they’ll ask. It is just one of the last few places where I can be who I want to be.

BP #4. Stream B.

Sophie Edson

GWSS Stream B #4

            In my final blog post of the quarter, I am going to write about Martha Gonzalez. Martha Gonzalez is mother, feminista scholar, respected songwriter, percussionist, and lead singer of Grammy-winning East Los Angeles’s Chicano Alternative Rock Band, Quetzal. She is a powerful figure in recognizing the power of race and culture in music, especially her own Mexican culture.

            In Martha Gonzalez’s biographical piece titled Self-Reflective Moments in Zapateado. Gonzalez writes about how she was first introduced to zapateado, which is “percussive dancing on a wooden platform”. This form of art is thought to be originated in Spain in the seventeenth century and is usually an improvisation by the performer or performers. Gonzalez then continues to explain about the patterns that she wrote and how these dances and experiences were influenced by her life and then further influenced the pieces that she created later in life.

            Next, I took a look at Gonzalez’s website, MarthaGonzalez.net, and learned more of her many achievements and talents: which include, but are not limited to, a Grammy in 2013, teaching, research, producing, vocal arranging, and song writing. I also read Gonzalez’s bio that is posted on her website which still managed to impress me even after I had already learned so much about her. Martha Gonzalez is obviously and VERY talented women with a very wide array of talents.

            The most interesting part about what I’ve read so far was about Gonzalez explaining the zapateado. Since I am very uncultured and from a small, white community – I have never heard about this style of dance before. I found reading about it very interesting and I am very excited to see a performance of it since I really do not know what to expect. It seems like a very expressive way of dance that I would like to at least attempt in the near future.

Critical Karaoke ~Jasmin Rivera

Jasmin Rivera

7 Rings ~Ariana Grande

2:59

Ok so I am going to be talking about 7 rings by Ariana Grande. This came out I believe a month or two ago. So when she starts off with “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” it’s in relation to her diamond ring, so she was in a failed engagement with Pete Davidson and the reason that went sour was because after their engagement she lost her ex who she still loved very dearly, his name is Mac Miller. So after that incident where Mac took his own life she felt like she just couldn’t go on and she just really needed that space and so the engagement did not continue. Instead what she did was she went and got rid of the ring which she exchanged for 6 Tiffany rings, Tiffany and co. And she gave them to six of her best friends’ because they’re the ones she should be focusing on and relying on because they are the only who are going to help her find herself. So that’s the Breakfast at Tiffany’s part which she is actually talking about right now, she’d rather spoil all of her friends with her riches than some guy and talking about how retail therapy has been her new addiction where anytime she felt low or something she kinda just went out and spent her money on things she enjoyed and things that kind of helped her. She is kind of like “why not? I spend so much money on spoiling others when I should be spoiling myself because myself is the person that is going to take care of me. Myself is the person that matters most.” She is also talking about her hair, she mentions “You like my hair? Gee thanks just bought it.” Her hair brought up a huge controversy for years now where people were really upset and always asking questions about why her hair was always in a pony tail and the reason behind that was because on Nickelodeon she had to dye her hair red every two weeks and so it really damaged her hair. Being able to just put it up and let it be really made it healthier and it kind of just stuck with her since then so it has become a part of her identity in a way and she embraces it. She is also talking about how she has no budget when she’s on set she likes that if she wants something she is going to get it because she is a strong independent woman who has made so much money for herself, she has made a name for herself, and she is very successful that she doesn’t need to rely on a man which a lot of her songs and a lot of other artists songs at this time and point have kind of been in relation to that where it’s kind of like “We don’t need men” there is this stigma that you need a man to be successful or you need a man to have all these luxurious things and a lot of her songs and a lot of upcoming female artists song’s is “I don’t need no man I can spoil myself, I’m a strong independent woman.” Taking a turn on all the past generations thoughts where you were connected with a guy l, where as now we’re in an era where girls can be themselves and girls can be a BOSS. That was 7 rings, by Ariana Grande.

Paolo Eleccion – Blog post Stream A #4

The assigned readings this week share common themes about culture and identity. In the article titled, Country Music is Also Mexican Music, its interesting to read about the impact Mexican music had on developing country music as we know it today. The themes are introduced early in the article when Author, Ludwig Hurtado writes, “Country music has become a sonic proxy for American nationalism”. The quote highlights a clear association between country music and being American. Later in the article Hurtado highlights a similar association when describing the original cowboy. Hurtado identifies that the original cowboy was the “vaquero”, but because of what was popularized by the media, most people think of the American, wild west cowboys. I can’t help but think of the “love and theft” theory that we discussed in earlier lectures and how it is such a reoccurring occurrence between majority groups and the marginalized minorities. In the last bits of the article, Hurtado writes” Hubbs pushes back on the idea that Mexican-Americans use country music as a form of assimilation into white American culture” and I start to think about the poem, To live in the Borderlands by Gloria Anzaldua.

To identify as Mexican- American, or in my case Filipino American, the person acknowledges two different sets of cultures that make up their identity. In her poem, Anzaldua uses “Borderlands” to identify both the lines that separate territories, but also the traits that society uses to segment humans into different groups. She opens the poem with, “…half-breed caught in the crossfire between camps while carrying all five races on your back…”. Here she is highlighting the struggle of identify that people face when they either are multi-racial or when people of one ethnic group have different upbringing. For example, two people could both identify as Mexican but if one group up in Mexico and the other in the United states, they are going to have two different upbringings that shape their identity, perception, and opinions. At the end of her poem she writes, “To survive the Borderlands, you must live sin fronteras, be a crossroads”. She concludes by acknowledging the importance of accepting one’s entire identity. She is telling her readers to live beyond the lines that separate and to instead be the interception of connection.

I picked these two videos because both Eminem and Willie Jones are breaking the molds that usually associate white people singing country and black people rapping. Eminem has been discredited his entire career because he was a white artist in a historically black genre, during a time where rap was thought to only be performed by black artists. In Willie Jones’s video, as you can see from the judges’ reactions, it is clear him singing this country was the last thing they were expecting.

Ronak Ved BP#4 Stream A

“Country music is also Mexican Music” is a really eye-opening article which tells us the true roots of where the genre of country music, one that is loved by many “hardcore Americans,” came from. If you would have told me that the roots of country music came from Mexican culture before reading this article, I probably would have laughed it off. But this article draws many parallels between country music and traditional Mexican music. Forget the music, in fact “much of America Western culture – the boots, the hats, rodeos” all come from “Mexico and Mexican culture.” The early forms of country music in the 1920s was heavily “influenced by Mexican ranchera music” however, many of these styles “go unnoticed in rock and country music.” It’s honestly pretty crazy how this reality isn’t something that is really taught or showcased in America, and I believe it is because of nationalism, and America’s desire to be unique. Of course, America wouldn’t want to claim that one of their genres that hit closest to home originate from a country that we have been having conflict with. This is sadly one of those realities that will slowly begin to fade away through our generations as this is not a fact written in history books or embedded in our culture.

On a slightly different note, in another one of our readings we learn the backstory to the creation of the self-defense group, Home Alive. Non-profits like these are essential for our community because it is an unfortunate reality that women still have to be wary when alone in public, especially in certain situations. The purpose of this non-profit is to “promote alternative methods for women to protect themselves within the community.” The same individuals who started this group also produced a film “Rock, Rage & Self Defense: An oral History of Seattle’s Home Alive.” The interviewer highlights that “there wasn’t much information on Mia or Home Alive before” and the women believe that it is because of the technological evolution that has made information much more accessible today than ever before. This is very true, as the only mediums of information before the 2000s was newspaper or word of mouth, while today we have social media, and tons of online news resources. These women have done incredible work in trying to help other women stay safe in our communities.

While these isn’t much connecting these two articles, a common theme that comes up, is lack of information or misinformation. In both cases, information was withheld from the public, granted due to different reasons, but it kept the nation hidden from the truth. Both authors in both situations are now doing their bests to make these truths known.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=39&v=NApX7MeYSWg
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4qgqNS_20s

The above songs are examples of an older country song and a newer country song. If you listen closely, we can see the influence Mexican music has had on our nation’s country music.

Critical Karaoke – Paolo Eleccion

I think what first drew me to this song was the title. It promoted a sense of positivity that automatically spoke to me. “Keep Ya Head Up”, a phrase we were all told growing up when we were feeling down. Its so easy to have a song speak to you when its title is a phrase usually said by someone who cares for you. Tupac opens the song addressing its for the next generation and then the signature lines “Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice. I say the darker the flesh the deeper the roots”. Its obvious his addressing his African American history in this line, but for me it makes me reflect on my Filipino history. The Filipino history that goes back to Filipinos fighting in the civil war, to the story of my family immigrating to America.

In the following lines it becomes clear that this song is directed towards African American women. With lines likes, “And when he tells you you ain’t nuttin’ don’t believe him. And if he can’t learn to love you, you should leave him. ‘Cause sista you don’t need him”. I can’t help but draw comparisons to Malcom X’s famous quote, “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman, the most unprotected person in American is the Black women, the most neglected person in American is the black women”.

I also think about the struggle my mom went through raising me without my dad. Growing up without a dad is a common stereotype in the African American community but it was I something I could relate to because my dad was across the Pacific Ocean. My parents weren’t separated because they no longer cared for one another, they were separated because we were petitioned by my grandparents and he wasn’t. The time apart and distance took a toll on their marriage. I never hated him for not being around, I hated that my mom was alone.

In the later parts of the first verse he raps, “And if we don’t, we’ll have a race of babies. That will hate the ladies, that make the babies”. I am who I am today because of what my mother and grandparents taught me. I’ll always hold on to their stories and lessons I was taught as a kid and will hopefully pass that on to my children. It’s the idea of sharing stories through generations that ultimately defines what history is. And here Tupac is suggesting we change the popular narrative to allow the future generations a better story to share.

The second verse reminds me of the poverty my family experienced early in my childhood. My grandparents, mother and I shared a one-bedroom apartment in the south end of Seattle. We were on the second floor, apartment number 12, and the view of my elementary school outside our back window is still vivid when I close my eyes. I remember the random cars parked out back every night, wet spots on our carpet because of the leaky roof, and turning on the lights in our little kitchen and seeing roaches scatter in all directions. In hind sight, I thought we had it rough, but we always had enough. It just highlights how powerful women are when they are dedicated to making things happen. My mom worked her ass off to support our family and one day she won’t have to anymore. I don’t say it as much as I should but mom, you are appreciated.

The final bits of the last verse, Tupac says, “And it’s crazy, it seems it’ll never let up, but please, you got to keep your head up”. Tupac’s intended audience may have been young single mothers, but this song goes out to anyone experiencing adversity and hardship. This song means so much to me because while it reminds me of the hardship both my mother and I faced, but it also makes what we’ve accomplished feel even better.

CRITICAL KARAOKE

Critical Karaoke

Sophie Edson

Perfect Places by Lorde

3:27

Ever since Melodrama by Lorde dropped in 2017, her songs became my anthem at different points in my life. Liability was there for me when I felt insecure about the romantic relationships of my adolescence, and Supercut was there for me when I was just having fun with my high school friends, taking mental “supercuts” of our night together. Currently my anthem is Perfect Places, because, obviously, I’m nineteen and I’m on fire.

In Perfect Places, Lorde channels all of the angst trapped inside of a teenager during her final year of teendom. Essentially, this song is about more than just partying, but in all reality this song is about suppressing emotions and pressures by drinking to the point of blacking out and vomiting. It addresses the idealization of partying in the teen realm, expressing that the reason teens drink as much as they do is because they are seeking the “perfect place” that today’s culture has hidden behind a large bottle of booze, but once the bottle is finished, this “perfect place” is even more out of reach.

As a late teen approaching the legal drinking age, drinking has been routine. Drinking to dance, drinking to talk to new people who you’re too shy to talk to sober, drinking to make memories that you won’t remember, drinking to meet guys, drinking to black-out, drinking to not feel. Drinking has become something casual and something to do when there is nothing else. It helps suppress boredom and sadness and loneliness with its effects.

Lorde says that every night, we “live and die”. At the beginning of the night, we are awake and joyful and by the end of the night, the drinking has caused damage and caused memory loss. We drink because we are “young and ashamed”. Lost in the world and pinned by societal expectations that in order to have fun in college, you must party and have sex and be social.

Since coming to the University of Washington, I have seen many of my friends get hurt because of drinking. My friends have broken bones, soiled themselves, and been sent to the hospital while drinking. I would have thought that because they experienced this BECAUSE of drinking, it would stop them for at least a little while or even slow down their roll, sort of speak. But they haven’t. I don’t blame my friends and I’m not mad at them for this. I understand that this is just a part of growing up – dealing with substances. I still love and care for my friends but it disappoints me to watch them drown their sorrows or issues in alcohol.

The message in Lorde’s song is obvious after years of experience in this aspect of one’s social life. Drinking and partying will never lead to finding that “perfect place”. The what if’s that are apparent before a night of going out usually keep the momentum of black-out culture alive. Millenials need to realize that there is more to life than just partying and then waking up the next morning and doing it all again. Teen culture must be pushed beyond just partying and must focus more on dealing with mental health in healthier ways. Our society has done a great job so far in destigmatizing mental health, but we are far from a solution to this issue. It will not cure any mental health issues. It will not cure anything. Alcohol is not a medicine.

Critical Karaoke – Imagine

John Lennon

Imagine

‘Imagine’

3:06

John Lennon is by no doubt one of the most influential singers of his time, given that he was in the Beatles and a solo artist. His soft, dreamy, yet powerful voice has maintained Imagine as one of the all-time great songs. This song couldn’t have come out in a more culturally appropriate time than the 70s when the hippie movement was at large. While much of society saw these individuals as worthless or wasting their lives, these individuals were in fact pacifists looking to engage their ideas through alternate means of expression such as music. For many people this time period was one of self-discovery, and the most common drug associated with the movement was LSD. In fact, John Lennon himself had admitted to taking LSD hundreds of times. As many people describe, LSD puts you in almost a dreamlike state, perceiving the world in different ways and approaching ideas with a much more open mind.

In Imagine, Lennon takes listeners on a journey through his mind, an alternate reality where he explores what could be. This was Lennon’s way of sharing his ideas with the world through the medium of music. He envisions a utopia without conflict, without suffering, and where everyone can live together in harmony. The song soon became a symbol of peace and unity in the hippie community.

Some people view this song as too idealistic and impractical, and I agree to an extent, but that is the point of the song. There is a reason why utopias don’t exist and that is because they are not achievable. Regardless of how hard a community or subcommunity tries, perfection is a standard that is impossible to achieve. However, does that mean that it is something we shouldn’t work towards? Absolutely not. A utopia represent hope. A hope of what could be. It is a dream. A dream that you will work towards with all of your heart and bring purpose to your life.

My first time listening to this song, I was still a child. I had barely scratched the surface in terms of understanding religion, nations, and possessions amongst other things, and all I got out of it is everyone should be happy and peaceful. While that is somewhat an overarching message of the song, I didn’t really understand how all the different components in the song came together to create that message.

It wasn’t until much later in my life that I really dug deeper into this song. I distinctly remember laying back on the couch, closing my eyes and being taken away. And it is at this point that I finally began to understand the intricacies of the song.

Lennon has three verses in which he brings up ideas that separate us as human beings and influence our behavior. He brings up the concept of heaven and hell and describes how the desire to go to heaven is a driving force in our lives. But Lennon tries to explain that you shouldn’t let these beliefs of what someone else thinks is right and wrong direct your life, and you should “live for today.” In his later verses he brings up concepts that have divided us throughout history. Countries, religion, and greed. By surrendering these ideas that have only pulled us apart, we would all be able to live together in peace and harmony. And this is the overarching message John Lennon attempts to create in his song, Imagine.

Beyoncé Readings Stream B

Jasmin Rivera

            Both readings discuss how music through media, visuals, and lyrics can help activists start or encourage a movement and specifically in these two articles, movement for change of the treatment of people of color, specifically blacks. One of the conclusions they drew in “How #BlackLivesMatter started a musical revolution” it is mentioned and described in depth how during the super bowl performance Beyoncé was performing black protest music and the reason it is important is mentioned as “Black protest music should sting and burn, be hard to digest for some, leave an aftertaste for others, make us feel more rather than less – whether it’s hate or love – make us recognize our conflicted passions, and the contradictions of our strange, post-civil rights and post-black power movement lives. Lives that shouldn’t have to be defended as mattering.” Beyoncé does all this and more especially when she had an all-female dancers behind her representing women empowerment but also the fact that they were all dressed similar to the black panthers to represent that they were with the fight again police brutality and fighting for justice because black lives matter! In “Close To Home: A Conversation About Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’´ it is discussed that the successful part about the album “is its ability to pull the viewer through multiple lenses, historical periods and vantage points to complicate southern black women. It demonstrates healing as messy, non-linear and generational. Sometimes we deal with the same s*** that our mothers and grandmothers and foremothers experienced. The responsibility of remembering is not only a collective, but it’s a collective for multiple generations of black women.” This ties into the article somewhat because part of the focus shared is on black women. Both the performance and the album took viewers back to important historical points that were important to understanding the nature of a black woman. The mistreatment, labor, etc. should not have happened but it plays such a huge role on what has shaped these women into who they are today whether that be through personal experience or shaped the way they black women were raised.

            The reason I chose these songs is because they both represent the hurt and struggles that blacks have had to go through for centuries. Both share the brokenness but also speak on how it is not going to break them down for they are each other’s support as well as God and how believing in each other no matter what the circumstance they will stand with each other through it all. Their life is theirs and they are not going to stop fighting for what they deserve and they have the strength to make it through. cent 6;}}{

Critical Album Review

Ariana Grande’s new album “Thank You, Next” helps empower women by breaking the social norm that women are fragile, weak, and emotionally unstable human beings after a breakup. Instead she reminds women of their worth and that you do not need to rely on a King to be a Queen. Ariana Grande is a feminist as well as an LGBTQ+ activist who has been very open and vocal about equity, inclusion and love. She has also been a women who had previously been referred to as the girlfriend to whoever she was dating at the time later then speaking with an interviewer how women do not need to be linked to a man to be something, “I am not Big Sean’s ex, I am not Niall’s possible new girl, I’m Ariana Grande and if that isn’t enough for you then don’t talk to me. This is still a very common issue to the point where successful celebrities are still not viewed as an individual but seen as a man’s plus one. As mentioned in Gayle Wald’s “Rosetta Tharpe and Feminist Un-Forgetting”  “African American women musicians, unlike their male peers, seldom have been conceived in terms of their “genius.” Many women in the music industry are rarely seen or acknowledged for their talent but primarily for who they are dating or their appearance. In Ariana Grande’s 7 rings song which was one of her singles off the Thank You, Next album her lyrics “Buy myself all of my favorite things, write my own checks like I write what I sing, and wearing a ring but aint gon be no Mrs.” Were representing her failed engagement to Pete Davidson but also a stab towards popular belief that men are the providers where as in this case her lyrics represent how women can buy themselves everything they need and do not need to be dependent on a man.

In the music video to Ariana’s song Break Up With Your Boyfriend I’m Bored, it ends with Ariana finally leaning in for a kiss expecting her to kiss the boyfriend but instead end up kissing the girlfriend instead. This shocked many people but was a clever move on Ariana’s part because it goes to show that not everything is as expected but also helps bring awareness to the LGBTQ community in a positive light because Ariana has such a huge following and is using her platform to help remind people that love is love and there is nothing wrong with that.

This album was released just six months after her last album, has no features on it, and the songs were written with a few of her close friends. This album was never planned but was an escape from the hardships Ariana had just gone through which included the death of her ex Mac Miller and her failed engagement to Pete Davidson. There was no specific audience for this album Ariana even mentioned how when she released her single Thank You, Next it was because it was a fun song she had written with her close friend Victoria Monet and she wanted to be able to do what male artists do and release a song whenever it felt right, and that is what she did. It was a song about her life that she felt others could relate to and so as soon as she felt it was ready she released it in hopes that it was relatable and helpful to many people going through a breakup or those who need a reminder that self-love should always come first which was a message in her Thank You, Next single when she refers to loving herself singing “ I know they say I move on too fast but this one gon last, cause her name is Ari and I’m so good with that.”

“When one brick in a prison wall is loose, the whole structure becomes unstable- and women in popular music have found ways to use that instability toward their own ends.” (Ann Powers) Instability is a common misconception of women, the inference that women are very emotionally unstable. In Ariana’s 7 rings single she mentioned this in her lyrics which read “Been through some bad shit, should be a sad bitch. Who woulda thought it’d turn me to a savage?” She took all the hardship and emotional stress and made a point that no matter what you go through you it is up to you to choose how you react to the information. Was she emotional? Yes. Did she let it stop her and destroy her? No. Like the strong women she is, Ariana managed to get back on her feet and be the strong independent role model that everyone, especially young girls can look up to.

“You don’t know what the fuck you are talking about because you are a woman.” This was a comment given to Tracy Moore as she went around interviewing bands for her blog. In her article “Oh, the Unbelievable Shit You Get Writing About Music as a Woman” she mentions her struggle trying to find musicians to take her seriously as an individual writing about music because she was a woman. Tray is one on many women in the music industry who are belittled or looked down upon because of their gender. This article was written in 2014 and although we still have A LOT to improve on as an equitable society, we have come a long way within these last five years. “This is one small step for woman, one giant leap for woman-kind” These are the lyrics in Grande’s song NASA which is about how time apart from men is beneficial and how that space is needed. As I mentioned earlier women are never seen as an individual and it is often assumed that they have to rely on men to be successful. “Keep me in your orbit and you know you’ll drag me under.” Another line from Grande’s song NASA this is Ariana stating that she is trying to self-discover and with a man by her side she will be dragged along and not able to do what she needs to do. This song is all about space and how that space will allow for her to be an individual. This is a huge step to take and encourages others to do the same. Ariana’s career and taken off even more since the split with Davidson as well as the release of her album Thank You, Next and I believe it is because it is so rare to find an independent woman thriving in what she does, first of all without a man and second, at a time when she should be “emotionally unstable.” This goes to show that a woman not only knows what she is talking about but she knows what she’s doing and knows how to be a strong, successful, and independent WOMAN.

Bibliography:

• Moore, Tracy. “Oh, the Unbelievable Shit You Get Writing About Music as a Woman.” Jezebel, Jezebel, 20 Mar. 2014, jezebel.com/oh-the-unbelievable-shit-you-get-writing-about-music-a-1547444869.
• Powers, Ann. “A Spy in the House of Love.” Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture, vol. 12, 2008, pp. 40-43. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/wam.0.0013
• Wald, Gayle. “Rosetta Tharpe and Feminist “Un-Forgetting”.” Journal of Women’s History, vol. 21 no. 4, 2009, pp. 157-160. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jowh.0.0102

Hyperlinks:

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