Music is inherently political, argue Jennex and Fast in the introduction to this volume of exciting essays. The book explores the transformative and hopeful uses of music from non-traditional political perspectives, aiming to avoid the more despairing implications of critique when ‘political’ is solely conceived of through a leftist frame. On reading, I felt uplifted and grateful for the quantity and diversity of positive musical interventions. Yet I was also under no illusion as to the challenges of going against the grain in order to create music which articulates the identity and view of the world of queer people of colour, as disabled, as decolonising musical platforms, as expressing discomfort. This is a powerful book of hope in the face of potential despair at multiple oppressions. It takes an ‘“additive and accretive” (Sedgwick quoted p. 3) approach to understanding difference and positive articulations of it.
The book is divided into five parts. First, ‘Displacing whiteness’ explores the institutional racism of the American music industry. It highlights how Black American women musicians have been overlooked in spite of being at the forefront of musical innovation. The essays discuss: Janelle Monáe's Wondaland as Afrofuturistic vision of hope for a better future (Smith); Kanwar Anit Singh Saini/Sikh Knowledge's interweaving of different musical traditions to complicate representations of queer migrant experiences to refuse the dominant Canadian discourse of patchwork identity (Jennex); how Beyoncé's Lemonade makes the case for healing through an abandonment of violence even when that violence is Black against white restorative justice (Roysterv).
Secondly, ‘Rethinking difference’ reconceptualises how we might think of ‘difference’ to include dis/ability, unconventional rock autobiographies, and the use of local accents. The chapters cover: Lady Gaga, Mandy Harvey and Victoria Modesta as disabled musicians, exploring the concept of self-objectification (Stras); the London accents and temporal contextual elements that mean Adele and Amy Winehouse are not straightforwardly appropriating Black women's music (Jarman); and Bruce Springsteen and Chrissie Hynde's autobiographies, which, being self-penned rather than ghostwritten, can be read as attempts by the authors to create some semblance of self.
Thirdly, ‘Decolonizing sound’ features artists who draw attention to colonial pasts and thus make visible the lives of indigenous subjects. These essays focus on: A Tribe Called Red's decolonising, feminist project which explores alternative masculinities for young native American men (Woloshyn); the song ‘Addictive’ by Truth Hurts, which Powell argues rather than being imperialistic explores female sexuality and similarity across continents; and the performance of ‘Taken’ created by indigenous musicians including rapper Eekwol, Camarata Nova and a vocal group, in which the musicians weave together elements of indigenous song, rock and hip hop to create a hopeful piece that addresses past and present institutional takings of Native American people (Przybylski).
The fourth part, ‘Refusing conventions’, focuses on artists who reject the separation of art from politics and thereby refuse conventional aesthetics and politics. Billie Holliday's ‘Strange Fruit’ acts as a refusal of the art/politics split and the silencing of Black women (Mahon). ANOHNI's HOPELESSNESS album explores feelings of complicity in environmental destruction and governmental surveillance (Murphy). McClary and Warwick discuss the influence of girl culture, the importance of fun, dancing and frivolity and how Beyoncé and Madonna challenge norms of the ageing female body (McClary and Warwick). Maxine Feldman and Tom Robinson, Halberstam argues, have more in common than would traditionally be given credit for, united by anger at homophobic violence.
The final part of the book, ‘Voicing resilience’, brings time into focus, with chapters discussing Madonna and the politics of ageing, recognising that Madonna has worked hard on music, performance and body throughout her career, but continuing into her sixties contravenes expectations of older womanhood (Naiman); Dame Vera Lynn's persona of a reluctant star, more happy to be at home in the domestic sphere, which Bader argues makes her chrono-normative; and the final beautiful chapter details the value of singing in prison lockdown, when it can be used to shield the ears from distressing prison noises and bring together prisoners and officers alike as listeners and participants in the music.
The book presents a broad range of approaches to making music and to working within the constraints of music industries, but finding a path through those constraints. Chapters on disability are very welcome – this is a neglected area of popular music research. Moreover, the discussion of Canadian native American artists is significant, given that issues relating to continuing colonial practices are rarely addressed in popular music studies, thus these are valuable interventions. Having said that, all of the chapters are of an exceptionally high standard and grapple with questions of hope, despair, difference, music and notions of the political with nuance and sophistication.
I found the chapter on ANOHNI and guilt at complicity in environmental destruction (Murphy) to be particularly moving. The electro pop, Murphy argues, seduces the listener into engaging with difficult themes of ‘violence, desire, and control’ (p. 219); in fact the listener is positioned as complicit in these violences and controls. This is an exciting idea that opens up ways of thinking about how we are politically positioned by the music we listen to. This raises the question: how can we, living in Western consumption-focused countries, really step outside the system?
All in all the book is a refreshing and inspiring take on popular music which succeeds in its aim to broaden out understandings of what counts as political and what such music can achieve. I enjoyed it very much. The book also acts as a listening guide and when you read it you should take time to find and listen to the artists under discussion. This will greatly add to your understanding of the topics under discussion, as well as providing you with hours of listening pleasure.
