There is no dominant cultural stabilizer or one ruling ideal across the world. We are able to exchange ideas and share information instantaneously through social media. We are by nature relativists; society is easily prone to continually change. Music is an expression of culture, and an important one at that. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said that “….music is the universal language of mankind”. Musician Moby said, “Music provides us with a strange self-generated celebration of the human condition in the face of a universe that is ancient and vast beyond our understanding”. This is why music is able to unify groups of people and express common emotions. Certain songs may become “anthems” for particular generations , such as how Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” became a response to the uncertainty of the Vietnam War. Changing music trends reflect the changes that we see in our cultural ideals. And 2016 was definitely a year for changing cultural ideals. To name a few of the key events that occurred in 2016: the election; Baltimore police officer Edward Nero was acquitted of all charges in the Freddie Gray case that sparked Black Lives Matter protests around the country; the deadly shooting at primarily gay Orlando nightclub Pulse; and the deaths of great musical legends such as Prince and David Bowie. Instances like these make individuals question the way they feel about race, gender, sexuality, etcetera, and the songs of 2016 seek to find answers.
It is also undeniable that music videos change as music changes.
Race, Femininity, Sexuality: Beyonce’s Lemonade
Beyoncé has no doubt been one of the biggest musicians to stir up talk about race, femininity, and sexuality. After her “***Flawless” video featured a series of samples from Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s speech “We Should All Be Feminists”, Beyoncé inspired discussions about feminism among a large portion of her listeners. She proudly takes charge of the conversation around her heritage, and with her 2016 release of “Formation” and her subsequent Lemonade album, she inspired discussion about current and historical racial tensions in the USA. Beyoncé’s videos are equally as thought-provoking. “Formation” won best Music Video at the 2016 59th Grammy Awards. This is reminiscent of another groundbreaking black former musician whose music videos inspired discussions about race- Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson’s thriller caused a controversy at MTV. The network came under fire for its lack of black artists. MTV executives worried that viewers would not like Michael Jackson and that their primarily white audience would be uncomfortable with black musicians’ music videos on television. After Michael Jackson’s thriller premiered on MTV on December 2, 1983, executives changed their tune. Walter Yetnikoff, who was the head of Jackson’s record label at the time, wrote in his autobiography, “Howling at the Moon,” that:
“I screamed bloody murder when MTV refused to air his videos. They argued that their format, white rock, excluded Michael’s music. I argued they were racist (jerks) — and I’d trumpet it to the world if they didn’t relent… With added pressure from Quincy Jones, they caved in, and in doing so the MTV color line came crashing down.”
Jackson’s music videos helped lead to the wider recognition of Lionel Richie, Prince, and Billy Ocean. The influence of Michael Jackson’s incredible music videos influenced the programming of black musicians and their music videos, and society has never since been the same because of it. This brings us back to Beyoncé Knowles and her album Lemonade.
Rolling Stone listed Lemonade as its top music video of 2016. Since the full Lemonade visual album is over an hour long, our group studied the most watched of the three of her Lemonade videos listed on Youtube for the general public- “Hold Up”. After coding “Hold Up” and reading through some of the video’s comments on Youtube, there are a couple of ways that “Hold Up” can be sociologically examined. The first is as a powerful tribute to black women. The second is as a sexually objectifying music video that creates insecurity in young women’s bodily self-perception.
I will first analyze the content as a powerful tribute to black women. According to Mashable, Knowles also makes reference of Oshun, a Yoruba goddess of water, fertility, love, sensuality. Desta, Yohana. “Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ is a powerful tribute to black girls everywhere”. Mashable. This can be seen Oshun is the goddess of love, beauty and womanhood who dwells in rivers and freshwater. She is often depicted wearing yellow. Beyoncé wears an incredible Roberto Cavalli yellow dress in “Hold Up”, and begins the video standing in a doorway with water flooding behind her. She then walks among the water, and onto her revenge and destruction.
Right: Beyoncé in “Hold Up”; Left: African Yoruba goddess Oshun
This may be intentional, or it may be coincidental, but there is no doubt that “Hold Up” inspires conversations about feminine power- especially in black women.
Throughout the comments section of the video, there were many discussions about the meanings behind the video’s images. Here is one clip of a comment that started a 120-comment discussion the cultural references in the video.
Even in the most simplest of forums, Beyoncé is creating an area for people from different races, countries, genders, and religions to get together and talk about race and femininity. This may be one reason why she is a role model for thousands of men and women around the world.
This brings us to analyzing the content of the video as a sexually objectifying music video that creates insecurity in young women’s bodily self-perception. Many criticize her for sending the message that sexuality is a huge part of self worth. Kristin Lieb writes in “Gender, branding, and the Modern Music Industry: The Social Construction of Female Popular Music Stars” that A consequence of living in a sexually objectifying culture is self-objectification, a cognitively taxing preoccupation with one’s appearance. And it is undeniable that Beyonce is a role model to younger women. Comments on the “Hold Up” comments section revealed many women, particularly young women, expressing that Beyoncé is their role model. Here is a 10 year old expressing her love for Mrs. Carter:
In researching the influence of sexually objectifying music video exposure on young women, I found an article that suggests that body image is a flexible construct, and young women’s implicit bodily self perception and self esteem are influenced heavily by videos of “sexy” women. And Beyoncé definitely embodies a “sexy” woman in this video (her breasts are prominently displayed as she struts down the street as men watch and admire)- not to mention the entire visual Lemonade album.- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1740144512001106
So the real question is, does Beyonce’s video empower or negatively impact her followers? I would have to conclude that it does a little of both.
Nostalgia, Desire for Change, Discussions of Race: Solange’s “Cranes in the Sky”
Speaking of Knowles, 2016 brought about another powerful music video that brings about discussions of race. This video is “Cranes in the Sky” by Solange Knowles. Lyrically, the song describes a person looking to distract themselves from an unaddressed sadness. Solange explained to SongExploder in 2017 that the song explains a situation where sudden economic growth turned a once quiet town into a construction-infested city where mechanical cranes block the view of the scenery. She says, “Like so much of America, [in that town] there was just so much real estate development. And, literally everywhere that I looked, I saw a crane in the sky. You could not look down any street without seeing dozens and dozens of them, and it felt very heavy. They were an eyesore […] and so disruptive to a place that I found peace in.”
Koontz, Christian (January 16, 2017). “Solange Breaks Down The Making of “Cranes In The Sky””. SongExploder. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
The video, however, doesn’t really mention economic real-estate growth. Instead, it addresses restlessness and a story of resilience within black culture. Certain images such as:
All in all, Solange’s video is one of the top of 2016 because it is a celebration of self acceptance, which was a major political and social theme during 2016.
Nostalgia: PUP, “Sleep in the Heat”
There is no doubt that nostalgia was running theme throughout the year 2016. Solange demonstrated a want for a peaceful place that she was unable to return to. Many people felt the same way this past year. In fact, the vein of nostalgia in America is what helped place Donald Trump to the executive seat with his slogan “Make America Great Again”. Nostalgia is a very powerful emotion that affected music videos 2016.
Before examining the theme of Nostalgia in Canadian punk group PUP’s music video “Sleep in the Heat”, it is necessary to dive into the psychology of nostalgia itself and the effect it has on music and its listeners. Nostalgia is described by Merriam Webster’s dictionary as a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition. No doubt we felt this as we watched Black Lives Matter riots, nightclub shootings, or favorite music legends like Prince and David Bowie pass away. http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/emo/12/4/678/ studied the effects of nostalgia on emotion and psychological comfort- especially the effects of music evoked nostalgia. According to the study, nostalgia is a predominantly positive and social emotion, and recent evidence suggests that nostalgia maintains psychological comfort. The researchers also found that nostalgia ‘modulates the interoceptive feeling of temperature’, which means that higher levels of nostalgia increased physical warmth. This was especially true for nostalgia evoked by music.
This is where PUP’s music video comes into play. Rolling Stone describes the video as a tale about companionship and sacrifice. The video no doubt evokes the despondency that we all feel when it comes to losing a loved one. Lead vocalist Stefan Babcock wrote it after his pet chameleon, Norman, died. Knowing that, the song feels familiar as most of us have experienced a beloved pet’s passing.
Maybe nostalgia explains Trump’s “Make America Great Again”, and why it resonated with so many people (despite the controversial-at-best actions and words of now-President Donald Trump). The most important word in that phrase is “again”. Alan Levinovitz, an assistant professor of religion at James Madison University, says that the word “again” implies that “People want to believe that they are part of the greatest nation, that redemption is around the corner, that a perfect nation in which no suffering happens is possible”. http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2016/11/30/nostalgia_narratives_and_the_history_of_the_good_ol_days_we_ve_lamented.html
Though the current social and political changes may be negatively affecting people wishing for simpler times, this is not to say that the changes that are occurring right now are in themselves negative. Personally, I believe that right now is a time that positive change is taking place for many people. There have been many milestones in the past year for those fighting for racial and/or gender equality. In this next video, I will be discussing the positive images of gender displays and homosexuality portrayed in the Internet’s video for their song “ Special Affair/Curse”.
Gender Displays and Homosexuality: Internet, “Special Affair/Curse”
“Premised on gender difference, heterosexuality is one of the key mechanisms through which women and men learn to embody gender. Given women’s subordinate position, much of what makes a woman traditionally feminine is her ability and desire to attract a man” (Hamilton, 147,“Trading on Heterosexuality”).
Gender displays are “the product of social doings of somesort” (West and Zimmerman 1987:129). Gender displays are behaviors including dress, walk, talk, how one holds oneself, what one talks about, whether one talks, expressions of interests, and so. A person displays gender in interaction with others to dramatize or otherwise indicate to an audience the gender status to which s/he belongs.