What was up with the 2010s? And ELVIS?
For this blog I wanted to highlight three artists and their poor choices, two more recent and one so called "legend". First I wanted to talk about Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" music video. In the video Katy Perry presents herself as Cleopatra and dresses her backup dancers as Egyptians and Pharaohs. In addition to this song, at the 2013 American music awards, Perry performed in a kimono. Along with the traditional clothing Perry also wore her hair and makeup in a way that would "imitate" an Asian woman. Next I want to talk about Selena Gomez's video for her song "Come and get it", in the video Gomez uses traditional Hindi music in the background and she dresses up in traditional clothing (mostly pictured in the cover for the piece). Last but not least I wanted to talked about the infamous Elvis Presley. When we look at the pieces of Elvis a few may come to mind. "Hound Dog", "Baby, let's play house", "Don't be cruel", and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" are all pieces created by Black bands and songs. Elvis' brand was built on the intentional appropriation of black culture. Everything from his dance moves to his lyrics were taken by black artists. I encourage everyone to look up the videos on YouTube, the videos provided are not the exact versions described in this text.
Hey Noelia, apart from "Hound Dog" I did not know these songs by Elvis. It is sad to see how Elvis is being given credit for a lot of these songs and the aspects that go with them when, in reality, he just stole them from other black musicians and bands. The way he would so blatantly steal the music and no one blinks an eye is sad. A lot of older people see him as the best musician that has ever lived but do not know how he came up with the ideas for his songs. There should be something done to get these black artists the credit they deserve.
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ReplyDeleteHi Noelia and thank you for such an inspiring post! Growing up surrounded by 2010s mainstream radio and in a place where cultural appropriation is never discussed, I was late to realize how much wrong these artists have done. It seems so dystopian, yet videos like "Dark Horse" generate millions of dollars on YouTube while monuments in Egypt are almost crumbling from the lack of rehabilitation funds. Talking about Elvis, it is sad that people see him as such an unique, inspirational icon, and in the meantime his music was often times inspired/copied from African-American artists who never got recognized.