Seeing racism everywhere: Why Lorde is not a racist An international war of words has broken out over a New Zealand pop stars chart-topping single, after an American blogger labeled the track racist. The singer -- who sings about rejecting the trappings of consumerism in Royals and has admonished fellow pop star Selena Gomez for being insufficiently feminist -- has won plaudits from critics as a refreshing presence in the charts. But not everyone is a fan. The track was the songwriters response to the images of unattainable luxury often conveyed through a U.S.-dominated pop culture. Race vs gender vs class. It’s a modern political struggle that is all tied up in a minor controversy over an international pop hit by fast-rising New Zealand musical artist Lorde. Her song Royals – you can watch the excellent video here – is being accused of racism on a US feminist website. The song itself is broadly about social class and inequality, and so the fracas is pitching liberal against liberal with New Zealand politicos mostly coming to Lorde’s defence on Twitter and in the blogosphere. Its a peculiar thing. At a time when the worst manifestations of racial oppression have lessened in countries like New Zealand – many liberals and leftists see racism lurking around every corner. And they see it as their role to expose it. Just recently Miley Cyrus was loudly condemned for apparently appropriating black culture when she engaged in twerking at the MTV Video Music Awards. These complaints speak as if the melding and fusing of different cultures must be negative. In reality everything in contemporary culture comes from some of kind of fusion that involves ‘appropriation’. Rock music itself represents a merger of different forms of music and cultural traditions.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 13:56:09 +0000
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