Beyoncés Formation is one of her most popular songs but it is so much more than just a song. As a very big Beyoncé fan, she oozes confidence in everything she does, especially in her music. Formation is no different. It’s easy to listen to a song and disregard the words being said. When you take a close look at the lyrics you can see Beyoncé instilling confidence and power in women. The music video does this on an even greater scale. Women of all ages are primarily featured throughout the video. Beyoncé herself is depicted in a variety of settings with both men and women surrounding her. However, Beyoncé is the center of attention and the men standing by her side know this. In other words, Beyoncé is a badass. She knows her worth and is extremely confident in herself and her abilities. She is an icon. Formation is just one of several tracks that empowers women in a variety of ways. Something I have always admired about Beyoncé is that to me, she intertwines music with social justice almost flawlessly. Haters will always be there to judge and pick apart her lyrics and music videos but at the end of the day, she doesn’t care one bit. Music can be an extremely powerful tool. It can bring people together from all backgrounds and all walks of life.

I have seen both of these music videos before and am very familiar with the songs. I remember when these songs came out, as I have been a fan of both Beyonce and Childish Gambino for a while. Beyonce is obviously an icon in modern pop culture, and because she has built up her platform so strongly, she is able to reach an extremely large and diverse audience. I agree with the reading where it states that she has “earned her right to claim her spot among the greats.” Beyonce is an icon of strength and confidence for women and specifically black women across the globe. She uses her music as an expressive outlet to show off her culture and background, which is particularly inspiring. The article also says that the video is a visual rewrite of history where black people win, which I think is an interesting point that I would have missed when viewing on my own. 

Childish Gambino, an artist with a smaller platform than Beyonce (as most artists do), has still arguably had just as significant a cultural impact. When This is America Came Out, I remember walking into school and everyone was talking about it. As the “Slaying New Black Notions” article states, “violence against black bodies is a foundational practice in America and has cultivated the grounds for our current disregard in the face of mass shootings.”  The video really is a powerful narrative about black oppression and gun violence which contributed to a national cultural conversation. Before seeing the music video, I just kinda bopped to the song without even listening to the lyrics or understanding the cultural impact. But now, I can’t hear this song without seeing the video in my head and I almost want to describe it as haunting. 

I found the podcast interesting as well. I love to examine the meaning behind pop culture and music, because as we have been discussing in class, entertainment is really never just for entertainment. There is always a history and analysis to be examined. Specifically, the songs showed in the podcast and the two music videos assigned addressed social/racial injustice and celebration of black heritage. I love how music and the messages songs can hold retain relevance through generations. Music from the prohibition was literally a century ago yet the songs chosen by Dr. Bezio still have meaning to society today. I like thinking about music as a form of storytelling.

I am a huge music person, so evaluating the history of music, especially its political significance has been very enlightening. As said in the podcast, music has been utilized to convey political messages for hundreds of years, most notably, for me is during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was an extremely unpopular war and it generated a very high level of discontent among young people, translating into protests. Artists channeled this frustration and anger towards the government into songwriting, and I think that’s a very powerful tool. Still, music continues to be a very powerful source to convey important messages. Beyonce and Childish Gambino are some of the most influential and important artists of our generation  therefore, their position as leaders makes their messages that more influential. Both singers utilize their platforms to call attention to social issues, specifically racism and police brutality. The music videos for “Formation” and “This is America” are still as impactful as the first time I watched them, illustrating their power as symbolic activism through music.

Watching the music video for “This Is America” was just so engrossing and eye opening for me, especially after not having watched it since it debuted several years ago. Combining that viewing experience with reading the commentary on the video and son by Lamar Osman was very powerful. It is truly amazing the massive amounts of allegories, references, and motifs that Gambino and Hiro Murai stuff into the barely four minute runtime of the song. Allegories to police brutality and hate crimes towards Black Americans are the most vivid and apparent, and obviously the most compelling. But what struck me the most was the commentary of the frenetic, high velocity pace of the video. It truly is a reference to the fast paced world we live in this days; constantly overwhelmed by never ending streams of information, having to keep up with new and increasingly shocking tales of hate and violence every day. That allegory was something I certainly missed n my first viewing all those years ago, but it could not be more relevant now after nearly a year of protests for social justice as large as the original civil rights movement.

On the podcast, I found the ties between jazz and prohibition incredibly fascinating. It is one of those things that made complete logical sense, that I had never really considered before. Of course speakeasies were the perfect way for disadvantaged Black musicians to play at- too risky for white musicians. Jazz clubs and speakeasies were an incredibly interesting time period and “experiment” so to speak in racial integration. What better to bring people together than brand new, bopping Jazz music and alcohol; music and booze being one of the great uniting forces between people in my own anecdotal experience. And since the speakeasies were illegal, who was going to enforce policies of segregation? Not the bar owners in most cases, why would they turn down more money and more entertainment? Of course, policies of segregation would inevitably come back to bars once alcohol was officially legalized again in 1933, but this microcosm of minute integration in America is truly a fascinating time period for me.

The most interesting thing I read for today’s class came from the Beysthetics reading, which talks about the way Beyonce “has earned the right to claim her spot among the greats”, and it is because she has earned the right that she is able to elevate her family and her lineage. It’s kind of patronizing the way it seems she only gets to talk about her lineage positively because she has worked her way to the top of the music industry. And it’s not just her own specific lineage but that of all black people that she feels like they can only be raised up now at this point in her career. While she most definitely has earned the right to do pretty much anything, I don’t think this is something in which a right needs to be earned.

In terms of the podcast, I was shocked by how important music really is for so many different reasons. I obviously know that music is a universal language and brings people together, so it is important in that regard, but its association with protest is something I hadn’t ever thought of before. It is used for propaganda, to communicate to others, and to convince people to join your side. The way music changes with the times and the way one song can make such a difference is mind blowing. But in watching the Formation and This is America music videos I realized how important it is to listen to the lyrics. Something can sound like pop and pure entertainment, but the words are deeper than the surface and they can make people feel things and change minds. This brings me back to our previous discussion on context, which goes for music as well. The meaning behind lyrics of songs is dependent entirely on the time period, the artist, and the intended audience. Taking songs out of their context strips them of their meaning, so we must make an effort to understand the context of music in addition to just listening to the words.

I really liked this weeks material and topic. I have never fully recognized the power of music, as I had always kind of viewed it as another form of speech. Oddly enough, I believed that singing was just a product of the written and spoken word- just another way for people to talk. When in reality, Bezio’s podcast and the works of both Beyonce and Childish Gambino both prove that songs have a unique capability of expressing ideas. In a lot of ways, it seems as though there are some messages that will carry the most weight as a song. I think about what is said in This is America, and if you look at the content of the song, it is no different than what Malcom X, MLK, and countless other civil rights activists have been saying for a long time. However, I guarantee you that for a lot of people, This is America is the first time they really recognized their own privilege and the systemic forms of racism that Black Americans have to experience every single day. There also seems to be a great irony in the fact that the US is not willing to acknowledge systemic racism as a whole, but This is America has over 770 MILLION views. If even HALF of those people demanded justice for the murder of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, or the countless other victims of police brutality, maybe their families/ communities would know justice.

I really liked the discussion of music in today’s podcast. Like we have previously talked about pop culture, music can often just be written off as entertainment that has no real value but the songs we listened to for today and the couple that Dr. Bezio brought up in the podcast, clearly shows that is not the case. Music can be used to comment on social or political issues, like with example we heard referencing opposition to the Vietnam War, as well as further a social movement, as we heard examples of music associated with the civil rights movement. Music can be very powerful because it can help us remember words or messages.

This was actually the first time I listened to Childish Gambino’s song “This is America”. I decided to listen to the song and watch the video before reading the accompanying article so I did not know what to expect. The music video caught me off guard from the very beginning when Childish Gambino quickly shot the person sitting in the chair in the back of the head. Especially since society often wants to think the things that represent America are positive, and the events of the music video are so clearly not. The music video as a whole kind of made me feel uncomfortable but that was the whole point. If we continue to ignore problems in society simply because they make us uncomfortable, no change will be made. Only by bringing these issues to light can we have public discourse on the issues that work to make change. A particularly shocking moment to me in the music video was when Childish Gambino catches the assault rifle and shoots the church choir. After doing the reading to provide me some context, I understand that this was supposed to reference the massacre in a Charleston church. I think this was a powerful decision because it is making the clear connection between the message of the song and real life events. While the song on its own definitely is still powerful, without closely listening to the lyrics I understand how it could be easy for someone to write it off as simply a song. This goes back to the importance of close-reading and analyzing pop culture because I am sure I have listened to many songs that are meant to have a powerful message that I could have overlooked.

Music is a really interesting way for everything from emotions to announcements to be conveyed. I have always enjoyed music in a two fold way in that it can simply be something playing in the background that is nice to listen to, or it can hold immense power if you really give it the chance. Beyonce’s “Formation”, and the entirety of Lemonade, fall into the category of power. Through her music, Beyonce is able to address issues of social justice and race relations while further the creation of her brand as an artist. I think that because Beyonce was already immensely famous by the time she released this album, she had wiggle room for there to be backlash. It is likely much easier for her as an established Artist to use her craft as a way to get across a message than it would be for someone who is first trying to break into the scene of music. Nevertheless, artists always take risks when they put more than a fun beat into their music. Using such a publicized thing to get across standpoints on different issues can mean putting yourself out there for criticism and dislike from the public. However, I think as the reading mentioned, Beyonce has created her own brand and ascetic. This was first done through her music, but then everything from endorsements, to products, to performances, to social media have been used to shape her image. The facework that Beyonce does to maintain her brand is really interesting as it al conveys a deeper message. This reminded me of the idea of close reading and how in a way, we can either closely listen to or simply skim a song. Lyrics are like the message from an author and can have a lot to say about the artist and the culture of the time.

We have talked in class a lot about how important it is to evaluate pieces of pop culture, such as a song, within their historical context. Today, music videos commonly accompany popular songs, but not every song gets a music video. Furthermore, I think it is fair to assume that not every song’s music video is expected to be watched as often as the song is likely to be listened to, and listening to the song will probably happen for most before they watch the music video.

With a song like Childish Gambino’s “This is America,” its music video provides context for the song that is easily missed by solely listening. We talked last week about how entertainment is never just entertainment. I think that music especially can be hard to think about the weight of the lyrics if the tune is catchy. However, I wonder if that is Gambino’s message. In just listening to the upbeat tunes that transcend the length of the song, it can easy to miss what the lyrics are really saying. When coupling it with its music video, which is made for the purpose of showing what Gambinos hopes to associate his song with,  his message rings loud and clear: the reality for Black Americans in America is hidden, missed, ignored, coated over, and so on… Furthermore, Gambino’s juxtaposition of upbeat tunes. supported with dancing and happy expressions, with the actual lyrics talking about what America really is reveals the expectations put on Black Americans to accept injustice and continue on with a smile, in the same way that Reconstruction attempted to reframe slaves as happy in their enslavement, and not ready for full emancipation, hence the need for Jim Crow laws.

Ladan Osman’s essay gives an even more detailed interpretation of the music video in the context of August 2018. She makes references to pop culture, like Vine in describing the casualness of the students dancing behind Gambino, and Grand Theft Auto in describing the commotion of veering cars and people waving objects (a video game that normalizes violence), and an ode to the Charleston church massacre. Therefore, in taking into account the ways in which Gambino’s scenes and music work in the context of 2018, his music video delivers an even stronger message. Looking back at the video from 2021, his message about America is even more relevant as police brutality increases more each day, and as justice continues to be denied, life goes on.

I have always loved music. Songs allow us to transport to another world and connect us emotionally. While lyrics might not always be understood by everyone, we all can connect to the mood, tone, and feeling embedded in music. I have never really understood just how long songs have been around until Dr. Bezio stated her belief that humans could have been singing before they were talking/writing. While it seems weird to think about them like this, it makes sense. As I already stated, music is a way to connect us. I think this the exact reasons that certain songs have become known for their impact on movements. One thing that I could not stop thinking about is how pop culture and social media have made huge impacts on this. I am sure that we all (or at least those of us who actively use the social media app TikTok) remember the trend of making videos on the BLM protests using a handful of songs (one being a “This Is America” remix, etc.). In any sense, those sound clips are instantly recognizable and deeply tied to the movement. Songs convey messages and allow us to understand each other’s pain. They also connect us to other emotions, like joy and love. I think you can tell a lot about what is important in a time period by the music that was popular (aka a subset of pop culture). Like Bezio mentioned about “It Don’t Mean a Thing” by Ellington, there is a lot of history that goes along with songs, instead of just what the song is literally saying. To understand a song is to understand why it was written and what about it made/makes it so popular.