In both of the articles and the podcast, I noticed that while the discussion centered the role of music and songs, these were closely linked to the visuals attached to the music, making it about more than just the song itself. Tanish C. Fords article mentions how Beyonce coined the term “visual album.” While “This is America” is only one song, and each of the songs mentioned in the podcast are primarily individual songs, this term demonstrates how music moves beyond just audio to a greater sensory experience that provides even more context than the music alone. Even before music videos existed, the way Dr. Bezio discusses the prominence of jazz music in speak-easys\u2014create a visual and then providing an example of the music\u2014demonstrates how strongly tied music is to the experiences it references or spaces it exists in. This is particularly true about the relationship between music and protest.<\/p>\n
The use of song as protest is something that I have always found particularly interesting, especially in relation to dance the discussion in both articles of how Beyonce and Childish Gambino incorporate dance in their music video to create an even more powerful message. Ladan Osman describes the beginning of the music video for “This is America” as “<\/span>annihilating a root in black music. [Then] Moments later, Gambino slays the heart of a black optimism. And he keeps dancing, assuring us there\u2019s no sanctuary.” Meanwhile, Tanisha C. Ford discusses how Beyonce’s performance of the “signature shoulder shrug choreography to “Run the World” on tour are an example of the image the Beyonce has created as she has developed her brand, moving away from working under her father to owning her own production company. Gambino’s use of dance further promotes the specific message of the music video surrounding the way racial violence has become normalized in American society, specifically related to the shooting in Charleston. Beyonce’s use of dance in her performance engages a broader message surrounding Beyonce’s overall image and identity as a black female artist. Both of these uses engage music and dance as a means of bringing a conscious and intentional message, which is crucial to any protest or movement, which I think is part of why music is such a powerful medium for protests and movements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In both of the articles and the podcast, I noticed that while the discussion centered the role of music and songs, these were closely linked to the visuals attached to the music, making it about more than just the song itself. Tanish C. Fords article mentions how Beyonce coined the term “visual album.” While “This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4601,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41194],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading-responses"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4601"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7445,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7437\/revisions\/7445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}