1st Edition
The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music and Gender
Why is gender inseparable from pop songs? What can gender representations in musical performances mean? Why are there strong links between gender, sexuality and popular music? The sound of the voice, the mix, the arrangement, the lyrics and images, all link our impressions of gender to music. Numerous scholars writing about gender in popular music to date are concerned with the music industry’s impact on fans, and how tastes and preferences become associated with gender. This is the first collection of its kind to develop and present new theories and methods in the analysis of popular music and gender. The contributors are drawn from a range of disciplines including musicology, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, philosophy, and media studies, providing new reference points for studies in this interdisciplinary field. Stan Hawkins’s introduction sets out to situate a variety of debates that prompts ways of thinking and working, where the focus falls primarily on gender roles. Amongst the innovative approaches taken up in this collection are: queer performativity, gender theory, gay and lesbian agency, the female pop celebrity, masculinities, transculturalism, queering, transgenderism and androgyny. This Research Companion is required reading for scholars and teachers of popular music, whatever their disciplinary background.
1. Introduction: Sensing Gender in Popular Music Stan Hawkins PART 1 Masculinities, Femininities, Community and Transcultural Practice 2. Growing up to be a rapper? Justin Bieber’s duet with Ludacris as transcultural practice Barbara Bradby 3. "Where we going Johnny?" Homosociality and the early Beatles Matthew Bannister 4. From Throat Singing to Transcultural Expression: Tanya Tagaq’s Katajjaq Musical Signature Sophie Stévance 5. Spectres of Masculinity: Markers of Vulnerability and Nostalgia in Johnny Cash Eirik Askerøi PART 2 Audiovisuality, Sex(uality), Women, and the Politics of Looking 6. "You mean I can make a tv show?": Web series, assertive music, and African American women producers Anahid Kassabian 7. Holding on for Dear Life: Gender, Celebrity Status, and Vulnerability-on-Display in Sia’s ‘Chandelier’ Kai Arne Hansen 8. Gender, Sexuality and the Politics of Looking in Beyoncé’s ‘Video Phone’ (Featuring Lady Gaga) Lori Burns and Marc Lafrance 9. ‘Working It’: Female Masculinity and Missy Elliott Marita B. Djupvik PART 3 Vernacular Soundscapes, Narratives and Stardom 10. High Notes, High Drama: Musical Climaxes and Gender Politics in Tenor Heroes and Broadway Women Freya Jarman 11. The Gendered Narratives of Nobodies and Somebodies in the Popular Music Economy Keith Negus 12. ‘Staging the street boy’: Transculturalism, Realness, and Hypermasculinity in the Norwegian Rapper Jesse Jones Birgitte Sandve 13. Fairport Convention: Gender and Voicing Strategies in a Sound Signature Tor Dybo 14. ‘I Don’t Play Girly House Music’: Women, Sonic Stereotyping and the Dancing DJ Tami Gadir PART 4 Gender, Race and the Female Celebrity 15. ‘A Woman’s Place’: Staging Femininity in Live Music from Jenny Lind to the Jazz Age Steve Waksman 16. BEYONCÉ: Hip Hop Feminism and the Embodiment of Black Femininity Marquita R. Smith 17. Performing Race and Gender: Erykah Badu Between Post-Soul and Afrofuturism Erik Steinskog 18. ‘Armed with the faith of a child’: Marit Larsen and strategies of faking Jon Mikkel Broch Ålvik 19. ‘Singing from the Heart’: Notions of Gendered Authenticity in Pop Music Bridget Coulter PART 5 Challenging Hegemonic Practices: New Masculinities, Queerness, and Transgenderism 20. Doing Hip-Hop Masculinity Differently: Exploring Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak through Word, Sound, and Image Marc Lafrance, Lori Burns, and Alyssa Woods 21. Express Yourself! Gender Euphoria and Intersections Doris Leibetseder 22. Covering Transmedia: Temporal and Narrative Potential in Messy Musical Archives Craig Jennex and Maria Murphy 23. Confronting the Gender Trouble for Real: Mina Caputo, Metal Truth and Transgender Power Susanna Välimäki
Biography
Stan Hawkins is Professor of Musicology at the University of Oslo, Norway, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Agder, Norway. His research fields involve music analysis, popular musicology, gender and culture. From 2010-2014 he has led a Norwegian state-funded project, Popular Music and Gender in a Transcultural Context. He is author of Settling the Pop Score (2002), The British Pop Dandy (2009), and Prince: The Making of a Pop Music Phenomenon (2011). His edited volumes include Music, Space & Place (2004), Essays on Sound & Vision (2007), Pop Music & Easy Listening (2011), and Critical Musicological Reflections (2012). He is currently one of the General Editors for the Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series.
