As long as music has existed, those who make music take to their songs to express their feelings on the political climate. But since the early 2000s, the way the media, especially conservative media, handles those who “step out of line” and talk politics when it’s “not their job to” is not with kindness. So how are musicians making politics more accessible for their fans?
With the current tumultuous political climate, musicians working to make politics more accessible to their fans, especially of younger generations, is more important now than ever. We’re looking into the artists who have gone above and beyond to make politics easily digestible to their hordes of fans while the US education system continues to focus on bare minimum history lessons.
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If you enjoyed this episode of Name 3 Songs, we think you’ll also enjoy these ones: Challenging Masculinity: A History of Gender Expression in Music & Blackfishing, Cultural Appropriation and the Jesy Nelson Situation
Sources for How Musicians are Making Politics Accessible
We need music to be political, not just entertaining (The Big Think by Derek Beres, 2020)
Sept. 11 brought America together. Today’s crises are driving us apart. (The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jonathan Tamari, Sept 2021)
Engaging Young People in Politics (PBS, Bushra Amiwalam, 2020)
What Teenagers Have Learned From a Tumultuous Time in Politics (New York Times, Claire Cain Miller, 2021)
Musicians discuss politics because they have identities beyond being entertainers (Eugene Scott, Washington Post, Jan 2018)
Conservatives love ‘music without the politics’ … except when musicians are pro-GOP (Washington Post, Eugene Scott, Jan 2018)
8 Female Musicians Talk About The Power Of Political Songs (Elle, 2016)
Instead of focusing on Billie’s body, we should be admiring her political influence (The Forty Five, Jenessa Williams, Oct 2020)
Voter registration reportedly spikes after Taylor Swift post (CNN, Lisa Respers France, Oct 2018)
It’s Taylor Swift versus Kanye West again (CNN Lisa Respers France, Oct 2018)
How Cardi B Became the Political Advocate We Need During These Unprecedented Times (ET, Manuel Bentacort, September 2020)
Cardi B and Bernie Sanders’s video, and her longstanding interest in politics, explained (Vox, Tara Golshan and Emily Stewart, Aug 2019)
Here’s Why Cardi B Isn’t Talking About Politics As Much As She Used To (Billboard, Heran Mamo, Oct 2021)
Lady Gaga on Pop, Politics, and the Power of Women (Glamour, Christopher Rosa, 2017)
Is Lady Gaga a republican or democrat? (The Sun, Jan 2021)
Killer Mike Still Believes Bernie Sanders Can Start a Revolution (The New Yorker, Charles Bethea, Sept 2019)
Dua Lipa talks universal healthcare with Bernie Sanders: “We Brits consider the NHS a right” (NME, Nick Reilly, Oct 2020)
Singer Halsey’s speech at the women’s march in NY is a war cry that was long overdue (The News Minute, 2018)
The Intertwined Relationship Between Music And Politics (Live For Live Music by Rex Thomson, 2016)
The Voice of the People: The Influence of Music on Politics (Thesis for William Jessup University by Chelsea Ashworth)