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Hey, friends! In this episode we're talking about Josh Kun's term: audiotopia. An idea that names popular music's ability to create utopias for listeners, speak back to American racial hierarchies, and challenge nationalist narratives.
Before we give you the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) of Kun's Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America, we explore the boundary-pushing ability of music in our case study: the public censoring of the Shirelles' 1960 classic, “Will You Still Love me Tomorrow.” How dare a group of black women speak aloud their anxieties about sex and intimacy- blasphemy!
We talk about the audiotopias we create for ourselves. Kohar admits to making 700+ song playlists. Like, who does that?! And Iman flames Kohar for having boomer-adjacent music taste, while she describes herself as moving between the genres of house and hoe.
As always, we close out with our half-baked thoughts. The segment where we share ideas we haven't fleshed out, but stand fully behind. You'll just have to listen to the episode to hear those.
As a special treat (you're welcome), we created our own Audiotopic playlists. You can listen to Iman’s on Spotify and Kohar’s (much longer playlist) on Apple Music.
Where we Know From:Josh Kun, Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America by University of California Press, 2005.
'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow' Turns 50: An Interview with Beverly Lee," The Takeaway, 2011.
Ellon Green, "A Magical Ten Seconds of the Shirelles," The New Yorker, November 18, 2018.
Hey, friends! In this episode we're talking about Josh Kun's term: audiotopia. An idea that names popular music's ability to create utopias for listeners, speak back to American racial hierarchies, and challenge nationalist narratives.
Before we give you the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) of Kun's Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America, we explore the boundary-pushing ability of music in our case study: the public censoring of the Shirelles' 1960 classic, “Will You Still Love me Tomorrow.” How dare a group of black women speak aloud their anxieties about sex and intimacy- blasphemy!
We talk about the audiotopias we create for ourselves. Kohar admits to making 700+ song playlists. Like, who does that?! And Iman flames Kohar for having boomer-adjacent music taste, while she describes herself as moving between the genres of house and hoe.
As always, we close out with our half-baked thoughts. The segment where we share ideas we haven't fleshed out, but stand fully behind. You'll just have to listen to the episode to hear those.
As a special treat (you're welcome), we created our own Audiotopic playlists. You can listen to Iman’s on Spotify and Kohar’s (much longer playlist) on Apple Music.
Where we Know From:Josh Kun, Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America by University of California Press, 2005.
'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow' Turns 50: An Interview with Beverly Lee," The Takeaway, 2011.
Ellon Green, "A Magical Ten Seconds of the Shirelles," The New Yorker, November 18, 2018.