Kendra Brea Cooper
This years group of nominees have been on the stage for quite some time, carrying well crafted images with them. There are sides to these talented women that stand out beyond their stage presence. Here are some of the things that create them, inspire them, and drive them.
Ariana Grande doesn't consume animal products. She has been vocal in the past about how it has been difficult in her Italian household to maintain a vegan lifestyle, which is important because a lot of vegans face cultural and traditional pressures. Sometimes what you choose to consume is political and an act of resistance.
Ariana has commented on the 50s and 60s as being her favourite decades and inspiration for her style. Both these decades have personalities attached to them, personalities that have been crafted by popular culture. The 50s continue to be re-imagined as traditional and "simple", and the 60s (especially in the late), are seen as the start of a resistance to the status quo. While this is a very simplistic view of those decades, it seems that Ariana has carved her image out of these ideas.
Taylor made fun of herself and her dirty laundry with her monologue on Saturday Night Live. This girl tells the story of her life through her lyrics, and that's likely why she's so popular. Despite her fame and fortune, she has somehow remained relatable through her broken relationships and her willingness to be open about them.
Many scoff at the idea of kissing and telling, but people have been doing it forever. There are many reasons for exposing your "diary", reasons from relief to revenge, and I'm sure Swift has them all in mind. Taylor Swift is the image of the romantic, but in a way she challenges our romantic notions of relationships, which is both painful and freeing. She might be changing the romantic idea altogether.
Recently, during her huge MTV VMA performance, Beyonce used the massive screen behind her to display the word "feminist" in bold letters. While some criticize her feminism for all different reasons, the mass exposure to a word that is villainized, shunned, and often attacked is still important for keeping the idea on the table. She took a stand that said this word isn't going away any time soon.
Beyonce's alter ego "Sasha Fierce" has been around for awhile now, but her creation of another self, one born out of performance, is still very fascinating. She used Sasha to experience the stage in a different, more confident way.
Jagged Little Pill is one of the most recognized (for good and bad) albums of the 90s. There was something different in her lyrics, they strayed from the ultra-romantic and veered more into the feelings of confusion while living the contradictions and complexities of being a young adult.
It's obvious in her documentary that her rise to fame and what came with it also came with an inner push and pull from her religious upbringing. This is often the case for people who feel the need to challenge the ideas that raised them, they carry a certain anxiety about it.
Many took NIcki's lyrics " I'm a Republican, voting for Mitt Romney/you lazy bches fking up the economy" as a Mitt Romney endorsement, but this really seemed more like a mockery of the reasons for voting for him, and even our culture's ideas of what and who is "lazy." All of this is tied into her use of alter egos; an excellent source of discovery and satire.
She is an outspoken and very talented female artist, she should be there and everywhere.
Pop culture and all that ideology sitting in the blind spot. Also crafts.
