Tag Archive for "Royals"

Posts Tagged Royals

Feministing Jamz: Listen to this awesome cover of Lorde’s “Royals”

If you remember, Vero’s post about the Grammy award-winning song “Royals” kinda blew up the Interwebs by pointing out the cognitive flaw in Lorde’s cultural critique of music, youth, and consumer culture.

Vero rightly pointed out something that didn’t sit well with me either. The concern I shared with Vero was that while the lyrics serve as a valid critique of the excessive consumerism in hip hop (and the entire music industry, really), for casual listeners, they run the danger of becoming just a racialized backhanded indictment. Lorde’s “Royals” definitely made me wince in places even though I kind of liked the song in a fairly meh music season of 2013 (before King Bey blew everything up and ...

Vero

By Verónica Bayetti Flores • 10 years ago

A little more on Lorde, Royals, and Racism

So, my piece last week about Lorde’s song “Royals” being racist? BLEW. UP. Mostly I’ve received a barrage of personal attacks, but a few folks have asked genuine questions that are important to address.

First, it feels important (if obvious) to state that Feministing is a U.S.-based site and has a predominantly U.S.-based readership. Because that is the audience of this blog, it is the audience I believed would be reading my initial post. Clearly it has reached a much wider audience now, one that does not necessarily have a full understanding of the context from which I am writing. To be completely clear: my critique focuses on how the song lands in the United States.

Lorde’s Royals is ...

First, it ...

By Verónica Bayetti Flores • 10 years ago

Wow, that Lorde song Royals is racist

Have you heard this young lady, Lorde, on the radio? Yesterday the New York Times posted a review of her recent performance at Webster Hall, and I’m kind of at a loss about the way that her big hit, Royals, is being talked about there and elsewhere. Now I’m a music lover, but since the only radio stations I listen to are the local hip hop station and NPR, I hadn’t heard this one – which I hear has been making the rounds on pop stations for a minute – until somewhat recently:

(Full transcript of lyrics at the end of post)

Folks who have spent some time with me know that I deeply love music videos, so when I saw ...

Have you heard this young lady, Lorde, on the radio? Yesterday the New York Times posted a review of her recent performance at Webster Hall, and I’m kind of at a loss about the way that ...