Ariana Grande recently abandoned her mainstream persona and utilized Black culture in her new music video for “7 Rings,” adding her to the list of white performers that seem to need Black culture to maintain their success. https://t.co/MlA4JTvNaU pic.twitter.com/TSljb6CtUY
— AFROPUNK (@afropunk) January 22, 2019
Ariana Grande is once again facing backlash for cultural appropriation. Black publication AfroPunk is calling out the singer for exploiting black culture to sell records, by releasing the trap-influenced new single '7 Rings'.
- The writer criticizes Grande for "emulating Black women and their likeness for social and financial gain" as "the epitome of white privilege."
- Points out the singer is attempting to sell a "ghetto fab" image, borrowing heavy from hip-hop/rap music videos, most notably 2 Chainz and his Trap House installation. Ariana even goes as far as to mimic the cadence of Soulja Boy, who called out the songstress for copying his single 'Pretty Boy Swag'.
- Emphasizes Ariana's need to utilize marketable imagery of the hood in order to promote her "bad girl" persona, by way of using black aesthetics to project an overtly-sexualized image. "The imagery which symbolize drugs and poverty fail to connect with Grande’s image due to her occupying a space she never experienced."
- The writer says what Ariana is doing is no different than what Iggy Azalea, Bhad Bhabie, and Post Malone have been allowed to do; they can lift inspiration from black culture to see more success and opportunities than their Black counterparts with very little repercussions.
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