"SELF MADE" IS A TOXIC MYTH

This series chips away at the narrative of toxic individuality that is baked into so many successful artists’ branding, and influences the way we speak, write, and think about the concept of “success” in popular music.

My personal stake in this research, as a queer nonbinary white person committed to lifelong anti-racist learning and activism, is to cultivate an ongoing education and understanding of how white supremacy shapes the commercial music industry, while continuing to clarify how that industry has been designed to give white voices an implicit sense of belonging at the expense of literally everyone else. By doing my part to make it clear, I can work and advocate to shift the values of the commercial music industry to include those who also belong, who have in fact always belonged, long before I ever got here.

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As a creative researcher I research how the systems of white supremacy shape the popular music industry, both historically and presently. I’m especially interested in how toxic individuality, a byproduct of capitalism and a core tenant of white supremacy, drives the narrative of how we speak, write, and think about the concept of “success” in popular music, specifically as it pertains to the myth of the “self made” artist/group. I have a deep commitment to democratizing access to knowledge and research, as well as re-contextualizing creative research outside of Academia. Therefore, my research is publicly available in the form of TikTok videos.