Essay Sample on Three Iconic Musicians Who Changed Society Through Music

Introduction

Music is an art that has been an integral part of society. It is a platform that addresses many social issues that affect people. Legendary artists who rose in the stardom in their respective genres are celebrated for using this art to change society through musical productions. The essay will compare three iconic artists who defined the art of music in advocating for social activism. They include; k.d lang, Lauren hill, and Ani DiFranco.

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Ani DiFranco music has been popularly referred to as an alternative artist because unlike the usual understanding of the Folk genre where music has been linked to corporate business, Ani DiFranco chose to produce low-tech music. As alternative music, Ana DiFranco artfully integrates the look of urban folk music with the popular rebellious force of alternative rock genre. With such an understanding, therefore, I agree that she is an alternative artist (Love, N. S. 2016).

I agree that Lauren Hill is an alternative hip hop artist; this is because unlike the other hip hop artists like Jay Z and Puff Dr. Dre, whose music is all about sexism and violence, Lauren Hill chose to produce self-conscious songs. Lauren Hill, on the opposite, advises women to be selective of their relationships and avoid being hypocritical; this is an alternative view of the normal style of hip hop music (McGee, Love, Waters, & Evans-Winters, 2019).

K.d Lang took a conservative position in the genre of country music. I agree that he is an alternative artist because besides being raised in an isolated rural town in Canada, her album Shadowland was produced in a more traditional honky-tonk tone, and he announced officially to be homosexual which instead of breaking his career it turned out to be a blessing as he was nicknamed the iconic lesbian (Pattison, L. 2016).

Not a pretty Girl by Ani DiFranco addresses the issue of social activism. Throughout her career, Ana has always held this position. She expresses the concept of not conforming to the social requirement of a damsel looking for a rescue. She stresses the need for one to be what they really are instead of clinging on their physical beauty.

Doo-wop (That Thing) by Lauren hill addresses the topic of girl power and self-love. In the 90s, women were overly sexualized, and Lauren Hill held the stand that our bodies should be used as an object for sex. Through the song, she cautioned me of what might happen when we don't respect and love our bodies. Nowhere to stand by k.d lang speaks of child abuse as a social ill that everyone should raise their voice to denounce. K.d Lang was raised in a rural place in Canada, and all though she has been vocal in support of the poor like children

Social commentary is important in popular songs because social advocacy is important in our society, and the best way to ensure that this concept reaches a big population is through popular musicians. Popular musicians hold esteem social recognition, and such a platform can be used to address social issues.

Doo-wop effectively makes it a point because hip hop is a genre that is widely listened to in the world, and girl power is a concept that hip hop in the 90s rarely addressed. She effectively expressed this concept in her platform as a hip hop artist. I would listen more of Doo-wop (that thing) because her style is unique and addresses important aspects in our society that contemporary hip hop artists neither would nor address through their songs.

References

Love, N. S. (2016). Ani DiFranco: Making Feminist Waves. In Political Rock (pp. 185-202). Routledge.

McGee, A., Love, B., Waters, B. S., & Evans-Winters, V. (2019). Black Feminist Rhetorical Praxis: The Agency of Holistic Black Women in Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Contemporary Works.

Pattison, L. (2016). REVELATIONS. Uncut, (230), 71.