Alison Goldfrapp has recently published a video on Instagram expressing their support for people who are having a bad time under current oppressors. He has not given names, but has pointed out to the “megalómanos” to “govern the world” and “dictate what to be and not to be” and “what we should do.” In Goldfrapp’s opinion, “creating art is more necessary than ever.”
Alison’s feeling is noble, but other statements make the eyebrow. “To make art, today, is almost a political statement, feels rebellious, challenging, an act of resistance.” “Being yourself is more important than ever,” he concludes.
Alison is right that being oneself is important. And just as important is to take care of oneself to be able to take care of others. Music, without a doubt, serves people who suffer from different oppressions to reaffirm, free themselves and recharge forces. But is to create art in itself as to do activism? For the author of ‘The Love Invention’ (2023) it seems that yes. And it is not that the words of Alison Goldfrapp are going around the world, but they respond to a strange trend in the world of pop that continues.
In recent years, the Anglo -Saxon Artisteo has given him to appropriate a political language to wrap his work of an activist halo. Dua Lipa called his latest album ‘Radical Optimism’ (2024) because being happy seems “radical.” Beth Ditto, in an interview, said that “one of the most radical things you can do today is to have fun and be happy.” Idles titled a album ‘Joy As an act of resistance’ (2019) but then the letters were only plagued with common places. Goldfrapp’s words follow exactly the same line, but the author of ‘Neverstop’ does not count exactly what actions he takes in his day to day to protest the injustices of the world. He does not detail whether he supports Gaza Oa Ukraine, nor does he mention Elon Musk or Donald Trump or Giorgia Meloni by name, nor reference the xenophobia that is lived in the streets of the United Kingdom or in other parts of the world. Recording a pop song seems sufficient positioning. Meanwhile, Brian Molko of placebo insults Meloni costs a very expensive fine.
The phrase “joy is a form of resistance” is usually attributed to an appointment by author Audre Lorde, but she never wrote such a phrase. Yes, he said, in ‘A Bursst of Light’ (1988), that, for her, allowing himself to be happy was a form of “political well -being.” Another author, Bell Hooks, presented this idea in a conversation with Maya Angelou, pointing out that “I find it easy to give and teach others, but give myself myself happiness and pleasure is complicated.” It is no accident that both authors express this idea, because they dedicated their lives to feminist and anti -racist activism.
“Political well -being” is essential in activism. Historically, music or dance have been suppressed or prohibited to oppress certain groups. In the case of women, their own sexuality. The claim of “joy” or “happiness” is necessary: to really exist is a political act in many cases. However, are not anger, anger and outrage the feelings that really awaken in front of injustices? To affirm that “joy is a form of resistance” or that creating music is a “political act” in itself reveals a great privilege when it does not materialize in concrete actions.
In an interview with Jenesaispop last year, Anohni questioned this political instrumentalization of joy that occurs lately in pop. “We must try to keep all when we recognize our own complicity in the system and in the crises we face as first world consumers, because it is we who come out more benefited from a system that incurs a horrible damage to others,” explained the British. «I think you have to be strong to understand all this and that it does not collapse you completely. Of course, one has to be compassionate about himself, maintain a certain sense of humor, surround himself with friends … But saying that joy is a form of activism only allows you to download the hard work that the real activism entails.
There is unquestionable the good intention of the words of Goldfrapp, Ditto or the title of the Discs of Idles and Dua Lipa. In the case of Alison, his words can inspire other people to mobilize, and that is always positive. But when these words only seem to respond to an act of personal or professional promotion, when they are not accompanied by tangible positioning, it is difficult to take them seriously. In fact, there are Instagram accounts that already parody attitudes such as Alison’s. In a video, the Redtress humor account joked: “Joy is an act of resistance, says white woman who does not participate in other forms of resistance.” For that woman, going to a Korean spa is already enough affront “white supremacism.”
Music is activism when it denounces and makes social causes visible. It is activism of Kendrick Lamar hip-hop and Coldplay’s environmentalism. It is Lady Gaga activism defending the rights of trans people while collecting a Grammy. But activism is also putting the body, manifesting, donating organizations that fight for everyone’s rights and, above all, pointing out the behavior of people like us who may seem unfair, in the hope of generating a change. It requires a commitment in time, it goes beyond uploading a video to Instagram saying politically as vague and ambiguous things as “happiness is a radical act.”
