Unveiling the Political Power of Music
Live Aid concert on July 13th, 1985, where over 170'000 attendees came to see famous artists perform to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.
Source: Alamy.
Music and politics have long been intertwined, each influencing and shaping the other. Though music and pop culture are often deemed a minor aspect of political power, its strength is more impactful than meets the eye. Canta had a chat with a university lecturer in Wellington, Mona Krewel – who designed a course about music and politics. Dr Krewel has dedicated much of her academic career to exploring the intricate connections between these two domains.
Dr. Krewel's course aims to identify music as a vital instrument of political commentary, illustrating this with the example of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2. As the song addresses the violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, it is a poignant call for peace which reflects on the Bloody Sunday incident where British soldiers shot unarmed protesters. Such music, Krewel explains, not only mirrors historical events but also raises awareness about ongoing social issues. “There are so many ways in which politics and music are kind of intertwined, and that's actually why it's so interesting.”
This form of political protest can also be laced throughout the heavy beats of hip hop music, as musicians discuss issues surrounding police brutality in their lyrics.
Compton hip-hop group N.W.A released “F—k tha Police” in 1988, paving the way for future artists such as J.Cole and Childish Gambino, to challenge the issues America faces in regards to police brutality.
Krewel identified music as a powerful vehicle for expressing political identities, whether it be national, racial, or subcultural.
“Think about national anthems which kind of tried to create identity of people as a nation and define them as an in group. But you could also think of this like, black people express their identity in hip hop music, or something like that.”
Celebrity endorsements also have an incredibly large role to play, such as Bruce Springsteen performing with Hillary Clinton, or Taylor Swift’s "Only the Young" being used in a campaign for the first time. These A-list celebrities demonstrate how musicians leverage their influence to encourage civic engagement and support political causes. "It's very often used kind of to mobilise political participation, and also to recruit for movements,” Krewel said.
She mentions the tactics of Neo-nazis, using kinds of hate music not only to generate funding for that scene, but to get people “to step with one toe into those waters of hate music and they don't even really know what it's about.”
Though not classified politicians themselves, musicians can instead act as politicians of change, using platform to raise awareness and support for various causes. Figures like Bono and Bob Geldof have famously used music and influence to address global issues like famine in Africa, though such efforts have sometimes been critiqued for their lack of deeper educational impact on the underlying political issues. Gedolf’s Live Aid concerts have been criticised largely by developmental scholars according to Krewel, “by the way that he's just raising money and it's only white artists on stage, but people are not learning anything.”
Despite the obvious intersections, Krewel observed that there has been surprisingly little research in political communication focusing on music. Most existing studies come from musicology and sociology, leaving a gap in political science that her course aims to fill.
“So we are behind, I would say in any case.”
Dr. Krewel is in charge of a research paper, involving an extensive analysis of song lyrics from the Billboard Charts, spanning from 1958 to the present.
By creating a dataset of 30,000 songs and applying advanced AI models, her team identified significant periods of politically charged music: the protest music of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the hip hop addressing police brutality and political violence post-2010. This analysis highlights how music reflects societal issues, with protest songs and hip hop providing potent commentary on racial and social injustices. Krewel acknowledges the sensitivity of these topics and incorporates perspectives from black artists and scholars in her lectures to provide an authentic and respectful exploration of these themes.
To top off the course, their analysis comes to an end with a research paper analysing aspects of music. And to no surprise, there’s a lot of papers handed to Krewel delving into Taylor Swift and her musical relationship with politics. Her journey from a country artist controlled by managers to a long-term career artist who speaks out on feminist issues is particularly intriguing. Unlike many female pop stars, who are often marketed as sex symbols and not expected to have lasting careers, Swift has defied these expectations.
“She has actually kind of managed to become so successful that she is able to find her political voice and speak out about things and having her own opinion and controlling her own business.”
People often poke at Swift for her lack of speaking out against important political topics, but Krewel said you can’t blame her.
“She's still careful and you cannot blame her for that because in another lecture, we actually talk or we watched a film about the Dixie Chicks, now known as The Chicks.
The Chicks faced immense backlash after criticising George Bush's invasion of Iraq during a concert in London. Their records were burned, they were boycotted by country stations in the U.S., and they received death threats, leading them to fear for their safety on stage. “And so it's hard to blame Taylor Swift for being so careful about that.” As Krewel points out, "[i]t just takes one person" to pose a serious threat, as seen in the tragic shooting of John Lennon.
U2 performing live. Source: Deposit photos
When I asked Krewel why it’s crucial to understand the intersection of music and politics, she laid it out plainly: "We too often in particular, in research, just care about the serious political communication... but it is actually very unrealistic that only the news would inform our view of the world." She pointed out that our Netflix binges and Spotify playlists shape our political views as much as, if not more than, the evening news. Shows like The West Wing and House of Cards don't just entertain us; they subtly tweak how we see real-world leaders. Krewel also noted the economic power of fanbases like Swifties, saying, "You cannot ignore it... in an isolated world, only news would probably matter, but this is like a very elitist view of thinking that this is how people form their political opinions."
Ultimately, pop culture and its stars often have more influence over us than some politicians. So, whether it's Taylor Swift's lyrics or a binge-worthy political drama, it's clear that the lines between entertainment and political influence are blurrier than ever.