Revolution Will Be Spotified - by Triauna Carey (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The Revolution Will Be Spotified investigates the rhetorical strategies present in mainstream popular music and how those strategies are implemented to empower resistance. Case studies across the genres of popular music in the West are surveyed throughout the book to consider the power of music as a rhetorical tool during cultural flashpoints and times of crisis. Carey analyzes songs such as "This is America" by Childish Gambino, "Alien Superstar" by Beyoncé, "Thought Contagion" by Muse, and more to consider the impact of contemporary music on culture and social justice movements. Scholars of rhetoric and composition, communication, cultural studies, and ethnomusicology will find this book particularly interesting.

Review Quotes

The Revolution Will Be Spotified is at once a massive and yet at times beautifully granular examination of music and its impact on culture, politics, identity, and economics, blending classic ethnomusicology, popular culture, and genre study with theories of rhetoric to produce a fascinating and very relevant discussion of a number of vital issues. The author has put together a masterful survey of intellectual trends and adroitly uses them to discuss the power of music as a mode of social resistance. Readers seeking to understand the almost mythical quality of music to change lives will find this analysis satisfying on many levels, including from an ontological perspective, a personal/political perspective, and a socio-technological perspective. It has the valued charm of being exceedingly well-written and thus easy to read, while also adding much to extant scholarly literature on these interesting topics. The book's versatility of form and seamless writing flow alone would recommend it; but its timely and topical aspects - on politics, rhetoric, identity, and technology - make The Revolution Will Be Spotified one of the most compelling intellectual works of the season.

About the Author