Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X… On POC Breaking Stereotypes and Creating Identities Through Music
- Muskaan Makkar
- Mar 7, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 7, 2021
Olivia Rodrigo: The 18-year-old actress, singer, and songwriter that took over the world with a simple song. Rodrigo’s “drivers license” was her debut single, and it set a new Spotify record for most streams in a day (15.17 million streams on January 11, 17 million streams on January 12) for a non-holiday song.
Spotify, TikTok, and most notably… TAYLOR SWIFT… were all gushing over Rodrigo’s success as brand new artist. Fans related strongly to the lyrical masterpiece of Rodrigo’s song, and even speculated on the rumored love triangle that the song may hint at (if you don’t already know about this love triangle drama, you may look that up on your own time. This blog post is not about rumors, it’s about celebrating the success of people of color 😉).
Speaking of people of color, Oliva Rodrigo is part-Filipina on her dad’s side of the family. She plays Nini Salazar-Roberts in the Disney+ series, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” which in Rodrigo’s words, tells important stories, and she told Glamour UK that “the visibility that we shed on people of color and the LGBTQ+ community is amazing and so overdue.”
But what I love about Olivia’s story is that being a woman of color does not have to define her. Let me explain myself:
As a minority, I sometimes feel as though all my successes are tethered to being just that: a minority, If I am a local titleholder, I am the first Indian American titleholder of my local organization; I did not just win on my own merit. If I use Bollywood as my talent, then I am using my culture to my advantage; I’m not just showcasing a dance form that I love and have grown up performing. It does not matter if I am smart, well-spoken, and composed; I won because I played the diversity card. And this isn’t just for me, it’s for so many people of color.
Yes, we need representation. Yes, it was an AMAZING day to see a woman of color become the Vice President of the United States. Yes, we need to celebrate diversity. I agree with all of these things, but I am also allowed to say that I wish we didn’t have to need to FIGHT for representation. I wish it was just given, and I wish one’s major accomplishments wasn’t always tethered to “ohhh, she’s a minority.”
Because honestly? That’s minimizing someone’s hard work to a simple label. I am so proud to be Indian American, and I know Olivia Rodrigo is so proud to be a Filipina American, but it is honestly refreshing to see popular culture recognize Rodrigo for her talent and hard work rather than “Filipina.” It was refreshing to see people applaud HER and her music. Because it often feels like people of color HAVE to use that “diversity card” in order to become successful, in order for the general public and major industries to SEE them. It all feels a bit like tokenism. So it is VERY refreshing to see the overwhelming lack of tokenism in Rodrigo’s success; Olivia Rodrigo is not successful BECAUSE she is a minority, and that type of representation feel like moving in the direction of actual equality.
Yes, in a perfect world everyone would be equally represented, and our individual races and ethnicities and cultures would not be our most defining characteristics. But I want to reiterate that representation is so incredibly important, and I would be remiss if I did not discuss a musician of color and a member of the LGBTQ+ community that is opening doors for everyone to embrace their identities: Lil Nas X.
Do you all remember the song “Old Town Road,” by Lil Nas X? I hope you all remember, because it was EXTREMELY successful. When the song was released in 2019, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 17 weeks, becoming the longest-running number one song in US chart history. The song pulled in 8.7 million total song units last year; I’m no music producer or data analyst, but I can safely say that this song did VERY well.
Lil Nas X did not gain traction for this song because of his sexuality or race, although it is very important to remember that by embracing those identities publicly, he has been an inspiration for everyone - especially those in the LGBTQ+ community, a racial minority group, or both.
He gained traction because he combined genres of rap and country to make a completely unique song. Before his sexuality made headlines, “Lil Nas X attracted national headlines when Billboard decided to remove ‘Old Town Road’ from its country charts as it was rising to the top.” Billboard decided that the country trap song was not country enough (but funnily enough, it was RAP enough to stay on the R&B / Hip-Hop charts… even if it can be argued that it was not even a rap song). This does call for further examination of Billboard and relationships between race and music genres as a whole…
Quintez Brown of the Courier Journal writes, “Barriers and stereotypical charts, like "Race Records" and its successor "Hot R&B/Hip Hop," have historically restricted black artists and listeners to a box and reinforced the racist idea that black music was made for and by black people, and white music was made for and by white people.”
And is this not true? When Lil Nas X had a highly successful country hit that broke stereotypes… so why was he then removed from country charts?
It’s something to consider. And though this situation was in 2019… it does not mean it is not relevant still. I do hope that the music industry encourages breaking of stereotypes for all, and I hope that artists like Lil Nas X and Olivia Rodrigo continue to pave the way for minorities through their passions. Through art, through music. Through whatever they want to do, because minorities are not limited to a box – nor to their identity as a minority.
Special thanks to Madison Pryor for suggesting a blog post on Lil Nas X. Thanks for being the #1 supporter of this website 😊 I encourage you all to use the contact form on the homepage of my website (at the very bottom).
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