In a recent interview with Rolling Stone for her new album, Popstar, singer Tinashe stated that, “People have a very narrow understanding of what pop means nowadays, and it’s very clean, it’s very mainstream, it’s very white, it’s very contrived…It’s nice to question that.” Throughout time, pop music has been systemically constructed to push people of color, specifically Black women, out of the genre. This incredibly disturbing issue is being reflected through how many people think about the genre of pop itself, as well as who they view as being a “popstar.”Â
Nearly every genre that has influenced pop music has been shaped by Black musicians throughout history. Steven Lewis for Smithsonian Music explains that, “Their work songs, dance tunes, and religious music – and the syncopated, swung, remixed, rocked, and rapped music of their descendants – would become the lingua franca of American music, eventually influencing Americans of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.” The sounds and instruments that Black artists created, like the banjo and syncopated rhythms, are the foundations that pop music is built upon. Without these key techniques and sounds, pop music would not exist the way it does today.Â
So, how did society come to ignore the roots that Black people have laid for the pop genre? To take a deep look into this issue, we can examine the concept known as “record label racial pigeonholing.” This is the practice of categorizing and marketing artists on the basis of their race, rather than focusing on the genre of their music. We can see this system dating back to the 1920s, when record labels would separate their artists and music by “race records.” These are “sound recordings of the early 20th century that were made exclusively by and for African Americans,” according to Britannica. By employing race records, record labels were able to create a single “umbrella” that Black music could be considered as, creating the false beliefs that Black artists are only capable of creating a certain genre of music. To read more on the topic of race records and how they came to be, check out this article from History.Â
Even though this system was put in place over a century ago, we are still seeing the impacts in recent decades. While all artists can freely create albums and works that contain a multitude of genres, and don’t have to adhere to what they may be labeled as, it’s important to recognize the ways that Black artists in particular are impacted by this system. It’s also necessary to analyze how Black women specifically are impacted by these labels, and the role that intersectionality plays in the music industry.Â
As defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, intersectionality is “the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.” Examining systems in our society through an intersectional lens is incredibly important, because it can reflect the ways that different identities a person may have will impact the discrimination they face on a systemic or daily level. And in the case of the music industry, it can reveal to us the differences between opportunities given to women of color, and white women.Â
In a 2024 interview with Habi Diallo for Dazed, singer SZA stated that “The only reason I’m defined as being an R&B artist is because I’m Black. It’s almost a little reductive because it doesn’t allow space to be anything else or try anything else.” Even though SZA’s music tends to lean more pop or alternative, she is not labeled as such. Chlöe Bailey is another artist who has spoken out about the ways the miscategorization impacts her success as an artist, and how the limitations a label creates can change the way people view her music. In a 2024 interview with Billboard, Bailey explains that “If someone who didn’t have my skin tone made the same music, it would be in the pop categories. That’s just the way it’s always been in life.” Bailey has been labeled as being an R&B artist for years, despite the fact that her music experiments with a wide array of genres, from house to alternative pop.Â
So, how does being limited by the label of R&B impact the Black female artists who have been put under it? For the artists themselves, it creates a strong barrier between what they are deemed as being “allowed” to experiment with in their music. In the same interview with Dazed, SZA later says that “Justin Bieber is not considered an R&B artist; he is a pop artist who makes R&B, folk music, or whatever his heart desires. I simply just want to be allowed the same opportunity to make whatever I want without a label.” She makes an excellent point here; many white artists, especially men, are given the freedom to experiment with any sounds and genre they desire without it being contradictory to their label.Â
Beyond the artists’ experiences, being labeled as an R&B artist also impacts the popularity of the music itself. It can be assumed that when people listen to a particular genre, they anticipate hearing the specific sounds that come with that genre. For example, if someone is listening to the genre of country, they are likely wanting to hear instruments like the guitar or banjo. So, when fans of R&B choose to listen to an artist labeled as R&B, like Tinashe for example, they may not like it as much because her music contains more elements of electronic or pop than R&B. And so, the artists who have been racially categorized as being R&B are then limited by who seeks out their music and the oftentimes lack of popularity within their actual genre.Â
It is incredibly necessary to examine the ways that race impacts the systems that make up our society, and it can open our eyes to certain issues within the things we consume, like music. Being educated on the history behind what we enjoy gives us the power to question the systems around us, and challenge the labels that people in power have created to continue discriminatory practices. I encourage you to look beyond what something is labeled as, and prioritize the content within it.