i wanted to make a psuedo-response to this post, because they touched on an issue that’s bothered me for ages regarding how this website loves to hyperfocus on artists like lorde, stevie nicks, and florence welch and pretty much ignore the influence of any artists of colour on what we listen to. only lyrically are hozier and florence welch that similar, and that’s really only in regards to the thematics of their most recent albums. unfortunately the issue goes a lot deeper than it seems to, simply because most- if not all- contemporary musical styles have actually be appropriated from black and indigenous artists. if you pay attention to a white artist saying their influences are black artists you suddenly have to admit that the roots of the music we listen to are intrinsically not white: they’re black and indigenous. hozier cites nina simone and mavis staples as his influences. florence welch was influenced by otis redding and covered one of his songs on her mtv unplugged album in 2012- ceremonials in particular is clearly influenced by gospel-style soul music. stevie nicks has said the supremes, jimi hendrix, and buffy sainte-marie influenced her. lorde listed frank ocean, rihanna, and prince as influences on melodrama. people love to chronically erase black and indigenous influence from music in favour of acting like white people came up with anything on their own.
black musical style has been hijacked for white consumption since the 1950s (and well before that- the 1950s is just when black artists started to go mainstream and their work began to be more obviously replicated), to say nothing of how the west has simultaneously tried to erase and steal indigenous artistry. and i’m just talking about what we consider indie/alt music- it gets a lot worse when you look into the roots of pop, rock, and r&b. there is barely a musical genre that has not been appropriated from black culture- disco, motown, rock, psychedelia, heavy metal, all had their start with black artists and were overwhelming overtaken and watered down for white audiences. even basic practice in contemporary music, like the use of the power cord that was literally pioneered by shawnee artist link-wray, originated from non-white people, in their culture, before being essentially hijacked by white artists.
constantly holding up the same five white artists as ‘mother witches’ in music screams ignorant to me. listen to billie holiday. listen to nina simone. listen to donna summer. listen to fka twigs. listen to prince. listen to janelle monae. listen to buffy sainte-marie. listen to link wray. (and watch this incredible documentary about the influence of indigenous artists on music- it is unmissable and absolutely changed how i listen to music). i’m not saying to stop listening to those artists- but know your history. don’t erase history. don’t contribute to the chronic undervaluing of black and indigenous contributions to music and culture.
celebrate the magic of black and indigenous musical artists, and admit that the magic of some of the artists you might love is invariably borrowed, and probably stolen.