Beyoncé in the video for “Hymn for the Weekend”

Apropos of our discussion on Wednesday, it seems that Coldplay and Beyoncé will not be performing their new song “Hymn for the Weekend” during the Superbowl halftime show today. Eyder Peralta wrote an excellent blog post for National Public Radio on the dynamics of cultural appropriation in much of contemporary pop music. In addition to a discussion of how Coldplay used India as a backdrop (and how the criticism that they have encountered may have swayed their decision regarding their halftime set list), Peralta also speaks with some scholars and music critics about about Justin Bieber’s recent foray into a reggaeton sound.

Dancers from Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” video

As Maximiliano Jimenez contends,”The new single by Bieber is a tutorial from Skrillex on how to make reggaeton for white people.” Natasha Tamar Sharma is even more emphatic in her condemnation:

Nitasha Tamar Sharma, a professor at Northwestern University who studies hip-hop, says she’s not that interested in talking about when appropriation is right or wrong…She said ultimately what she thinks is important is the effect that thoughtless appropriation — perpetrated by a white person or a person of color — has beyond culture. When we’re presented with caricatures of other cultures, she says, it’s easier for people to view them as sub-human. It’s easier to pass unfair economic policies, for example, or even to start a war. That’s what the video that goes along with Bieber track accomplishes she said. “For the most part, [the women] are just props: scores and scores of generally undifferentiated women,” she said. The message he’s sending is that “he is drawing from Black and Brown cultural formation (with the track and the dances) absent the full presence of Black and Brown people and can do it just as good as they can.”

Sounds a lot like Said’s critique of Flaubert, right? I’ve said before that NPR is a great example of what blogging can look like on its best day, and I think that this piece is an excellent example of engaged social criticism of popular culture. I’m looking forward to reading your blogs and seeing how some of you might be engaging with the problems posed by Orientalism and cultural appropriation.

UPDATE (2/9): Beyoncé’s Superbowl performance has set the blogosphere on fire the past few days, including this piece by Janell Hobson about the differences between “Hymn for the Weekend” and “Formation” (and ultimately, about the problems inherent in simply calling something cultural appropriation). NPR (again) has a great roundup of the many analyses of the halftime performance that have been percolating on the web which is definitely worth a read.