Fitting and Fighting the Mainstream Standard Mixtape

Lyndsey Martin Dr. Jaleesa Harris English 2017-61487 21 April 2026 Fitting and Fighting the Mainstream Standard Mixtape Respectability politics has become a term that has stuck out to me since we learned about it in the second unit. It was Adeerya Johnson with her article on “Dirty South Feminism.” Using her article and a mixtape, I would like to use this paper to observe four female artists who have used their music to push against respectability politics and how, even while being in the mainstream, they have pushed against conforming or changing what they produce to fit a standard. The first artist to discuss is Doja Cat. Though she is not from the south, she is a talented artist who had a very sudden career that started when she made a song called “MOOO!” She made it in a day and the music video, uploaded it to YouTube and the rest is history from there. She was quite popular and quickly made her way into mainstream media. For a while, she fit into it with her hip-hop and R&B style. She also leaned into the sexual side when it came to her music like with “Need to Know.” It was not until she wanted to do something different with her aesthetic and try more experimental music with her song “Demons,” causing a lot of uproar online. But for her to go outside of the box her past music or social influence has made her; she is pushing against respectability politics by not letting the media dictate what she makes. Martin 2 The next artist in the mixtape is SZA. Like Doja Cat, SZA is not from the south, but she has been in the music industry for some time. And, like Doja Cat, her mainstream fame came from her R&B style. What sets her apart is that throughout her whole discography, she has stuck with R&B. From “Sweet November” to “Broken Clocks” to “Kill Bill” they range from alternative to contemporary R&B. What I personally like about “Kill Bill” is the context of the song where she is pushing against being sad about an ex being with someone new or leaving, in her very sweet voice and upbeat sound, and in a way sounding very polite; she wants to kill him even though she claims to still love him. Another artist that falls into the R&B sphere that is on the mixtape is Solange. She fits more into the southern part of dirty south feminism with her growing up in Texas. She is also Beyoncé's sister; even with her great music, this also had some influence on her career since it all started for her when she was in the background of Destiny's Child as a dancer. With her songs, “So Be It” and “Dancing in the Dark” fitting the mainstream for their times, her song “Stay Flo” coming out in 2019, gave her music a more “nostalgic” sound which was done intentionally. The message she wants people to take away with this song is to dance out their emotions and with lyrics like, “Girls getting down every day, working out of town on the floor” and then the next lines go into being about guys playing with women's feelings and putting them down emotionally. She uses down as to refer to get down and dance as well as do not let others get you down. Many of these things are also discussed in Dirty South Feminism. So, while the music still fits the sound Solange has always had; her message is to women about dancing out the bad feelings and not letting men put them down. The last artist on the mixtape to discuss is Tina Turner. She is most likely the most influential person in the mixtape, being the “Queen of Rock and Roll.” She is known for pushing Martin 3 against racial barriers and gender norms through her music. Many of her songs speak from a woman's perspective with love, such as “Typical Male, A Fool in Love, and Talk to My Heart.” She is also from Tennessee so like Solange, she had to push against respectability politics in the south. Something all these women have in common, and I did not realize until drafting this paper, is that every woman in the mixtape is a Grammy award winner. Mixtape: Doja Cat- MOOO! (2018) Need to Know (2021) Demons (2023) Martin 4 SZA- Sweet November (2014) Broken Clocks (2017) Kill Bill (2022) Solange- So Be It (2002) Dancing in the Dark (2008) Stay Flo (2019) Tina Turner- I Can See for Miles (1975) Typical Male (1986) A Fool in Love (1993) Talk to My Heart (1999) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ZmcGimJkonJxDEmonEiF3?si=n_0q1UZVTxq5XFr6V3lfzw (link to the mixtape)

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