Blackfishing, Cultural Appropriation and the Jesy Nelson Situation

Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus… and now Jesy Nelson. A growing list of pop artists who have used Black culture as an aesthetic for a song or an album cycle. The former on the list eventually discarded those same aesthetics when it no longer served them. (Stay tuned to find out if Jesy follows suit.) 

This phenomenon is part of a larger cultural trend of Blackfishing. And although the term was coined in 2018, cultural appropriation and black face have been happening for centuries. 

This week we’re digging in to understand what Blackfishing is, how it shows up in music, and exactly what went down with Jesy Nelson’s first solo song and music video after leaving Little Mix.

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