Messy and mattering: May's daily songs

I understand that I stress about things that may not really matter; that does not stop me from doing it.

May is Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I have tried to do some reading and movie watching with that, but also very much wanted the daily songs to focus on appropriate artists.

There are two areas where I always struggle with this. Firstly, well, with Pacific Islanders in many ways their experience feels more like that of indigenous people. Still, that's how the month was arranged.

In addition, I generally end up mixing in Asian people with the Asian-Americans. For the reading and movies it often gives some cultural context that adds to understanding for the immigrant experience, but for contemporary music, does that make sense?

What made it additionally frustrating this year was that I have not been reviewing any bands, but I did not want to only play songs from familiar artists.

Therefore, I made it a point to listen to the top ten songs for each of the Asian, Asian-American (mostly US, but some Canada), and Pacific Islanders that I have listed to review. I also checked out previously reviewed bands to jog my memory and see if they had new material since the last time I listened, but I did listen to at least 27 new artists.

Normally when I do a review, I try and listen to the artist's complete catalog three times, and learn more about them. This is much more shallow, and there is less opportunity to notice things.

This became more of a concern after having read some comments about Turning Red (which I also watched and enjoyed).

One artist that was not featured in the May daily songs is Awkwafina. This is because of criticism of her appropriation of Black culture, especially in a way that exploits misogynoir. I say this having enjoyed her in movies and not thinking that she means any harm, but still being sure she could do better.

Some discussions of Turning Red criticized a similar appropriation of Black culture. I also saw responses to it that for many kids growing up, the only people of color they saw on television were Black, and they did tend to identify with and imitate those characters. It was interesting to think about. I can sympathize and understand that harm can happen without intent, and also know that I totally miss things.

When I highlight different music -- regardless of theme -- I am trying to do a good thing. I began to worry that some of these artists may be appropriating, or they may be being misogynistic, or anti-Black, or fascist in a way I don't even know about, because this is more hurried than it would be ideally. 

I mean, generally the first I saw of the videos was the day I played it, and I often did not see the whole thing. In fact, Psy was getting a song, but I saw it had a line about the pandemic being over and I actually deleted it right after posting. That is why there are two songs from The Slants (but also that they are great). I don't know that I had a great reason for doing two Mitski songs; it just worked out that way.

(I know it is not unreasonable that a pop star that focuses on style would align the capitalist trend of prematurely declaring the pandemic over, but bad Psy!)

So, I have had concerns, and they are probably over inflated, especially given that there is a good chance that no one ever really clicks on the songs I post.

However, I do have more familiarity with a number of different bands, and I have really liked some of them. If I ever do get back to having the time and ability to do reviews, I will be glad to get to some of them. 

A lot of those bands were from articles and recommendations, but then Spotify and Youtube began making recommendations. That is how I found Jennifer Chung, and I really liked her. That is a reason to do things like this.

Also, I totally nailed a BTS song on Beat Shazam the other night; that totally would not have happened otherwise.

To delve more thoroughly into the complicated relationships between Asian Americans and African Americans, I am pulling up some additional reading. Will I understand it all after that? Of course not, but I am committed to trying, and to caring.

I will continue to complicate my life in June by focusing on artists that are both Black and Queer, for a combined Black Music/Pride month.

(I recently saw that May is also Jewish Heritage Month. I don't know if I will ever successfully combine those two themes, but it is something to think about.)

Daily Songs:

5/1 “Endlessly Falling” by The Slants
5/2 “Growing Up” by The Linda Lindas
5/3 “Short Hair” by Cho Yong-Pil
5/4 “Dance With Me” by Beabadoobee
5/5 “Be Sweet” by Japanese Breakfast
5/6 “Dynamite” by BTS
5/7 “Le Manu” by Shepherds Reign
5/8 “A Little Peace” by MILCK with Creators for Change
5/9 “Helpless” by Clones of the Queen
5/10 “Why Not” by Jake Shimabukuro (feat. Kenny Loggins)
5/11 “Monsters Calling Home” by Run River North
5/12 “This World Breaks Your Heart and Makes You Grey” by Ogikubo Station
5/13 “Rocketeer” by Far East Movement (feat. Ryan Tedder)
5/14 “Sagaba” by Blue Scholars
5/15 “Rydeen” by Yellow Magic Orchestra
5/16 “Narcissist” by No Rome (feat. The 1975)
5/17 “Black Hole” by Griff
5/18 “California” by Rich Brian, NIKI, and Warren Hue
5/19 “Me After You” by Paul Kim
5/20 “Guap” by Yaeji
5/21 “Try” by Melissa Polinar
5/22 “First Love/Late Spring” by Mitski
5/23 “Honeybody” by Kishi Bashi
5/24 “June Gloom” by Low Leaf
5/25 “Alone Again” by The King Khan & BBQ Show
5/26 “Thursday” by Asobi Seksu
5/27 “Marionette” by BOØWY
5/28 “Come Back Home” by Katherine Ho
5/29 “Take It One Day At A Time” by Jennifer Chung
5/30 “18 21” by The Slants
5/31 “Washing Machine Heart” by Mitski