portraits of digital intimacyHow a Rap Duo Found New Ways to Engage With Their Audience Under Lockdown Rap duo Cartel Madras rethought ways of engaging with their audience during lockdown, through music and activism. By The Swaddle Team
Pandemic PlaylistMusic From Happier Times Is Dominating Playlists Under Lockdown One study suggests that nostalgia was tied to the drastic lifestyle change caused by the lockdown. By Devrupa Rakshit
Clubbed TogetherGermany Asks 4,000 People to Attend Concert as a Coronavirus Experiment German scientists hope to learn more about how to safely host large-scale events amid the coronavirus pandemic. By Rajvi Desai
Music As ActivismMadame Gandhi on Fourth Wave Feminism, Queer Commodification, and Tenderness in Music "I don’t care if I lose half my followers, it better be the truth I’m speaking." By Rajvi Desai
LamberghiniHow Mainstream Punjabi Music Strips Women of Consumer Power, Agency Women in popular Punjabi music videos are always one of two tropes: gold diggers, or damsels in need of care. By Anahita Sachdev
Male MediocrityTaylor Swift’s ‘The Man’ Is Somehow Both Revolutionary and Banal The music video regurgitates well-established, feminist talking points, but shines when put in context with Swift's real-life struggles with male music executives. By Liesl Goecker
B.A.S.I.CIt’s Okay: to Like Mainstream Movies, Music, Books, and Culture Life is short and lording your superior taste over other people doesn't sound half as good as a "Modern Family" re-run. By Aditi Murti
The Kids Are All RightLizzo Twerked in a Thong at a Basketball Game. Why Are People Freaking Out? There's a teachable moment in her unabashed confidence. By Rajvi Desai
Age Of Consent‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ Gets an (Unnecessary) #MeToo Rewrite John Legend, Natasha Rothwell and Kelly Clarkson could have used the song to explore the gray areas of consent, instead of peddling a black-and-white scenario as progress. By Rajvi Desai & Liesl Goecker
Broken-Hearted FanControversial Crush: Beyoncé, Her Feminism and Her Influence Despite the sweatshop debacle and the watered-down feminism, Beyoncé remains one of the most powerful feminist icons today. By Rajvi Desai
We Don't Want ItPharrell Williams Took 6 Years to Denounce ‘Blurred Lines’ as Rapey Better late than never, right? By Rajvi Desai
Drake’s Softboi Image Masks His Subtle Sexism For Drake, a 'good' girl waits for him by the phone; a 'bad' girl wears short clothes and parties without him. By Rajvi Desai
Hold UpBeyoncé’s ‘Spirit’ Video Fails to Credit the Artists She Claims to Champion There are uncanny similarities to South African visual album 'La Maisson Noir.' By Rajvi Desai
Just Plain CriminalSalvaging the Michael Jackson Soundtrack of My Youth From the Predator Who Sang It Whatever MJ was to become later, he was a child himself when he recorded "ABC." By Madhumita Bhattacharyya
Can't Get You Out Of My HeadWhy Certain Songs Get Stuck In Our Heads (And How To Get Rid of Them) Earworms are characterized by repetitive riffs and peppy tunes. By Nadia Nooreyezdan
cultureThe Overlooked Cultural Power of Girl Fandom The intensity of girls’ extreme fandom — the screaming, the crying, the clubs, the social media stalking — can be confounding. Why spend so much time listening to the music of callow musicians, or following the lives of people you’ll By The Swaddle Team
cultureTalking Childhood, Music, and the Making of ‘Ghost’ with Parekh & Singh Last year, Parekh & Singh debuted Ocean, a nine-song album full of sleepy but bright pop melodies, along with a host of music videos. ‘I Love You Baby, I Love You Doll’ quickly amassed more than a million views and By Liesl Goecker
emotional healthWhen Parenthood Eclipses Passions, Who Will You Be? Finally, I sit down to listen to Adele’s “Hello.” It’s been trending for days on my Facebook feed. Friends are sharing the video accompanied by long, passion-filled updates. If I wait any longer, I might as well be a tree in By Jyoti Ganapathi
