This is blatant brown/black face by Ariana Grande. Enough. Every white kid is down to be brown or black until they have to live in our skin and deal with the shit we do. pic.twitter.com/Z3FH2UhXsZ
— So What's The Truth? (@sheslikesoLA) October 25, 2018
Before making Elvis famous, record producer Sam Phillips famously said, “If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.”
Amandla Stenberg, Zendaya, Tessa Thompson, and Yara Shahidi who are black and look black, but are mixed race, have all highlighted how they benefit from colorism and anti-blackness because they don't look too black.
even tho i have decided to Stan forever i am still so sad that Ariana grande is literally!!! In brown face!!! At all times :(( you are white Ariana pls stop marketing ur self as latinx to feel exotic.
— delf (@onlyamemeaway) May 6, 2018
Ariana Grande lowkey be doing blackface with her over the top tan and you guys gassing her giving her a black card FOH
— Francesca (@knowlestesfaye) November 7, 2018
When Grande first launched her music career, the comparisons to Mariah Carey, a mixed-race woman, were rampant.
I don't believe musical genres should be confined to race, but Grande's music is largely influenced by hip-hop and R&B, meaning that in order to build a fanbase, she needs to court listeners (ahem, black folk) with those musical preferences. It's not impossible to do this respectfully (look at soul singer Adele).
Grande also adopts African-American vernacular, but most young people do because black Americans often dictate American popular culture.
No, I'm actually Italian! Part Abruzzo and part Sicilian. :) RT @bianqui_creates @ArianaGrande are you part Hispanic/Latin?
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) July 8, 2010
just found out my grandparents are heavily greek and part north african.... I thought I was Italian... who am i ? my whole life is a lie
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) April 10, 2014
I am not sure how to feel about all this.
Thus, for years, Latinx women have been sounding the alarm: Grande is doing brown face. Look at her tan. Look at how she speaks. Look at her music.
The verdict? I don't have one for you. I don't know what her intentions are to be frank. All I know is that when I saw the "Breathin" video, in certain scenes she looked so cartoonishly black, I laughed out loud at my desk. Whether Grande is an evil mustache-twirling genius or not, she is still benefiting from the perception that she isn't white.
While it may not seem like a big deal to you, any person of color knows that this only a) highlights how unfair it is to actually be black and talented without any of the success of white impersonators b) trivializes the very real institutional and systematic oppression actual black people experience.
Most of us don't get to pick and choose which parts of blackness we get to have — only white folks seem to have that luxury.
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