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    Taylor Swift Vs. Nicki Minaj, How The Pop Divas Found Success In Different Lights

    “Racialized discourse often refers to people of color as “beastly”: ruled by their passions and unable to control their violent rages” ( Condis, pg. 46)

    This quote caught my eye, as a couple paragraphs above Cinderella was described as “kind-hearted, and gentle”. To me, the labels placed on women of colour vs the labels given to the caucasian princesses go beyond the Disney brand and are thoroughly represented throughout popular culture. For this article specifically, I will compare the ways a white women and a black women are marketed in the popular music industry.

    To highlight the differences in the broadest sense, I will use two of musics most powerful female acts: Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj. The two power houses have topped musics most prestigious charts for several years now, taking home top awards and selling out arenas across the world. However, their success has come from two very different portals. The marketing strategies used by Minaj, Swift and their labels couldn’t be more bipolar. The way the girls portray themselves through music videos, album covers, and lyrics, highlight that they are following traditional racial norms. Taylor gets to play the “kind-hearted girls next door” while Nicki plays a more vulgar figure, using her sexuality to sell records.

    Taylor Swifts break into stardom couldn’t have followed a more traditional southern sweetheart role. She was a curly headed blonde with legs as long as a super models. Her eyes were jet blue, and as for her clothing size? likely 0-2. Her story was one America would fall for, a young white girl who moved from her Christmas tree farm in Reading, Pennsylvania to Nashville to share her song writing journal about the boy from science class who broke her heart.

    As Taylor’s stardom grew she got to play the role of a princess. She was branded as the girl next door who could do no wrong. Her lyrics shared stories of Romeo and Juliet and her music videos often had her playing the type of role you would see in a Nicholas Sparks movie. Because Taylor was marketed as America’s sweetheart, she often played the role of the victim when bad press came her way. For example, when Kanye barged on stage during her 2009 VMA acceptance speech, Taylor stood in shock and the world fell pity to her.

    Nicki however, had to play a different role to earn her success. Minaj is notoriously known for her body shape. Her breasts and her bottom have become the superstars largest assets, and is never shy to show them off in show outfits, red carpet appearances or music videos. The star often shocks the world with each music video becoming more revealing than her last. That, generally is how the buzz around the pop diva is created.

    Minaj's lyrics are almost like the X rated versions of the stories Swift tells. While Swift gets to gush over fairytales and the “big kiss” that happens at the end of every rom-com film, Minaj cuts right to the explicit sex scenes. Her lyrics highlight her as a superior figure in the bedroom, showing she is sexually in control of each situation she finds herself in. Thus is highlighted through the many lyrics that give fans an inside look on the sexual power she holds over her male companions. Examples include “Pussy put his ass to sleep, now he calling me NyQuil” and “Ya dick aint good enough to be stylin on me, you'z a bitch ass nig** to keep on wildin on me”

    While both females have seen large success through their brands, neither have done so without breaking racial stereotypes. Minaj and Swifts brands play suite to the racial patterns represented in Condis’s article. Swift, much like the white princesses, is branded on her innocence. Contrary, Minaj represents a beastly figure, one of whom is unable to control her sexual desires.