In this 1500–2000-word paper (not including endnotes or references), you’ll characterize the relationship between the song “Cries in Spanish” by Becky G and DannyLux and its musical genre.
Audience:
The audience for this paper is readers who frequent media outlets like The New Yorker, The New Criterion, Commentary, The Paris Review, and Pitchfork.
Organization:
Think of the paper in three sections (the second of which should be considerably longer):
1. To contextualize your analysis for these readers, begin with a scholarly view of music genre and sociological, commercial, or expressive object, drawing on class readings. We’ve surveyed some of this research in this course, but you may also want to consult the course bibliography or find articles that cite articles we’ve read through scholar.google.com. Unlike Paper #1, here your focus is on what these readings offer for an understanding of an individual artist and track, not for a genre (or “subgenre”) as a whole.
2. Discuss—in specific language pertaining to sound—how the song affirms expectations of the genre. (To do this, you’ll need to document those expectations). This should be the most substantial part of the paper.
3. (Here you have the most freedom). Conclude with an argument regarding utility or hazard of genre as a construct. What do we get from having this idea of musical genres? What do we lose?
Assessment:
In grading this paper, consider the following:
Is the research cited throughout engaged responsibly? This means (1) that most of the course literature from the unit is cited, (2) that your description of it is accurate, (3) that the contribution of the author is what is cited, not general facts, and (4) that the relevance of the citation for your own argument is evident.
Are the expectations of the genre clear and detailed? Is the connection between the song and the described genre musically/sonically detailed?
Is the final argument “regarding genre as a construct” is persuasive?
Is the prose clear of errors and the length 1500–2000?
Parts of Writing I Expect Will Be Tricky:
1. Documenting expectations of a genre briefly and in a way that bears on your later analysis.
2. Incorporating musical observations, and doing so without technical language.
3. Threading these sections together in a cohesive way.
Note: Whether one can “separate the art from the artist” is an interesting question about which reasonable people can disagree. However, when one writes about an artist, their engagement goes beyond listening towards advocacy—you’re insisting that your reader perform this separation without knowing whether they think they can do so without harm.
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