By Estefanie H., Myura T., Alaina C.
This past week, we discussed race and the issues that comes with it. Race, in itself, is very politicized. For example, the process of Barack Obama’s presidency became such a controversy as many ethnicities claim such extreme opinions about his biological and racial features. As we reflect on Obama and the person he is, issues of race in our society arise, and questions such as, ‘what truly defines a person’ becomes controversial. Understanding Obama’s racial situation motivated us to write this lyrical piece. “Who Am I” consists of verses that each serve as a reflection within ourselves about issues that we face. Being colored, discrimination, racism, and stereotypes are often experience, even in the lowest form. May it be subtle or obvious; the issues of race is prevalent. “Who Am I” takes audience to a glimpse of each composer’s struggle in America. Another great theme that recurred throughout our lyrics, is the perception people have had toward “us” (individually) and how that influenced our identity and how we see ourselves versus the perception of others. We speak from our own experiences and our own pride, touching on how our ethnicity changes how others interact with us and creates an image of ourselves that we don’t necessarily agree with. This collaboration is three individuals coming together and speaking on their experiences and pride.
I think that your group did a great job in developing a concept that our class touched upon last week regarding race and identity. The artist statement does match up with your lyrics and video as a whole. Maybe one additional comment that could be added in your statement would be about some techniques your group used to make the song and what it means to be artists. Overall, very well thought out! I loved how the song carried out the broad theme as well as your individual personal stories.
ReplyDeleteIn the past week, we have grappled with the question of what is race. Is race based on genetics, dominant phenotypes, or perhaps something else, as suggested in the Obama article? This question only becomes more complex and muddled when racially categorizing individuals who identify as multiracial. The lyrics of the music video reflects this theme; the song talks about people, who define race based on skin color and racial stereotypes, trying to paint over multiracial individuals with a single color or race. Moreover, the artist’s statement supports and explains the art project well. I would have liked the statement to elaborate on how other people’s perception of the artists influenced their identity.
ReplyDeleteThe music video is good. I think the lyrics and the content of the music is right on with topic that we went through in class. Like the mix race issues of an identity crisis and the racial box. The artists statement is good in explaining the content of the music video as well. I think a way of improving this is to make the audio a bit more clear. Although the lyrics is there, I sometimes have a hard time hearing the words.
ReplyDeleteThe music video is really great and definitely reflects the teachings of this week! I especially like Alaina's part about being Filipino since I can identify with it closely! The entire video is really well done and you can tell a lot of effort went into the words. The artist statement does reflect the music video itself. However, I feel it could go a bit more into the video itself rather than the learnings but overall this was very well done!
ReplyDeleteThe song does reflect on what we were talking about in class for the week. The project does match with the artist statement which talks about race and being able to identify oneself. It was a great project and I don't think it needs to make any improvements.
ReplyDeleteI thought this did group did a good job tying in the discuss of identity into of Obama into a song by them all describing there experience and how they identify. The artist statement matches with the art project of creating a song that reflects the weeks discussion and readings. I think the artist statement can be improved by each member discussing what made them write those specific lyrics.
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ReplyDeleteThe lyrics reflect what was written in your statement as influenced by the discussion we had about Obama and mixed race. The lyrics and the backtrack are one and they way your group composed the entire song brought forward the message you wanted to present to the audience, and from reading your statement that is that you are three individuals proud of your identity. Next time please add what it is to be an artist and your group's philosophy in creating art in your artist statement. Overall, good job!
ReplyDeleteThe artists' passion about defining their ethnic identity is reflect in their work. The song matches the artists' statement very well, because the statement elaborates on the racial contexts and the question "who I am" in the framework of defining one's ethnic identity through identity politics. However, the song still needs to connect to the theme of the week, because it does not discuss about the idea or history of mixed race people as race traitors explicitly and beyond surface level analysis of race. The song lacks the theoretical framework of race traitors (which comes with a very specific definition and criteria) and analytical, more through discussions on week one's readings.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I really enjoy the music video. In the past week, we have discussed about the issues of race in our society and I think this group has successfully reflected the theme and readings in their lyrics. The artists' statement definitely helps me understand the thought process behind producing this song. Although the statement is thorough, I wish the group would have included what inspired them to choose the beat to this particular song.
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ReplyDeleteI think the lyrics touched upon our class discussion on Obama and mixed race identity and I thought your group’s artist statement was well-written. However, I believe you missed out on what identifies you as an artist and what your belief was in creating this specific piece of artwork.
ReplyDeleteFor starters, I thoroughly enjoyed the lyrics of each individual within the group as they resonate with the discussions we have had throughout the week. We discussed the controversy of Obama's race and ethnicity, and the group's thoughts were reflected in their work, especially their title "Who Am I?" The artist statement helped me understand where their lyrics were derived from. If I could suggest one thing to improve the artist statement, I would ask if they can expand on the song choice.
ReplyDeleteFor starters, I thoroughly enjoyed the lyrics of each individual within the group as they resonate with the discussions we have had throughout the week. We discussed the controversy of Obama's race and ethnicity, and the group's thoughts were reflected in their work, especially their title "Who Am I?" The artist statement helped me understand where their lyrics were derived from. If I could suggest one thing to improve the artist statement, I would ask if they can expand on the song choice.
ReplyDeleteI think this group's group's statement matches with the song message. The title "Who am I" creates the ambiguous identity that society or the individual could racially and culturally define. When listening to the song, I really did imagined Obama and his struggles to be accepted by America. I think their statement does justice to their song piece.
ReplyDeleteThe project reflects the discussion about Obama's life and how it is hard to define as a category that already exists. The art project match with the artists statement. The artist statement went through the concept of "who I am" in detail, make the material much more understandable. Overall it is a great project.
ReplyDeleteThe project reflects the discussion about Obama's life and how it is hard to define as a category that already exists. The art project match with the artists statement. The artist statement went through the concept of "who I am" in detail, make the material much more understandable. Overall it is a great project.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this group's song as each verse showed a different personal perspective on their own racial identity. The repetition of the phrase 'Who am I?' greatly reflects the concepts discussed in class about racial identity formation as well as society's need to label race. The artist statement describes that the song is a piecing together of three individual stories with a common theme which matches the feel of the song entirely. I don't think there is much need for improvement on this piece, as it is genuine and relates well to the class.
ReplyDeleteThe project reflects the general themes of race and more specifically mentioned our focus on Obama as a mixed race president this week. The statement represents the song well, maybe include what was suggested in the syllabus: explain how your piece was created and what special techniques you used.
ReplyDeleteThe art project is good and the lyric reflects much of what we learned and discussed in class last week. The artist statement is good in explaining the content of the art project. A way of improving this is to provide us with a link that directs you to another tab to the lyric. It was hard hearing the words and the lyrics on the video went a little fast. Overall, good work!
ReplyDeleteThis song greatly contributed to this week's reading about the struggle of being mixed race as it reiterates our talk about Obama also. There isn't much need for improvement, as it pinpointed all the major aspects of this week's focus which I think is the most important part of this project.
ReplyDeleteChloe
This is really good! I love how race was explored through stories and experiences instead of phenotype. I think this helps to complicate race alluding to "boxes" and "categories" but also cultural vs genetic racial lines
ReplyDeleteThis video is really good! i love how you all incorporated ideas about what being of mix race means. Also, I think that you did a great job talking about topics we discussed in class. The only thing that I think could be improved is the quality of the sound. I understand this is a project were these skills are very limited, but I think that if the vocals were presented with better quality, the words would be much easier to understand.
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