More Mandisa
And my local radio hosts from back in the day, Kevin and Bean. The topic on their morning show was "Would Mandisa be an American Idol front-runner if she were white?" Bean said:
"It's fascinating that she can be a front runner and look like she does, yet there's no way 'Whitey' shows up at 280 [lbs.] and gets in the Top 10. It's not even possible."
I absolutely tend to agree with that. I've written before (as politically incorrect as this is) that I used to wish I were a black woman because then it would be more acceptable to be overweight. One listener's counterexamples (Fats Domino and Aretha Franklin) are both non-white, kind of missing the point. I love having a woman of size on American Idol at all, but there's definitely an order of acceptability. Ruben, then Scott Savol, then Mandisa.
The article is here; thanks to the Weetabix half of Weetapidol for the link.
"It's fascinating that she can be a front runner and look like she does, yet there's no way 'Whitey' shows up at 280 [lbs.] and gets in the Top 10. It's not even possible."
I absolutely tend to agree with that. I've written before (as politically incorrect as this is) that I used to wish I were a black woman because then it would be more acceptable to be overweight. One listener's counterexamples (Fats Domino and Aretha Franklin) are both non-white, kind of missing the point. I love having a woman of size on American Idol at all, but there's definitely an order of acceptability. Ruben, then Scott Savol, then Mandisa.
The article is here; thanks to the Weetabix half of Weetapidol for the link.
9 Comments:
I think Mandisa is gorgeous.
I used to work in the music biz. I distinctly remember an R&B artist named Kelly Price. She had a SLAMMIN' voice and she is a BBW. Her record label told her to lose weight because they couldn't market her as one of those hottie Beyonce types. I don't know if she's even come out with anything recently -- must google her.
Missy Elliot also lost a LOT of weight. Her face looks odd, I thought she was cuter when she was chubbier. Faith Evans, too...she was bigger when she first came out but has also lost a lot of weight.
I am thinking that black women in entertainment have less lee-way than they used to, which sucks!
My boss, the CEO of a record label once told me that if you're trying to make it in mainstream music you have to be in your early 20's and hot. He said the only way a non-hot person older than 30 can make it is if it's a niche genre, like jazz or gospel or bluegrass.
It hurt to hear this, being a 28 year old fat white girl who played guitar and wanted to be a rock star.
I'm trying to think of some fat white girl singers and all I can come up with is Carnie Wilson, who is now the poster girl for gastric bypass surgery, and Mama Cass, who is best remembered for choking on a ham sandwich even though that's not how she actually died (heart attack). Wasn't one of the girls in "Heart" kind of chunky too? But yeah, there's definitely a double standard here.
LauraBora said:
"I used to work in the music biz. I distinctly remember an R&B artist named Kelly Price. She had a SLAMMIN' voice and she is a BBW. Her record label told her to lose weight because they couldn't market her as one of those hottie Beyonce types."
I was there when they had that conversation.
I've already done one really long post on here today (*awareness procrastination* - hee), so instead of ranting on about middle-class conformity - in EVERY American race - to upper-class thin Anglo-Saxon (preferably blonde) patriarchal beauty standards and inevitably pissing someone off, I'm going to paraphrase one of my former bosses and restrict myself to saying:
"DON'T believe the hype."
I remember the lead singer of Romeo Void -- this 80's band -- was a chunky white girl, but I wouldn't even call her FAT.
Stevie Nicks had chunked out for a while (she said it was because she quit doing cocaine, which was Ann Wilson's reason for gaining weight.)
It annoyed me that they never showed Ann Wilson in the Heart videos, either. They'd zoom in on her face and then break away to the skinny blonde one. Like, "Oh no!! Don't be EXPOSED to the FAT GIRL!!"
That happened with the Wilson Phillips videos too...they'd linger over the two skinny ones and kind of blow past Carnie.
I can go on and on about the music business and fat girls -- Missy Elliot was front and center in her videos, she danced, she was awesome. She still had pressure on her from the label to lose weight, though.
Oh no! I am traumatized! Ann Wilson has had weight-loss surgery (the less heinous lap band, but still)!
Debora from Romeo Void was "Hollywood fat", but not "real world fat", you know? The same thing with the singer from Save Ferris, the band that should have had No Doubt's success cause they were so much more talented, but hey, Gwen Stefani was skinny and Monique was "fat", so you can see how that went.
There is a band popular in England now, The Magic Numbers, where all the members are overweight, but maybe England is still a bit more open to this kind of stuff. Their music is excellent BTW.
Er ... black woman here.
While it is true that culturally, a little bit of "phatness" isn't a dating death sentence, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is acceptible across the board to be fat. When I was heavy, I was called a fat, ugly bitch by as many black guys as white guys. Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, Beyonce, and music videos, black men are tending toward the Eurocentric aesthetic as far as looks go. And I will admit that it's a new trend. I'm 29 - 10 years ago, I didn't know any black girls who bragged about fitting into a size 2 or a size 0. Now on a message board I frequent that is geared toward the AA community, when the talk turns to fashion and trends, women are falling all over themselves to proclaim their thinness.
So, yes, Laura Bora is correct. Black women in Entertainment aren't just given a pass to eat whatever. CeCe Penniston has no career now and all people talk about is how much weight she has gained. Faith Evans, the wife of the late Notorious B.I.G. slimmed down big time in part, she said, because she felt as if she were missing opportunities because of her size. Lil' Kim, who probably never was any larger than a size 10, dieted and surgeried her way to ... whatever size she is now.
So, yeah. Everytime you think that it's more acceptible for black women to carry some weight, I ask you to remember that it's been more than a decade since Sir Mix A Lot wrote "Baby's Got Back," and there really haven't been any comparable shout-outs to women of any colors since.
correction, kelly price WAS a BBW she had lost weight too!!!
One thing that really annoys me is when people assume that the size discrimination does not exist in african american or latino communities! In addition to having to conform to the hourglass shape (big boobs and butt are ok if you have a tiny waist) we also have to fight against the stereotype of the fat singing black woman. Just letting you know the grass is not greener on the other side.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home