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Good Girl Gone Melisma: the racial politics of Avril Lavigne’s “What the Hell”

February 25, 2011 · by Robin James · in Avril Lavigne, race; virgin/whore; melisma, What the Hell

Avril Lavigne’s newish single “What the Hell” offers us a quick, clearly defined lesson about racial signifiers in American pop music. It all has to do with the one little arpeggiated melisma in the chorus of an otherwise vocally minimalist…

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