India.Aries ESSENCE Fest Critics Spark Debate

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When you’re a black woman in the entertainment industry, everyone has opinions on how you should act and present yourself. Even other black women feel the need to participate in your art. To that end, neo-soul pioneer India.Arie sparked debate when she criticized the sexuality showcased by Megan Thee Stallion and Janelle Mone during their performances at the 2023 ESSENCE Culture Festival.

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Towards the end of her set on Sunday, rapper Savage invited a group of fans onto the stage to give them an expert lesson in twerking. Mone, who was also criticized for flashing one of her boobs during her performance, played the stage side cheerleader and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Essence posted a short video of the moment to her Instagram page with the caption, Hot girl bootcamp was in full effect last night. This is @janellemonae with encouragement for us. Although there were a lot of disapproving responses to the video, the Aries IG post is getting the most attention.

The problem is knowing what the CONTEXT is. Humanity does EVERYTHING. But does EVERYTHING BELONG TO ONE STAGE. No. is everything for CHILDREN? No. is it all for EVERYONE?, Arie wrote. NO. so when we as a culture do something like this mainstream ~ it shows a lack of discretion [and] discernment.

Just as many people have a right to want our MAINSTREAM international export music to show us in a respectful light, she continued. [Id] I like to say on the record: it doesn’t age well and that’s my problem. I LOVE Janelle and Meg like I love all of us and I don’t like this moment. Don’t bother debating me lol idc and I do. For 25 years, I did THAT. so read think or not.

The I Am Not My Hair singers’ comments were dissected on Twitter, with one user writing, No one cares what India Arie thinks of Megan Thee Stallion and Janelle Monae.

Another person pointed out that it seems to come down to gender difference, tweeter, I wouldn’t say that’s a drag. It’s just hateful and unnecessary. Megan makes ass shakin music, which is how her performances are supposed to go. India Arie nem doesn’t make that kind of music, so of course you wouldn’t be on stage talking about I’m not my hair.

I understand there is concern about how black women and girls are sexualized in mainstream society. And rightly so. However, there must also be room for us to be comfortable and confident in our sexuality without worrying about what other people think. Megan Thee Stallion never claimed to be a children’s entertainer. When you announce her as your music festival headliner, she’s going to give you Hot Girl Meg because that’s what her fans want. At the same time, if you book India.Arie, you will get thoughtful ballads about love and self-acceptance. There has to be room in the culture for black women to be all of those things, and at this point the weekend also featured performances by Ari Lennox; Coco Jones; Monica; Muni Long; Ms. Lauryn Hill; and Missy Elliott. Black women were represented from across the musical spectrum.

Yes, there was booty shaking, but there were also R&B love songs and female empowerment. This world is hard enough without some black women dictating what is acceptable for other black women. Let’s just enjoy our free time as we wish without making it a huge cultural debate.

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