This week in class we learned about Ani DiFranco and Tracy Chapman. I didn’t know a lot about either of these artist before we read and talked about them in class this week but I had been introduced to some of their music before. A dance teacher I had used to listen to Tracy Chapman all the time while we were warming up before class, her song Fast Car was one particular song that we listened to all the time, and I actually danced to a song by Ani DiFranco called Amazing Grace. So I found it very interesting to learn more about these two artists this week.
Ani DiFranco started playing the guitar when she was just a child and released her first album in 1990 an quickly started to build a reputation. She gained popularity through word of mouth and became popular among college students. And DiFranco refers to herself as a folk singer but she is also frequently categorized in the alternative rock genre. Many of her songs are drawn from her personal life experiences. An example would be her song Lost Women, which we discussed in class, this song is about her getting an abortion, this is such a difficult topic to talk about openly but she manages to do it, I like how she almost walks you through her experience. Ani DiFranco also often talks about feminist and political issues in her lyrics, and her music has included topics like war, corporate greed, sexual assault and gun control.
When I first heard Tracy Chapman sing the first thing that stood out to me about her was how deep her voice was, I honestly thought she was a man. Chapman became a huge success very quickly. Some of her songs were about unrequited love and others spoke about homelessness, racism, and revolution. She grew up with her mother and her sister in a mostly black, working class neighborhood. Her song “Fast Car” is about a person who has had a bad list of things happening throughout her life, didn't have a lot of money or job options. We talked about in class that how in this song her dream is to get into the car and escape and start her life over.
Ani DiFranco and Tracy Chapman have very similar qualities about them. They both weren't focused on the fame, they didn't really want to be fussed over. Ani DiFranco turned down many recording deal with major recording labels and she also turned down recording with artists like Prince. Both artists also talked about their personal experiences along with controversial topic through their music and didn’t care what people thought about them or their style. Because I was only introduced to a few of their songs previously I enjoyed getting to learn more about these two artists.
Emma, I really liked how you talked about both Tracy and Ani and them compared them. It's ironic how Ani was categorized in two genres while Tracy didn't have one. I also liked how you could make a connection to Tracy in dance, and wrote about in your post. I enjoyed reading about that. Great post!
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