Williams, Jenessa N. and Sobande, Francesca  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4788-4099
2025.
Note to scene: Gender, race and rose-tinted nostalgia in emo.
European Journal of Cultural Studies
10.1177/13675494251380627
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Abstract
Twenty years on from its mainstream breakthrough, the popularity of emo music has resurged, offering new opportunities to appraise its cultural legacy. While acknowledging the creative and cathartic qualities of emo as fans, we reflect on how the intersections of race and gender have (not) been thoroughly engaged with in prior research on the genre. We also demonstrate how improvements concerning representation in emo are still constrained, with people of colour (POC) – particularly Black women – carrying heavy self-advocating responsibilities. Through a two-part case study – first, the marketing and booking of When We Were Young festival and second, a reflexive first-person analysis of music journalism surrounding emo’s ‘new wave’ acts – we explore how emo has been (re)branded for old(er) and new(er) generations in the 2020s, how musical belonging and expertise is negotiated within the culture, and how nostalgia narratives can serve to romanticize emo’s exclusionary past at the expense of its more inclusive future.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Published Online |
| Status: | In Press |
| Schools: | Schools > Journalism, Media and Culture |
| Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
| ISSN: | 1367-5494 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 23 September 2025 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 5 September 2025 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Dec 2025 15:10 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181297 |
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