The Queen Art of Failure: Hope/lessness, Re/productivity and Desire in Perfume Genius’s Too Bright & No Shape
Keywords:
queer music; failure; sadomasochistic desire; queer negativity; jouissanceAbstract
Pursuing the line of bold indie/pop music, Perfume Genius is shining on Too Bright and shapeshifting on No Shape. Borrowing from Duggan's, Muñoz's and Halberstam’s explorations on embracing queer negativity and hopelessness, this article maps out works of Perfume Genius, or Mike Hadreas, in the form of a journey towards crafting the queen(r) art of failure. Disturbing the heteronormative desire for coherence reflected in the media’s sanitized queer image and the productive disciplined subject in general, such art is integral to queer praxis. It is addressed both as a way of life and in its potential to be the fine line between trying to inscribe every abject into the category of intelligible and simply refusing to be, through engaging in queer negativity.
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References
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Baedan. (2012). Baedan 1: Journal of queer nihilism. Seattle: Contagion Press.
Bersani, L. (1987). Is the rectum a grave? AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism, 43, 197- 222. https://doi.org/10.2307/3397574
Butler, J. (2004). Imitation and gender insubordination. In S. Salih, J. Butler (Eds.), The Judith Butler reader (pp. 119-137). Malden: Blackwell.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.
Deleuze, G. (1971). Masochism: An interpretation of coldness and cruelty (J. McNeil, Trans.). New York: Braziller.
Duggan, L., & Muñoz, J. E. (2009). Hope and hopelessness: A dialogue. Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, 19(2), 275-283. https://doi.org/10.1080/07407700903064946
Edelman, L. (2004). No future: Queer theory and the death drive. Durham and London: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822385981
El Hunt. (2017, May 3). Scent from above: Perfume Genius. DIY Mag. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://diymag.com/2017/05/03/perfume-genius-no-shape-interview-2017
Erickson, S. (2019, June 7). Floria Sigismondi on directing David Bowie, Rihanna, Perfume Genius, Kenneth Anger, and more. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://www.studiodaily.com/2019/06/floria-sigismondi-directing-david-bowie-rihanna-perfume-genius-kenneth-anger/
Federici, S. (2004). Caliban and the witch. New York: Autonomedia.
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Vintage Books.
Halberstam, J. (2006). What’s that smell? Queer temporalities and subcultural lives. In S. Whiteley, J. Rycenga (Eds.), Queering the popular pitch (pp. 3-27). New York and London: Routledge.
Halberstam, J. (2011). The queer art of failure. Durham: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822394358
Hawkins, S. (2006). On male queering in mainstream pop. In S. Whiteley, J. Rycenga (Eds.), Queering the popular pitch (pp. 279-295). New York and London: Routledge.
Hilton, R. (2017, May 5). Perfume Genius reveals the doubts and defiance behind 'No Shape' track by track. NPR. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2017/05/05/527044340/perfume-genius-reveals-the-doubts-and-defiance-behind-no-shape-track-by-track
Monroe, J. (2015, October 8). Christine on Perfume Genius: "He cannot be ignored, because his voice melts every stone". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://pitchfork.com/news/61543-christine-and-the-queens-team-with-perfume-genius-on-new-single-jonathan/
Muñoz, J. E. (1997). "The white to be angry": Vaginal Davis's terrorist drag. Social Text, (52/53), 80-103. https://doi.org/10.2307/466735
Norris, J. (2014, September 2). Perfume Genius: Bolder, brasher, & brighter than ever. Refinery29. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2014/09/73674/perfume-genius-too-bright
Perfume Genius. (2014). Too Bright [Album]. Matador.
Perfume Genius. (2014). I’m A Mother [Song]. On Too Bright. Matador.
Perfume Genius. (2014). Queen [Song]. On Too Bright. Matador.
Perfume Genius. (2017). No Shape [Album]. Matador.
Perfume Genius & Mills, B. (2017). Die 4 You [Song]. On No Shape. Matador.
Perfume Genius. (2017). Run Me Through [Song]. On No Shape. Matador.
Perfume Genius. (2017). Wreath [Song]. On No Shape. Matador.
Pollard, A. (2017, April 19). Perfume Genius: loving the alien. Dazed. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/35591/1/perfume-genius-no-shape-interview
Yep, G. A. (2003). The Violence of Heteronormativity in Communication Studies: Notes on Injury, Healing, and Queer World-Making. Journal of Homosexuality, 45, 11–59. https://doi.org/10.1300/J082v45n02_02
Yoko, O. (1964). Cut piece [Performance]. Kyoto: Yamaichi Concert Hall.
Watney, S. (1987). Policing Desire: Pornography, AIDS, and the Media. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.
Werthman C. (2014, May 15). Catching up with Perfume Genius. Paste Magazine. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/perfume-genius/catching-up-with-perfume-genius/
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Published
29/12/2020
How to Cite
Gorbachyova, M. (2020). The Queen Art of Failure: Hope/lessness, Re/productivity and Desire in Perfume Genius’s Too Bright & No Shape. Sociología Y Tecnociencia, 11(1), 78–90. Retrieved from https://revistas.uva.es/index.php/sociotecno/article/view/4919
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