The Earth is Sick: Environmentalism and the Politics of Age and Gender in Children’s Musical Culture

Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change is among the most widely debated topics of our time, and recent years have seen the growing impact of children's involvement in environmental issues. While Greta Thunberg and the School Strike for Climate movement are key examples in this regard, there is another tendency deserving of attention that involves the increased prominence of environmentalism in children's music and culture. This article investigates the song and music video Kloden er syk ("The Earth is Sick") by Anna & Emma, which won the 2019 edition of the Norwegian music competition Melodi Grand Prix Junior. I explore how the audiovisual aesthetics of Kloden er syk encourage solidarity for environmentalist causes, and also discuss disparaging responses to the song and video in order to explicate how age and gender are politicized for the purpose of discrediting young activists and musicians. Ultimately, the article aims to shed light on the distinctly musical (and sociopolitical) ways in which children and young people are implicated in environmental debates.

Negotiating girlhood in rock music: Nandi Bushell, prodigy discourse and adult mentor-fans

“…As the circumstances of children's culture are changing, so too do children's opportunities to influence their cultural, political and social conditions. This has been demonstrated most persuasively by Greta Thunberg and other young environmental activists, including musicians, who have asserted themselves influentially in the global debate about anthropogenic climate change (see Hansen 2020). Bushell joined this debate when she released 'The Children Will Rise Up!'…”

“…Common conceptions of childhood as carefree, innocent and fun have historically complicated children's position both within discourses concerning music's political potential and within social movements more generally. Yet even if young musicians and activists, especially girls, have routinely been marginalised and undermined, they have nonetheless found ways to express themselves and assert their cultural and political influence (Brown et al 2016; Hansen 2020). As such, they also contribute to the public (re)construction of girlhood.…”

“…This article investigates the early career of Nandi Bushell as a point of entry for understanding children's participation in mainstream popular music culture and the broader public sphere. Recent decades have seen the gradual blurring of the lines between children's musical cultures and popular culture at large (Bickford 2020; Hansen 2020; Warwick and Adrian 2016), something that raises new questions concerning prevailing trends in children's socio-musical practices, child musicians’ status in popular music discourse and children's cultural and political influence. In order to address such issues, we explore Bushell's social media presence, creative output and public reception in relation to three interrelated themes: the functioning of social media and the music press as arenas for the (re)negotiation of ideas about child prodigy; child musicians’ political activism; and the role of adult ‘mentor-fans’ in sponsoring girls’ participation in rock culture.…”

Developing Public Communication Methods by Combining Science, Creative Arts and Intergenerational Influence: The Trace Project

“…Whilst the TRACE project addressed guilt it also sought to create empathy and optimism (such as the song 'Monster Electric' demonstrating how waste can be transformed) which then provoked both negative and positive emotions in participants. In this context, Hansen (2020) highlights that music "can emerge as a constructive tool both for voicing environmentalist messages and for processing the anxieties and distress engendered by climate crisis".…”

“…The interrelation between music and the environment is demonstrated by the recent emergence of "ecomusicology", defined by Allen (2014) as "the study of music, culture, and nature in all the complexities of those terms", as a field of study. In particular, musical expressions of environmental activism have potential to animate environmentalist causes for children and can act as a method for coming to terms with existential threats (Hansen, 2020). However, whilst music is obviously entangled with the development of human communication (Conard et al, 2009), this powerful tool has been largely neglected by the scientific community when seeking to educate and influence the public about the importance of environmental issues or the need for behavioural change (Crowther et al, 2016).…”