Reclaiming The Rhyme: How Black Women and Latinas Have Reshaped Pop Music
As part of Turning the Tables, NPR Music compiled a list of 200 greatest songs by women and non-binary artists in the 21st Century.
As the list took shape, it became impossible not to notice that the songs in this canon share a common backbone. Many of the songs, and more namely the song's creators, owe their catchy, joyous, triumphant, sexy, strong, aching, resilient ethos to black, Latin and Afro Caribbean musical roots. From streaming to radio, the influence of Latin, Caribbean and R&B music is apparent across all modern genres in the new millennium.
To untangle this common thread, NPR Music's Stefanie Fernández and Sidney Madden charted the work of women of color on this list and examined the ways agency and identity have become central in breaking down pop music's barriers.
: At the turn of the millennium, popular culture had a very different idea of the female Latin Pop Star across genres than it does now. had just released her debut album in 1999 after her breakout movie role portraying another forebear, Selena, in 1997. In 1997 and 1999, released and simultaneous to a disintegrating relationship with her label and the fraught decision to change her image (to this day, Carey is not often associated with her Afro-Venezuelan heritage). Christina Aguilera's 2000 album , her only Spanish album, earned her a Latin Grammy before she returned to English-language pop. These performers often had to choose between their perceived "Latin-ness" and pop persona to varying degrees, Gloria Estefan, Jenni Rivera, Celia Cruz, and so many others.
