Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris

 

This was an impulse buy because I love pop-culture, especially '90s pop-culture, so essays about pop-culture are basically my kryptonite. WANNABE is a fantastic collection of essays written by Aisha Harris, a co-host of a pop-culture-themed podcast and ex-Slate columnist.

In this collection of essays, she writes about '90s nostalgiacore, yes, but from the perspective of a Black woman whose millennial identity was shaped, like all of us, from the pop-cultural sphere she resided in. Some of the topics she discusses are as follows: how Black art is critiqued differently (and often unfairly) from non-Black art, tokenism in TV shows and movies, the politics of "Black"-sounding names, conservatives getting mad about stupid shit being "woke," and the questionable decision production companies make when deciding to cannibalize their old intellectual properties into remakes.

Harris has a very engaging voice and I really enjoyed almost all of these essays. The only thing that made me side-eye her a little is when she quotes a very personal caption Britney Spears had posted to one of her photos and then later deleted. Harris had apparently screenshotted it. That feels a little icky to me, but she was a journalist and nothing is "private" on the internet so IDK. I don't think she did it maliciously, though. The vibe I got from her writing is that she's a deep thinker who consumes all of her media very thoughtfully.

Overall, this collection is great and I'll definitely be looking into that podcast, Pop Culture Happy Hour. So many people think of pop-culture as being frivolous and trivial, but it's so crucial in shaping identities and changing the way we see ourselves and even the world, so it's always exciting to find a new creator who enjoys discussing pop-culture in a critical and in-depth way.

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars