2016 may prove to be the turning point for Asian American representation in popular culture, with the proliferation of social media campaigns dedicated to the cause - #WhiteWashedOUT, #OscarsSoWhite, #StarringJohnCho - and the release of politically-charged ethnic minority rap anthems by Awkwafina and Safe.
25-year old New York-based indie rocker Mitski Miyawaki's (who is half Japanese, half white American, and lived in Japan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Turkey while growing up) "Your Best American Girl" is too confessional and personal to be unmistakably political, but nevertheless amounts to a potent examination of the cultural outsider's psyche. The music video makes an explicit point that American cultural citizenship is still predicated on whiteness, while the song lyrics contemplate the psychological costs of assimilation:
'Your mother wouldn't approve of how my mother raised meBut I do, I think I doAnd you're an all-American boyI guess I couldn't help trying to be your best American girl'
Lyrics: Genius
While Mitski's position of as an 'other' is accentuated by her cosmopolitan upbringing and biracial identity, she has nevertheless experienced the same 'identity crisis' as other Asian Americans: "I'm Japanese and I'm also white American, and neither camp wants me in their camp. You're kind of floating in another world and you have to figure out for yourself what your identity is" (Rolling Stone).
Mitski's accomplishements hence go beyond the timeliness of her subject matter - as Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes observes, her distorted guitar appears to take on the canonical sounds of indie rock, a genre that has been critiqued for its overwhelming whiteness:
"In indie rock, white is the norm. While indie rock and the DIY underground, historically, have been proud to disassociate themselves from popular culture, there is no divorcing a predominantly white scene from systemic ideals ingrained in white Western culture. That status quo creates a barrier in terms of both the sanctioned participation of artists of color and the amount of respect afforded them, all of which sets people of color up to forever be seen as interlopers and outsiders. Whiteness is the very ideal for which art is made in Western culture, be it the cinema of Wes Anderson or, say, the artists on Merge Records".
Sarah Sahim, Pitchfork
The idea that Mitski may be 'singing back' to Weezer's "Across The Sea" both sonically and lyrically is certainly intriguing, especially when you consider that racial politics tends to be confined to the genre of hip hop. The critical acclaim that (2016) has achieved - with Mistki being heralded as 'Indie Rock's Sharpest Young Singer-Songwriter' and the album being considered one of the best albums of 2016 - suggests that she just might be able to transcend and reform an entire genre, and influence future performers.
