Guest Lecture: "Girlhood, Trauma, and Healing in the Musical Vernacular of Depression: A Close Reading of Princess Nokia's GIRLS (2025)”

Featured guests: "Girlhood, Trauma, and Healing in the Musical Vernacular of Depression (Pop). Abstract : In recent years, mental health has become an undeniable focal point in Anglo-American popular music in several key ways, including: as a set of terms – “depression,” “anxiety,” “PTSD,” etc. – loosely invoked by pop artists and fans to disclose, destigmatize, and normalize everyday experiences of sadness, loneliness, and despair; as an organizational theme on music streaming platforms in connection with mood and activity-based listening; and as a diverse musical and visual style forming around key musical personae and subgenres. I ultimately call this phenomenon the musical vernacular of depression , a dynamic expressive category that speaks to the prevalence of clinical depression and anxiety in young people, ongoing cultural depathologization of mental health, and intense cultural debate over what “depression” is. This talk addresses the aesthetic politics of girlhood in the musical vernacular of depression through a close reading of Nuyorican rapper Princess Nokia’s 2025 a