Fan Reactions to Ariana Grande’s Blackfishing

And the final speaker in this Social Media & Society 2024 panel is Steven Gamble, who begins by pointing the appropriation of Black American culture in contemporary music; his focus is especially on Ariana Grande as a multiply constructed pop persona who presents a racial ambiguity.

This racially ambiguous representation has been described as ‘blackfishing’, and there is considerable discussion online from both fans and detractors about her race and ethnicity, running even to long post that pretend to forensically retrace her ethnic heritage. Such discussions tend to combine a variety of perspectives on blackfishing in general, on Ariana Grande overall, and on Ariana Grande’s use of Black aesthetics in particular.

Critical to much of this is how Ariana Grande positions herself in relation to Black women; white artists have greater opportunity to become stylistic chameleons than do their Black counterparts, and their borrowing of Black aesthetics is therefore seen as problematic. It is not clear that such critiques result in any significant change to Grande’s own practices, however.