On November 9, 2020 and a few days before the release of Aya Nakamura's new album, the media and Internet users are once again attacking her. What if we let go of the sneakers of one of the most talented artists of his generation?
Aya here, Aya there. As if France had not attacked Aya Nakamura enough, a new controversy erupted on Monday, November 9, 2020, as the artist is preparing to come out Aya, his new album, on November 13. Since her explosion two years ago, the singer-songwriter seems to subscribe to media abuse: stage name flayed by Nikos Aliagas on the NRJ Music Awards set in 2018, bad buzz for a question poorly understood during the Telethon 2020, recurring mockery of Internet users about her physique (she would be ugly, too masculine …). At the end of September, she was even the subject of polls on Twitter, seeking to demonstrate that she did not come close to Wejdene's ankle …
Today is a tweet that allows the haters to come across him again. Following Matt Pokora's victory at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Aya Nakamura has indeed tweeted "He won for what sounds? Nothing against him but he's not even in the top 10". A message very quickly erased, but not enough so that it escapes Internet users and is not picked up by the media. The titles of the slew of articles published in the wake? "Furious Aya Nakamura: she disputes the victory of Mr. Pokora", "Aya Nakamura jealous, she openly clasps Mr. Pokora!" or again, "Aya Nakamura openly tackles Mr. Pokora after his coronation". All these articles dissect this micro-event as if it were the drama of the century, and do not hesitate to use the lexical field of violence (Aya "rage", "do not go dead hand" , "atomizes Matt Pokora" …). A vocabulary that is not neutral.
Aya Nakamura, victim of misogynory
The recurring attacks on black women belong to a very specific category of oppression: misogynory. The concept, which comes to us from the United States, was theorized by African-American and lesbian scholar Moya Bailey and refers to the double sentence experienced when misogyny mixes with racism, creating "the particular kind of hatred against black women in American visual and popular cultureVictims in recent years in the US, women like actress Leslie Jones, ex-first lady Michelle Obama and tennis star Serena Williams, all of whom have been labeled "angry black woman" . A stereotype that is part of the mysoginoire range, rooted in colonization and slavery and wielded by white people in order to systematically disqualify black women. In France, a country which has in common with the Americas a slavery history (in particular in the West Indies), misogynory is also rife, as proof of the fate reserved for personalities like the skater Suria Bonaly or, more recently, the former Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira, and now Aya Nakamura.
By locking the artist into the role of the "angry black woman", the media prevent any discussion of the treatment of non-blanc.he.s artists, in particular, dark-skinned black women, at major musical ceremonies . Despite record sales in France and Europe, as well as a huge popular success, how can we not be surprised that Aya Nakamura has never won the slightest victory? And can't we note that at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2020, it is a white variety artist who won against racialized stars (Soprano, Slimane, Aya Nakamura and Gims)?
In addition to seeing her speech once again reduced to a diva's whim, Aya Nakamura also has to face another misogynistic cliché: the physical comparison with a man, due to features that are "less feminine" than those of white women. . When she's not a victim of outright dehumanization. As in June 2020, when a photo of her without makeup was published and several media had shamelessly taken up the insults of Internet users, who compared her to a "city guy", a "footballer" and even a "monkey ". A great outpouring of racist and misogynistic hatred that must be stemmed, even if this amounts to depriving oneself of the thousands of clicks generated by this content. With a million albums sold, a title of one of the world's most influential under-30s, released in 2019 by Forbes and a promising new record, Aya Nakamura deserves much better than that.