“Press, press, press, press, press” Gender and Afro-Latina identity in Cardi B’s music videos
Year: 2025
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The intersection of sexuality and racial identity is of special importance to the music videos of Cardi B. This paper will analyze the videos and music of “Press” and “Be Careful” as two separate works that each emphasize different aspects of this intersection. While “Press” depicts Cardi B taking on an aggressive persona that contains both masculine and feminine qualities, the video also thematizes media and the press in order to point out the artificiality of its own binaries, gendered as well as racial ones. Ultimately, “Press” shows Cardi B making strategic use of various media clichés while avoiding being subsumed by any one of them. “Be Careful,” on the other hand, portrays Cardi B as both bride and widow in a strongly heterosexual setting that emphasizes binary gender. In this work Cardi B is an example of a Latina “Sad Girl” who decides in favor of passivity and verbalizes her emotions. Although both “Press” and “Be Careful” make use of predefined media figures, the two works therefore diverge significantly in their treatment of those figures.
DOI: 10.18452/31154
Authors: Fühler, Adrian, Gruner, Juliette
Language: English
Topic: Gender, Feminism, and Media
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Gender equality
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6944022555
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