
It’s The Stacks Book Club Day! Novena Carmel, musician and cohost of KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, joins us again to unpack Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith. We talk about Danyel as a cultural icon, what it takes to be a superstar. and the joy of disco as a threat to whiteness.
Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our June book club pick will be!
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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find everything we talked about on Amazon.
- Shine Bright by Danyel Smith
- Janet Jackson
- “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” (Deniece Williams, 1984)
- Mariah Carey
- Cardi B
- Beyoncé
- Rihanna
- Ariana Grande
- Dua Lipa
- Marilyn McCoo
- Mac Miller
- Manchester Arena Bombing
- Frankie Grande
- Black Girl Songbook

- “Chapter 6: The Diss-Education of Lauryn Hill, feat. Angela Yee and MC Lyte” (Black Girl Songbook, The Ringer)
- Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
- Missy Elliott
- Mary J. Blige
- Nicki Minaj
- Lil’ Kim
- “Ep. 215 It’s Kind of Wonderful, but it’s Kind of Awful with Danyel Smith” (The Stacks)
- “The oldest park ranger, who told the stories of Black women in WWII, retires at 100” (Bill Chappell, NPR)
- Reid’s Records (Berkeley, CA)
- Wordle
- The Music Man
- Stephen King
- Jodi Picoult
- Whitney Houston
- Madonna
- Adele
- Aretha Franklin
- Aretha’s performance at Obama’s inauguration
- Aretha – “Great gowns, beautiful gowns”
- “Respect” (Aretha Franklin, 1967)
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Diana Ross
- Eddie Levert
- Whitney Houston “Crack is whack” interview
- Britney Spears’ 2003 Diane Sawyer interview
- Clive Davis
- Tweet
- “Oops (Oh My)” (Tweet, 2002)
- Ashanti
- Hollywood Walk of Fame nomination procedure
- “Pregnant Rihanna and A$AP Rocky hit with breakup, cheating rumors” (Leah Bitsky, Carlos Greer & Francesca Bacardi, Page Six)
- Chris Brown
- Lemonade (Beyoncé, 2016)
- Jay-Z
- Kanye West
- Kim Kardashian
- CBS/Viacom
- Simon & Schuster
- Les Moonves
- “Stop in the Name of Love” (The Supremes, 1965)
- “Dreamgirls” (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine & Jennifer Holliday, 1981)
- “Midnight Train to Georgia” (Gladys Knight & the Pips, 1973)
- Gladys Knight
- Michael Jordan
- ABBA
- BeeGees
- Saturday Night Fever (John Badham, 1977)
- Donna Summer
- “Scream” (Michael and Janet Jackson, 1995)
- Michael Jackson
- Sharda’s “Shine Bright” Playlist
- “Scream” music video
- “Diamonds” (Rihanna, 2012)
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