My husband drives an hour and a half to and from work daily. Although we've been NPR listeners for several years, his new commute has transformed him into some kind of NPR junkie. He knows each broadcaster by voice, the time slot for every show, and listens to Saturday programming like a kid watches cartoons. He listens to You Bet Your Garden, but has never gardened in his life and says he has no desire to do so. Even weirder than that is how excited he gets when he hears Peter Sagal say "Wait wait...don't tell me!" or Garrison Keillor mention Powermilk Biscuits, but I digress.
A few weeks ago, my husband walked in the door after his long commute and found me in the kitchen cooking dinner. He immediately began to share with me about a song he had heard on NPR called "Coquet Coquette" by Of Montreal. "Didn't you say you were discussing coquettes in one of your classes? You should check this song out and see what they're talking about." He does pay attention when I try to debrief him about my classes!
Admittedly I put off searching for the song for a few days. Of Montreal seemed to me like the name of a pretentious indie band who named one of their songs, "Coquet Coquette," after something their bassist had heard in his required lit class during his one semester of art school. However, once I checked out the discography that included titles such as "Godly Intersex," "Enemy Gene," "Sex Karma," and "Girl Named Hello," I thought they might actually have some sort of legitimate gender angle working in their newest release.
Firstly, I suggest listening to the song and reading the lyrics before watching the video--a separate can of worms that, in a very creepy way, visually and lyrically connects both of the classes I have taken so far with Dr. Adams-Campbell. . . I wonder if she's 'with the band' or something. Anyhow, it is obvious that Of Montreal is working with coquettish conventions and didn't think it was just a spiffy word to use in a song title. The entire song, written from the p.o.v. of a presumably male narrator enticed by a coquette, details several coquettish ploys and tendencies discussed in my gender studies class. Using a range of topical tactics from "kissed me strange to prove you were mythical" that plays to the coquettish need to stand out and demand to be noticed to "hurt me twice to prove you were cynical" that exemplifies the coquettish attribute of misanthropic(ish) approaches to courtship and love, Of Montreal is working with the classic definition of coquetry.Yet one thing is missing--consequences. Coquettes always have consequences, don't they?
I began to wonder more about coquetry and modern music, and how other artists were working with, or perhaps remodeling, the definition of coquette. Here are a couple of my findings:
"Coquette" by Guy Lombardo (lyrics): This song has been covered by several people including Nat King Cole, Paul McCartney, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby and Fats Domino. The lyrics communicate the traditional conventions of coquetry as the use of insincere affection for attention. Although much less benign than texts like Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette and William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy, the song does end with the narrator wishing ill(ish)will upon the coquette:
Someday you'll fall in love
As I fell in love with you
Now maybe the one you love
Will just be foolin' too
And when you are alone
With all your regrets
You know my little coquette
I love you
The price for coquetry is no longer death or isolation from society (depending on the full transgression), but there are some seemingly rightly placed negative emotions toward the one doing the foolin'.
"Coquette" by Guy Lombardo (lyrics): This song has been covered by several people including Nat King Cole, Paul McCartney, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby and Fats Domino. The lyrics communicate the traditional conventions of coquetry as the use of insincere affection for attention. Although much less benign than texts like Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette and William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy, the song does end with the narrator wishing ill(ish)will upon the coquette:
Someday you'll fall in love
As I fell in love with you
Now maybe the one you love
Will just be foolin' too
And when you are alone
With all your regrets
You know my little coquette
I love you
The price for coquetry is no longer death or isolation from society (depending on the full transgression), but there are some seemingly rightly placed negative emotions toward the one doing the foolin'.
"Coquette" by LAZERBITCH (no lyrics available): Though many since Lombardo have mused upon the coquette or coquettish ways, there was a huge gap between songs actually employing the terminology. What is most interesting about LAZERBITCH's creation is not only the title and lyrics, which seems to be about attraction between two coquettes (or a coquette and a rake), but the sound of the song. The sterile electronic sound, vocally and musically, reflects the heart of the definition of coquetry-- artifice. Specifically, auto-tuning is the most jarring account of artifice in this track. The false peaks and valleys of Libby Picken's voice (explicit at time marker 3:25-3:33) resonate with coquettish deception--how much of that sound is Picken's voice and how much is synthetic?
Using these two examples, it can be said that the 20th century take on coquetry focuses more on the artifice itself and is moving further away from highlighting the negative connotations of the practice. Even though coquetry is still associated with a degree of heartbreak, the price paid by the coquette is minimal. In fact, much of modern pop music focuses on the feminine reclamation of coquetry. Consider, for example, these lyrics from Katy Perry's California Gurls:
Once you party with us
You'll be falling in love
Oooooh oh oooooh
. . .
Sun-kissed skin
So hot
We'll melt your Popsicle
Oooooh oh oooooh
Though there is more to coquetry than being a 'tease,' Perry's piece proudly acknowledges feminine ownership of overt coquettish actions. When Perry sings "You'll be falling in love," the emphasis of courtly love falls on the subject (you), there's no suggestion that the love will be returned by the object (the coquette). Here, all of the power is placed in coquettish performance. Even the great rake, Snoop Dogg, cannot resist the charms of these 'gurls.' Likewise, Perry is unapologetic; there are no consequences for this behavior or nothing to suggest that there is anything wrong with coquetry.
This ideology is not exclusive Katy Perry. This new coquette--proud, unapologetic, and free from serious consequences--is present in virtually all forms any popular music, especially by female artists--including Lady Gaga and Brittney Spears. Although often the kinds of music mentioned in this write up tend to be overlooked or viewed with disdain, the power this medium wields is not to be dismissed. It will be interesting to see how popular music and its representations continue to transform what it means to be a coquette.
You'll be falling in love
Oooooh oh oooooh
. . .
Sun-kissed skin
So hot
We'll melt your Popsicle
Oooooh oh oooooh
Though there is more to coquetry than being a 'tease,' Perry's piece proudly acknowledges feminine ownership of overt coquettish actions. When Perry sings "You'll be falling in love," the emphasis of courtly love falls on the subject (you), there's no suggestion that the love will be returned by the object (the coquette). Here, all of the power is placed in coquettish performance. Even the great rake, Snoop Dogg, cannot resist the charms of these 'gurls.' Likewise, Perry is unapologetic; there are no consequences for this behavior or nothing to suggest that there is anything wrong with coquetry.
This ideology is not exclusive Katy Perry. This new coquette--proud, unapologetic, and free from serious consequences--is present in virtually all forms any popular music, especially by female artists--including Lady Gaga and Brittney Spears. Although often the kinds of music mentioned in this write up tend to be overlooked or viewed with disdain, the power this medium wields is not to be dismissed. It will be interesting to see how popular music and its representations continue to transform what it means to be a coquette.
