ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how gendered norms and representations find footholds in children’s culture and investigates the extent to which contemporary popular music plays a role in these processes. Providing a detailed account for the vocality of female protagonists such as Pippi and Annie, the chapter asks whether it is necessary for girls to border on transgressive behavior in order to obtain agency. Following from this, the chapter entails close readings of Sigrid’s “Don’t Kill My Vibe” and Marcus and Martinus’ “Like It Like It” as a demonstration of how popular music contributes to shaping and constructing normative frameworks for how boys and girls are allowed to behave. By combining music educational perspectives with musicological approaches and childhood studies, this chapter aims to unpack the various forms of gender baggage which potentially enter the music classroom when popular music serves as a bridge between the playground and classroom, between listening for pleasure and listening for learning in school.
