There's no such thing as genre
It's an invention of capitalism
The international crisis is over. After years of mourning, our Lord and Saviour Beyonce finally won Album of the Year at the Grammy’s for her re-defining ‘country’ album Cowboy Carter.
In her brief acceptance speech, Beyonce nodded to the falsity of genre, something she does repeatedly within the album's text. ‘I feel like genre is something they use to keep artists in boxes,’ she said.
Cowboy Carter is a re-imagination of country music, but it’s a deliberate provocation to the alt-right, ‘merica loving MAGA bros that famously protested the Dixie Chicks and Beyonce collaboration at the Country Music Awards in 2016. She correctly points to it as racism and misogyny hiding under the flimsy facade of the ‘genre’ of country music - a genre that has a broad history in African slavery, to begin with.
It’s been on my mind lately because I’ve been reading a lot of - and stay with me here - romantasy. It’s difficult to articulate how cataclysmic a change publishing is going through at the moment - similar only in scope to the revolution in young adult publishing brought about by Harry Potter.
BookTok - the community that recommends and reviews books on TikTok - has made an enormous dent in the publishing industry. All data shows that more people read books because of TikTok, and more Gen Z purchase books because of TikTok. The platform celebrates all kinds of authors, but the most successful have been romance and fantasy - particularly the Godmother of the New Wave, Sarah J. Maas, and the history-breaking Fourth Wing series by Rebecca Yarros.
It’s easy to dismiss these titles from the outside. Every intelligent woman I know reads them, and most are embarrassed by their obsession (which I can’t help but feel is an internalisation of patriarchal bullshit). By their description, I was expecting Fifty Shades of Grey but with dragons and fairies - ergo, spicy pornographic sex scenes with the occasional nod to a fantasy troupe.
Not so. These titles are massive and complicated fantasy stories that usually centre world-building ahead of sex scenes. Romance troupes fuel the plot and momentum, but there is no sacrifice to mythological or magic systems or complex political histories that pit kingdoms against one another.
But much like the dweebs who think women can’t sing country music, the genre bros of fantasy are just as fierce. The field is traditionally male-orientated. The most vocal arse is historically the most celebrated and lonely and suspicious of sex. Publishers didn’t want to invade their territory, so the market created a new genre - romantasy - to set expectations.
But it’s worth pointing out that we tend to see innovations in artistry as masterpieces after the fact, clash genres in new (and sometimes uncomfortable) ways. Alien was sci-fi and horror. Star Wars was sci-fi and fantasy. Harry Potter is a mystery novel set in a fantasy world. What happens when we take genre and centre the stories on oppressed classes? Jane Austen's novels are comedies of manners set around women. Charles Dickens are tales of adventure set in urban environments around poverty-stricken children.
However, innovation becomes more difficult when publishers and producers are risk-averse. In the last six months three indie Australian publishers have been acquired by bigger, international firms (Text, Affirm and Pantera). The pull towards commercial publishing and international book marketing on BookTok has made it almost impossible for mid-tier Aussie authors to see the light of day.
Music is following a similar path. The Australian festival circuit is in crisis as major music festivals - a prime space for local artist discovery - have been cancelled or delayed. Few have been able to find their footing since COVID. The results show in how consumers are reacting: the 2024 Triple J Hottest 100 featured fewer Aussie artists in the top ten than in previous years. The ARIA Aussie album charts are almost permanently set on the best collections of Cold Chisel, INXS and The Wiggles.
So, don't judge your genre of choice. Listen to your favourite artists and read your favourite books. I, too, am a late convert to romance. But I plead with all artists and those who love them to keep their palate broad. Challenge yourself with new work and weird corners of culture.
And in your own creative space, remember: no rules apply.
