Bad Suns

      Music has been a consistent catalyst for social change in our society for many generations because it is easily distributed to a large audience quickly. Artists are able to use their public platform to send social messages about the harm gender normativity causes and how society reacts to individuals that break gender normativity in negative ways. Bad Suns, an American Rock band that was formed in 2012, takes advantage of their platform in order to educate their audience about societal issues of having the gender binary.​

     In their 2014 song, “Salt,” Bad Suns takes their audience through a transgender woman’s transition and her experiences struggling with gender identity, drug addiction, sexual assault, and the social pressures she faced along her transition. Through both the musical narrative and the choreography of the music video for “Salt,” Bad Suns is able to create a performance that portrays this transgender woman’s 

particular narrative and the consequences of society’s responses to her transition. While the lyrics of the song are heavy and filled with deep content about her struggles, the song is played in a light and upbeat way. This upbeat nature gives the song feelings of femininity and symbolizes the transgender woman’s hope throughout the hardships she faced rather than incorporating a sullen tone to the already dark content.
Bad Suns pairs the song with a music video to connect the narrative to a visual performance for their audience to communicate their message through both music and dance. In the choreography, the audience can see the individual’s transition from the harsh, masculine moves blending into the fluid, gentle, more feminine motions. This transition symbolizes the individual’s journey from a feeling described as “stuck inside of the wrong frame / I don’t feel attached to this name / My body, I must reclaim / with different eyes and no shame” to the resolution that “these memories are nothing to me, just salt in the wound.” The ways in which the song and music video portray the transition make the narrative more personal to the audience and allow them to empathize with a perspective they may not have understood before. In this way, Bad Suns is able to express to the audience the harmful implications of normativity. ​

     Bad Suns capitalizes on the ways in which music is an accessible platform to evoke social change, especially surrounding the gender binary in this case. Their audience will be able to compare the ways in which different forms of performances, both musically and visually, are able to evoke empathy from an audience and a desire to fight for social change within society. Bad Suns uses the combination of music and choreography through their platform in a way that is relatable to many of its audience, while still pushing the boundary. The music becomes relatable to their audience through the lyrics, but is able to visually represent and shock the audience with the genuine emotion and truth within the video. If anyone on the website does wish to watch the video, I offer a trigger warning because it demonstrates the woman’s experiences with attempted suicide, drug addiction, and sexual assault.