Blue-eyed soul distinguishes appreciative from appropriative engagement with Black music

Evidence

It’s in what we once called “blue-eyed soul,” though I’ve never known what to do with that term, which euphemistically, almost jokingly labels even its most convincing practitioners—the Bee Gees, Michael McDonald, Bobby Caldwell, Hall & Oates, Teena Marie, Annie Lennox, Simply Red, George Michael, Taylor Dayne, Lisa Stansfield, Joss Stone, Robin Thicke—as diet Black music. The term might be out to mock or judge or offset, but it points to a crucial distinction between what’s appreciative and what’s appropriative. Flaws and all, these are non-Black artists committed to Black music, often working alongside Black musicians—which is to say, with Black musicians’ consent. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1140

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘blue-eyed soul’ as a term marking the appreciative/appropriative boundary, with consent as the distinguishing test