WANNABE
A pop culture memoir and critical exercise now available from Harper One
“If you’re looking for engaging nonfiction for your next trip or just love all things pop culture, add to cart ASAP.” — THE SKIMM
Cover designed by Stephen Brayda
“…refreshing debut…an astute observer of the artist/audience relationship…insightful perspectives in animated prose that affirm Harris’s status as a first-rate cultural critic. As incisive as they are entertaining, these essays are a treat.”
“The nine pieces offer insight on Stevie Wonder, the Spice Girls, Pen15, and New Girl—among many other pop artifacts, of course—which might as well be parlance for, ‘Read me immediately.’”
“From Clueless to the Spice Girls, New Girl to Chance the Rapper, Harris teases out the connections between her identity and her love of pop culture with wit and elan.”
Aisha Harris, co-host of NPR’s beloved Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, has made a name for herself as someone you can turn to for a razor-sharp take on whatever show or movie everyone is talking about. Now, she turns her talents inward, mining the benchmarks of her nineties childhood and beyond to analyze the tropes that are shaping all of us, and our ability to shape them right back. In the opening essay, an interaction with Chance the Rapper prompts an investigation into the origin myth of her name.
Elsewhere, Aisha traces the evolution of the “Black Friend” trope from its Twainian origins through to the heyday of the Spice Girls, teen comedies like She’s All That, and sitcoms of the New Girl variety. And she examines the overlap of taste and identity in this era, rejecting the patriarchal ethos that you are what you like. Whatever the subject, sitting down with her book feels like hanging out with your smart, hilarious, pop culture–obsessed friend—and it’s a delight.