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ABOUT THE ISSUE From playlists that provide the soundtrack for an intimate dinner among friends to setlists that fill venues for thousands of people to iconic songs that dominate radio waves across the country, music plays a pivotal and undeniable role in the social and cultural fabric of society. On Georgetown University’s campus and in Washington, D.C., music not only shapes art and entertainment, but also creates a medium through which musically enthused students can understand themselves, build community and share their creative endeavors. Contributing Editors: Elizabeth Alarcon, Julia Alvey, Steven Botsoe, Michelle Brown, Natalie IsÊ, Ethan Knecht, Yu Young Lee, Rosy Lin, Subul Malik, Tim McNulty, Allan Navarro, Samuel Nelson, Eloise Owen, Janis Park, Stephanie Parmiter, Lilia Qian, Zain Sandhu, Ryan Siebecker, Megan Wee
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019
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The History of Music Venues Across DC
T SAMUEL NELSON/THE HOYA
he rise of music venues across Washington, D.C., has increased dramatically over the last few years and shows no sign of slowing down. However, questions of gentrification of neighborhoods and struggles to properly respect the history that precedes these venues plague their rise. Nevertheless, these music venues continue to represent the D.C. music scene on both a local and global scale.
2017 — the anthem and union stage open 2012 — echostage opens 2010 — u street music hall opens 2006 — rock and roll hotel opens 2001 — jammin java opens 1996 — 9:30 club moves to its current location 1993 — black cat opens 1980 — 9:30 club opens 1967 — merriweather post pavilion opens 1922 — the lincoln theater opens 1910 — the howard theater opens DESIGN BY: STEPHANIE PARMITER AND ROSY LIN/THE HOYA
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THE HOYA
Music Venues Shape, Promote DC Music Scene ALLAN NAVARRO AND ZAIN SANDHU Hoya Staff Writers
From the historic, like the Lincoln Theatre, to the state-of-the-art, like The Anthem, music venues in Washington, D.C., have come to define the music culture around the District. Their histories are incredibly diverse and distinct. Though several of them originated to offer spaces for certain genres and initially operated as smaller clubs, they have slowly moved into the upper echelon of the D.C. music scene. As more venues continue to populate the District, however, they are accompanied by an increase in the gentrification of neighborhoods, as well as shifts in the cultural scene surrounding the city’s music.
STORIED SPACES
Many of D.C.’s oldest, most prominent music venues consisted of smaller, more intimate clubs that provided a space for more niche cultures. From jazz in the 1920s to punk rock in the 1990s, the District has witnessed the rise and fall of cultural hubs for different genres during the past century. The rise of black culture in the city in the early 1920s led to the opening of some of the city’s first venues. One of the first was the Lincoln Theatre, which opened in 1922 at 1215 U Street NW and still operates today. The venue seats just over 1,200 people and has an atmosphere reminiscent of traditional theater performance. The Lincoln Theatre was historically the center of black music in D.C., according to Jordan Grobe, the communications coordinator for I.M.P., which manages the Lincoln Theatre, the 9:30 Club, The Anthem and the Merriweather Post Pavilion. “The Lincoln Theatre was essentially the home of what they called ‘Black Broadway’ in D.C.,” Grobe said in an interview with The Hoya. “So U Street was always sort of the hub of African American entertainment, and it was where all the real big names would come and play, so like Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday.” As the music culture around the city continued to evolve across the 1900s beyond it’s black roots, newer venues paid tribute to these origins of music within their own history. Located just down the street from the Lincoln Theatre at 815 V Street NW, the 9:30 Club has arguably become the most iconic music venue in the District. In 2018, Rolling Stone named the 9:30 Club one of the 10 best live music venues in the country. The venue sits in a building once owned by Ellington. “The 9:30 Club itself originated in 1980, located at 930 F Street — that’s where it got its name, the address,” Grobe said. “Tons of bands got their start there. It was a 198-person capacity.” The venue, which initially focused on punk rock acts and boasted performances from Green Day and The Red Hot Chili Peppers in their early days, moved to its current day 1,200-person capacity venue in 1995 and has since pivoted to include all kinds of music, just like all other I.M.P. venues.
The 9:30 Club was one of the first music venues to become a national brand, operating as a place of representation and beginnings for upand-coming artists. Being tied to this tradition offers a sense of legitimacy to these newer acts, according to Chris Kelly, a freelance music writer who contributes to The Washington Post and Washington City Paper. “Playing 9:30 is a goal or milestone for most acts — to be part of that heritage and lineage that extends, in some part, back to the old F Street location,” Kelly wrote in an email to The Hoya. Also located in the U Street neighborhood, Black Cat, located on 1811 14th Street NW, was founded in 1993 and is partially owned by Foo Fighters lead vocalist Dave Grohl. It served as a touchstone for punk culture in the District in the 1990s and now hosts shows across genres, from indie rock band Crumb to the aptly named gay AC/DC cover band GayC/DC. The smaller, 700-person venue fosters an intimate experience between artists and audiences that many larger, newer venues cannot replicate, according to Nick Okerlund (SFS ’21), who has visited several venues across the city. (Full Disclosure: Okerlund formerly served as a staff writer for the Guide) “It just has a different feeling from the larger venues and you can tell it has a lot of history to it,” Okerlund said in an interview with The Hoya. “There’s just an artist-audience connection there that I don’t see in a lot of other places.” The intimacy of these historic venues fosters their inclusivity as safe spaces for people of all identities to enjoy music in a comforting environment. “[Venues have] always acted as a safe space for people — a place where you can just come in, see music and just enjoy yourself and forget about everything else,” Grobe said.
JULIA GIGANTE FOR THE HOYA
Shows at the 9:30 Club span a wide range of genres and styles. As the venue has increased in popularity, it has become emblematic of the wider D.C. music scene.
@THEANTHEMDC/INSTAGRAM
With The Anthem’s opening in 2017 at The Wharf, operating with a capacity of 2,000 to 6,000 people, D.C. welcomed one of its first midsize venues. This increase in space allows more new music acts to perform directly in the District.
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LEFT: @THEANTHEMDC/INSTAGRAM, RIGHT: @THELINCOLNDC/INSTAGRAM
Some venues, like the Lincoln Theatre, have come to represent the African American history within D.C.’s music culture. As these venues continue to welcome new and diverse acts into their performance ranks, so too do they continue to shine a light on the role these foundational figures played in establishing D.C. as a center for music.
NEW IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Over the past two decades, the District’s musical landscape has witnessed a surge in new venues and nightlife. Since 2010 alone, a slew of popular venues opened in the District, including U Street Music Hall in the U Street area, Echostage near Gallaudet University, and Union Stage and The Anthem at The Wharf. The emergence of these newer venues offer uncommon sizes while pushing out competition from smaller venues. The Anthem and Echostage both serve as midsize, music-specific venues that D.C. previously lacked. These larger venues also provide more opportunities for musical acts to visit the city, even if they may not fit the culture of the venue, according to Kelly. “Sometimes, there are bookings that don’t seem to have the right ‘fit’ (for example, I recently saw Marina at Anthem and Charli XCX at 9:30, and think both would have been better served at the other venue), but overall, these bigger venues keep more and more varied acts in D.C.,” Kelly wrote. Both venues fit between 2,000 and 6,000 people and are specifically de-
signed for music, emphasizing acoustics and concert-goer experiences. These venues allowed midsize acts to play within the District as other midsize venues are an hour away, according to Kelly. “The Anthem and Echostage allow larger acts to come through D.C. proper and save D.C. residents from a trip to Merriweather Post Pavilion or Jiffy Lube Live,” Kelly wrote. But reactions to these new venues have not been uniformly positive. The Anthem and Union Stage, both part of a series of new developments at The Wharf, have seen backlash as gentrification encroaches on the area. This movement has impacted more historic venues by limiting their performers and creating a divide within the music scene, according to avid concertgoer Rachel Harris (COL ’21). “The Anthem is a cool venue, but with the gentrification of The Wharf and all that, it’s really attracting different people than do some of the smaller, more historic venues,” Harris said in an interview with The Hoya. The growing trend of gentrified communities and this shift in the average concert
goer’s experience is not specific to The Anthem, though. In fact, the newer venues in the city actively contribute to D.C.’s changing cultural scene.
DEFINING THE DISTRICT
At the heart of music venues is the ability to reflect and shape the narratives of their city’s music culture, and D.C.’s venues are no exception. But while certain music venues are attempting to preserve this culture — namely the rich legacy of black music in D.C. — they may not be doing it correctly or for the right reasons, according to Harris. “I feel like venues such as the 9:30 Club, for example, do cater to some of the city’s musical culture, because it’s so close to Howard [University],” Harris said. “But I still feel like it’s ignoring the city’s culture. I don’t know how authentic it is versus how commercial it is.” Barriers to accessing D.C.’s authentic music culture still persist, according to music enthusiast Jamal Jaffer (COL ’21). “In terms of the city’s music, other than the go-go music that I’ve seen at the Lincoln Theatre, I don’t know how much of the city’s actual music I’ve seen
— especially like hip-hop and black music in general,” Jaffer said in an interview with The Hoya. The cultural authenticity preserved by some of D.C.’s older, more original music venues is at risk of disappearing as newer venues open across the District, according to Okerlund. “I feel like, in the 20th century, D.C. saw almost all of its famous jazz venues run out of business or get destroyed. So a lot of that historical music in a sense has not been preserved,” Okerlund said. “I feel like we’re even seeing that now, but instead of with older jazz venues, we’re just talking about ’80s to ’90s underground venues. And I don’t know if they’ll stay around in the future.” Despite this spotted history, these music venues foster a distinct music culture in the District, a city that can increasingly be seen as corporate or purely governmental, according to Grobe. “We have such a thriving arts scene here,” Grobe said. “From a local music community in general, and our sculptors and our painters, you know all of the murals that you see around D.C. There’s so much to it beyond just the White House and the Capitol Building.”
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THE HOYA
STUDENT RECORD LABEL
Prospect Records Offers Marketing for Student Musicians SEAMUS MASTERSON Hoya Staff Writer
From a Spotify playlist to a backyard set, student musicians at Georgetown University continue to perfect their craft across campus. Prospect Records, a new musician-focused management club on campus, aims to help these aspiring artists broaden their reach across Georgetown and into Washington, D.C. Prospect Records was founded as a club earlier this year by Kevin Pollack (SFS ’21), Matt O’Brien (MSB ’21) and Jack Colavita (COL ’21) with the aim of advancing the profile of student artists on campus. They each wanted to merge their love of music with their passion for finding and discovering new artists. (Full Disclosure: Colavita previously served as a Guide staff writer) Although the label is not yet university-recognized, it has begun the process to become an official club and receive university funds. The label also works closely with groups on social media platforms like the Georgetown University Collective of Creative Individuals on Facebook to promote student musicians. These groups aim to foster easier collaboration and raise musical awareness on campus, while also providing an environment for the cultivation of their craft. However, these resources are not as prominent as they should be, according to Pollack, president of Prospect Records. “Our initial idea was that we felt like there are tons of kids on campus that want to be more involved in the arts, but there wasn’t just any one centralized way for them to get out into the world,” Pollack said in an interview with The Hoya. Aspiring musicians often struggle to effectively promote their own music independently as posts on social media groups like GUCCI and word-of-mouth often do not suffice, according to Andrew Berg (MSB ’21), a Prospect Records team member. “People post their SoundCloud links in there and it just gets lost and no one will ever listen to it,” Berg said in an interview with The Hoya. However, Prospect Records does not operate like a record label. Instead, it seeks to function more as a support system aiming to propel students who seek careers in music, according to Berg. “We understand it’s hard enough to sit in your dorm room, put off your homework and try writing lyrics for something that no one might ever hear,” Berg said. “So why not just stick to that and have someone else worry about the marketing, know that there are other kids on campus who want you to do well and would like your music to be out there.” The team at Prospect Records reaches out to musicians who it finds through the GUCCI Facebook page or at live performances like open mics, Battle of The Bands and the Guild of Bands, which are events across the neighborhood that put forth new Georgetown student artists. Prospect Records’ reach remains limited because it is a new club on campus, but they are heavily working with one student musician, according to Berg.
“We’re working primarily with this one artist right now, Andrew Beck, and we’re hoping to get five or six songs recorded, but it will all be shot and recorded live somewhere,” Berg said. Andrew Beck (MSB ’21) was recently introduced to the club when Pollack approached him after class and offered promotional help with his music career. Musical talents are best showcased when collaborating with people who know more about the business side of the industry, according to Beck. “I can’t be a legitimate musician without cool promotion, but it’s really not my area of expertise,” Beck wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I’m super excited that people who really know what they’re doing are helping me out in this area. It’s definitely going to let me focus a lot more on the music.” Although Prospect Records has high hopes for its collaboration with Beck, it has been struggling to find people with access to equipment and tangible ways to support artists at this early stage, according to Pollack. “Because of the club’s lack of university funding, there are only a couple of projects that we’re working on,” Pollack said. “It’s been difficult recruiting people who are interested in helping out, finding spaces, and finding artists who want the help and need it.” As students become more aware of the importance of marketing within music, Prospect Records seeks to continue to grow and represent more artists in the future, even in the face of these challenges, according to Berg. “Much like everything else in the entertainment world, you don’t need to have any background in music production for you to find some use in this club,” Berg said.
KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA
Kevin Pollack (SFS ’21), left, and Matt O’Brien (MSB ’21), right, were two co-founders of the new student record label on campus, along with Jack Colavita (COL ’21). The label aims to establish essential connections between aspiring musicians on campus and the business side of music.
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019
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A CAPPELLA GROUPS
Student Singers Find Home Within A Cappella Groups GRACE VAINISI
Special to The Hoya
From “The Office” to “Pitch Perfect,” a cappella has increasingly found itself as a cultural flashpoint within popular media. At Georgetown University, the a cappella groups foster a sense of community among their members that requires a large time commitment on the part of students hoping to find chances to sing. A cappella, which is singing without instrumental accompaniment, has had a place in the Georgetown music scene for decades, with the Phantoms and the GraceNotes both founded in the 1980s. Today, there are seven university-recognized a cappella groups on campus, and each one offers something distinct for students. Part of the appeal of a cappella, both for people who sing and spectate, is that it can serve as a stress reliever. A cappella music can also offer an artistic escape, according to Gabriela Gura (COL ’21), who currently serves as the business manager of the Phantoms. “I really like singing, so I really wanted to do it in college, and it’s also just such a nice break from actual work because this requires just being able to sing,” Gura
said in an interview with The Hoya. In all iterations of a cappella, the act of making and listening to music creates the positive experience of delving into musical exploration. Members of a cappella groups get to share what they are genuinely passionate about with like-minded people in a relatively stress-free environment — they are able to explore a cappella music without the pressure of grades or credit. These groups offer enjoyment in being able to refine musical abilities in a more informal and enjoyable way, according to Olivia Giacomo (COL ’21), president of GraceNotes, an all-female a cappella group. “It’s a really nice way to combine love of music with more of a relaxing atmosphere so it’s not strictly classical — you also get to do songs that people are familiar with and perform it that way, but it’s still super fun to practice sight reading and blending and stuff like that,” Giacomo said in an interview with The Hoya. “It’s a nice way to get involved, and it’s a nice way to meet other kids who are interested in that without necessarily being in class and being graded.” Similarly, audiences of a cappella performances are able to de-stress for even
just a few minutes by listening to their classmates perform. In a place as stressful as a college campus, a cappella can be soothing for audiences simply by allowing the opportunity for engagement with the arts. These experiences as de-stressors are irreplaceable for all parties involved, according to Gura. “Especially at Georgetown, where art isn’t a huge focus for students, I think it’s a huge relief for students to go to performances that aren’t speeches or academic in nature,” Gura said. “This is purely artistic, so it plays a role in entertainment, and it’s a different experience than going to watch something to take notes.” Performances like these, as well as any student-led performance, can offer different ways to explore conventional forms of media, said Gura. “It’s definitely something to seek out and to try. I would say this about any type of art or performing art — really seek out stuff like this because after college there’s not gonna be stuff like, ‘Oh, let’s go watch this student-run theater or student a cappella group,’” Gura said. “This is entirely done by students, and it’s a really cool thing.”
A cappella accomplishes two seemingly opposite aims by providing an outlet for a very niche set of people who are experienced in a cappella while also drawing in a multitude of people with widely varying experience in the music world. The community that a cappella groups build in such a short time also offers a sense of pride, according to Chloe Morris (COL ’23), who recently joined GraceNotes. “I’m learning from the older girls because they’re so talented,” Morris said. “These girls have perfect pitch, can play the piano, so when I’m learning my part, they help me so much.” These communities act as supportive environments for people that share this interest, and they provide the space to grow in that interest merely by learning from the other members of the community. Above all, a cappella groups offer an alternate way to enjoy the classic songs without limiting oneself to one musical style, according to Giacomo. “It’s possible to recreate versions of songs without instruments that still feel just as full,” Giacomo said. “That bases can still hit such a full range that the sound still sounds really full.”
LEFT: FILE PHOTO: NATALIE ISÉ/THE HOYA, RIGHT: SUBUL MALIK/THE HOYA
A cappella groups have steadily increased in popularity because of the opportunities they provide for aspiring singers. A perfect blend of community and creativity, these diverse groups on campus offer an outlet for musical expression while fostering a supportive community in which everyone works together in harmony, both on and off stage.
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019
THE HOYA
STUDENT RADIO
Campus Radio Station Forges Artistic Platform for Students GRANT BROWN
Special to The Hoya
WGTB, the radio station on campus, creates an unparalleled platform for students to broadcast their own musical tastes for the entire world to hear. Student radio hosts center their identities and celebrate their different interests for their intimate, devoted audiences. WGTB is a student-run radio station with around 125 members who each have the opportunity to run their own two-hour show. Broadcasting from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m., shows represent a wide range of diverse backgrounds and interests that provide an unfettered platform for their hosts to share their musical identities over the airwaves. WGTB launched in 1946 and had its own transmission until the 1970s. Georgetown University President Fr. Timothy S. Healy, S.J., disapproved of the left-wing politics being broadcasted and subsequently associated with Georgetown from WGTB radio shows. In 1979, following vocal commentary supporting the women’s liberation movement and
opposing the Vietnam War, Healy and the university sold the station to the University of the District of Columbia for $1. After the sale, the radio struggled to broadcast through direct on-campus radio link and a small AM station, finally switching to an online broadcast in 2001, according to WGTB’s website. Now, the shows have a broad range of premises that cover everything from niche genres to highlighting student music, making each show distinct from one another and highlighting individual hosts even if genres overlap, according to Julia Yaeger (COL ’21), the general manager of WGTB. (Full disclosure: Yaeger formerly served as a deputy editor for The Guide.) “We try to pick people who have a really clear vision in mind, and that doesn’t necessarily include genre,” Yaeger said in an interview with The Hoya. “It leans towards alternative like rock and rap because it’s the genre people listen to the most. There are shows that play just house music, indie and Georgetown music and artists of color.” Even though shows now have more freedom to broadcast what is important to each
radio host, shows have a smaller listener base given the online-only transmission format, according to Yaeger. “The most [listeners] we’ve ever had at one time since we’ve been on the server we’re on now, which hasn’t been that long, is probably 246 at one time.” However, the smaller viewership also allows hosts to individually cater their shows to the people that do regularly tune in for the show’s two-hour block, according to Yaeger. “One of my cohosts’ mom listens every week so we also do traffic reports for her,” Yaeger said. “I love getting in the studio and getting to talk and having people call in and getting to talk to my high school friends who are listening.” The shared time in the studio for a two-hour block can also become a space of relaxation and release for radio hosts, according to Angela Newman (COL ’20), who hosts “ya love to hear it” with her friend Emma Berk (COL ’20). “We both talk about how our show is the best part of our week. It’s a great way to step back from whatever chaos the semester
brings and just enjoy each other’s company listening to our favorite music,” Newman wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We have a great time curating the playlist each week, and we love learning about different music tastes from our occasional guests.” The community that radio shows foster is not limited to only individual hosts and their shows, according to Newman. “The people who do radio are extremely welcoming and mellow; it’s a great juxtaposition to the stress culture that this campus carries,” Newman wrote. Likewise, WGTB represents a larger community of creative people who love music and want to share it with those close to them, according to Yaeger. “It’s such a cool thing,” Yaeger said. “Like it’s a big club, but getting to know all these people who really care about music, art or politics or whatever they want to do their show about, kind of seeing how distinct every single show is is really a microcosm of what is going on in Georgetown, and it’s really great to see that on this scale.”
KIRK ZIESER/THE HOYA
At WGTB, the student-run radio station, students fill two-hour shows with engaging stories and eclectic music that represents who they are both as people and musical tastemakers. The station, which offers a different platform for students, represents an unparalleled opportunity for students to express themselves and explore their interests.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019
CONCERT REVIEW
THE HOYA
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GEORGETOWN MUSIC PROGRAM
Pond Mesmerizes With Theatrical Dreamscape
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF PERFORMING ARTS/FACEBOOK
Whether through majoring or minoring in music or joining an ensemble, students have the liberty to make music a vital part of their journeys at Georgetown with both performance and academic experiences. Despite the freedom and flexibility it gives students to incorporate music into their curriculum, the program’s limited size can make it difficult to fully get involved.
Students Add Art Into Their Academics With Music ANTONIO GRUMSER Special to The Hoya
Despite its at times limiting size, Georgetown University’s music program offers instruction and resources not only for students formally majoring or minoring in the program, but also for musically inclined students hoping to pursue their interest in music in college. The music program is one of four programs under the department of performing arts, along with theater and performance studies, dance and public speaking. The program offers one major in American musical culture and one minor in music. The program focuses on a wide swath of genres and global musical traditions, along with the Western classical tradition, according to the program’s website. The music program’s music minor includes courses in music history, criticism, theory, composition, audio technology, and performance, while the American Musical Culture major features two separate tracks: Musicology/Ethnomusicology and Music & Media Studies. The American musical culture major is designed for students interested in pursuing careers within the music industry with a focus on musicology, the study of music’s history and societal importance, rather than for musicians to hone their crafts, according to Ziyue
Zhang (COL ’21), who performs with the music program as a member of the Georgetown University Orchestra. “The strength of the department definitely comes from musicology and culture and how the music industry works — not so much on performance or composition, even though that is offered to students,” Zhang said in an interview with The Hoya. The music minor can help contextualize a student’s own experience with playing music and ground their practice in the cultural history, according to Lily Gong (COL ’20), a music minor and vice president of the Georgetown University Pep Band, who played classical piano for 11 years. “Being a music minor has exposed me to a wide range of different artists that I wouldn’t have necessarily come across because then you start to dive into the social and cultural context of certain composers,” Gong said in an interview with The Hoya. “I’m in a seminar right now called the Beethoven seminar, and it’s very cool how you can do a deep dive into his life and kind of watch how events like the French Revolution and his health and all that played into his musical things that I ended up playing when I was a child.” The department offers resources and experiences for any students interested in music, not exclusively music minors and American musical culture majors. Students must audi-
tion for certain ensembles, but can participate in ensembles like chamber music, concert choir and orchestra regardless of their major. These ensembles forge the flexibility for students to make music a part of their academic experiences, according to Angel GilOrdóñez, professor of practice for the department of performing arts. “We have no music majors participating in the GU Orchestra. The members are chosen through audition and they come from all disciplines on campus,” Gil-Ordóñez wrote in an email to The Hoya. “They are there not because it is a requirement but because they can not imagine spending 4 years in college without dedicating time to playing an instrument they have been devoted from an early age.” Through these groups, the music program offers opportunities for student musicians who could not otherwise find a musical outlet to get involved, according to Zhang. “I think the great thing at Georgetown is that there are people are interested in the arts, but you don’t have to,” Zhang said. “You have a lot of flexibility because the department really offers resources that students can take advantage of, but they don’t have to feel like they’re confined to any part.” Although the program offers student ensembles, its small size has inhibited its ability to offer more time for rehearsals for a single
ensemble, according to Zhang. “Because the department’s so small, you can’t have two different music groups that have rehearsals at different times, right?” Zhang said. “You only have one group that has the set rehearsal times. If someone has class, then they don’t have another option to go to.” However, the small size of the program can also foster meaningful relationships with professors that would be harder to forge in a program like those found at schools more devoted to music with a conservatory model and performance-focused curriculums, according to Gong. “Because the music department at Georgetown is quite small compared to other schools — like we don’t have a conservatory model — each student is able to receive a lot of attention one on one with professors,” Gong said. As the program continues to manage these structural limitations, the canon of music taught in classes continues to expand to include marginalized voices within its study, according to Gong. “I would like to see Georgetown continue to push for more representation and thinking about how we can connect social considerations of minorities and women in other relevant cultural things within the conversation of music,” Gong said. “You wouldn’t think that they’re super connected but I think everything in nature is very political and social.”
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019
THE HOYA
History of No. 1 Singles
14 WEEKS
Whitney Houston Boyz II Men Los del Río Elton John Elton John Mariah Carey The Black Eyed Peas
13 WEEKS
Boyz II Men Brandy and Monica
“I Will Always Love You” 1992–93 “I’ll Make Love to You” 1994 “Macarena” (Bayside Boys mix) 1996 “Candle in the Wind” 1997 “Something About the Way 1997 You Look Tonight” “We Belong Together” 2005 “I Gotta Feeling” 2009 “End of the Road” 1992 “The Boy Is Mine” 1998
12 WEEKS
19 WEEKS
“Old Town Road” Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus 2019
Santana ft. Rob Thomas “Smooth” 1999–00 Eminem “Lose Yourself” 2002–03 Usher ft. Lil Jon and Ludacris “Yeah!” 2004 The Black Eyed Peas “Boom Boom Pow” 2009 Robin Thicke ft. T.I. and Pharrell “Blurred Lines” 2013 Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth “See You Again” 2015 The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey “Closer” 2016 Ed Sheeran “Shape of You” 2017
11 WEEKS
All-4-One “I Swear” 1994 Toni Braxton “Un-Break My Heart” 1996–97 Puff Daddy and “I’ll Be Missing You” 1997 Faith Evans ft. 112 Destiny’s Child “Independent Women Part I” 2000–01 Drake “God’s Plan” 2018
10 WEEKS
16 WEEKS
16 WEEKS
Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men 1995-96
Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber 2017
“One Sweet Day”
“Despacito”
Debby Boone “You Light Up My Life” 1977 Olivia Newton-John “Physical” 1981–82 Santana ft. The Product G&B “Maria Maria” 2000 Ashanti “Foolish” 2002 Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland “Dilemma” 2002 Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx “Gold Digger” 2005 Beyoncé “Irreplaceable” 2006–07 Flo Rida ft. T-Pain “Low” 2008 Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris “We Found Love” 2011–12 Pharrell Williams “Happy” 2014 Adele “Hello” 2015–16 Drake ft. Wizkid and Kyla “One Dance” 2016 Drake “In My Feelings” 2018
First No. 1 Single
Current No. 1 Single
Ricky Nelson 1958
Lizzo 2019
“Poor Little Fool”
“Truth Hurts”
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019
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Rick Ross
ILLUSTRATION BY: ELOISE OWEN/THE HOYA
ILLUSTRATION BY: SAMUEL NELSON/THE HOYA