Aldrig nöjd
(2026) JOUK10 20252Journalism
- Abstract
- Music criticism has grown to become an important part of the modern cultural landscape, functioning as a mediating link between artistic expression and the audience. By evaluating music, journalists are in a position of symbolic power. Reviews are based on a subjective perspective but gain legitimacy through social and cultural frameworks. This raises a critical question: what happens when the sociocultural context is shaped by patriarchal structures? The music industry has evolved within gendered power structures that systemically favor men. While Sweden is recognized for its reputation as one of the most gender-equal countries in the world, this study demonstrates that such ideals are not unproblematically reflected in music criticism.... (More)
- Music criticism has grown to become an important part of the modern cultural landscape, functioning as a mediating link between artistic expression and the audience. By evaluating music, journalists are in a position of symbolic power. Reviews are based on a subjective perspective but gain legitimacy through social and cultural frameworks. This raises a critical question: what happens when the sociocultural context is shaped by patriarchal structures? The music industry has evolved within gendered power structures that systemically favor men. While Sweden is recognized for its reputation as one of the most gender-equal countries in the world, this study demonstrates that such ideals are not unproblematically reflected in music criticism. Using a postfeminist framework and critical discourse analysis (CDA), the study examines music reviews of Veronica Maggio, one of Sweden's most successful pop artists in the twenty-first century. By applying the theoretical concepts: ‘the perfect’, agency and the private sphere, to a limited number of reviews of Maggio’s album between 2006 and 2025, it is shown that patriarchal structures persist by taking new, more subtle, forms. As postfeminism draws attention to the entanglement of feminist and antifeminist views, the analysis reveals that Maggio is described as a subject, yet one whose agency is constrained by norms rooted in gendered ideals within music criticism. The reviews reflect neoliberal logics by framing Maggio's career as an endless project in which success is measured against an unattainable male ideal. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9216560
- author
- Bolmgren, Nike LU and Hagström, Elsa LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- En kritisk diskursanalys av hur Veronica Maggio skildras i svenska musikrecensioner
- course
- JOUK10 20252
- year
- 2026
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Veronica Maggio, journalism, music reviews, postfeminism, critical discourse analysis (CDA)
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9216560
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-12 10:14:30
- date last changed
- 2026-06-12 10:14:30
@misc{9216560,
abstract = {{Music criticism has grown to become an important part of the modern cultural landscape, functioning as a mediating link between artistic expression and the audience. By evaluating music, journalists are in a position of symbolic power. Reviews are based on a subjective perspective but gain legitimacy through social and cultural frameworks. This raises a critical question: what happens when the sociocultural context is shaped by patriarchal structures? The music industry has evolved within gendered power structures that systemically favor men. While Sweden is recognized for its reputation as one of the most gender-equal countries in the world, this study demonstrates that such ideals are not unproblematically reflected in music criticism. Using a postfeminist framework and critical discourse analysis (CDA), the study examines music reviews of Veronica Maggio, one of Sweden's most successful pop artists in the twenty-first century. By applying the theoretical concepts: ‘the perfect’, agency and the private sphere, to a limited number of reviews of Maggio’s album between 2006 and 2025, it is shown that patriarchal structures persist by taking new, more subtle, forms. As postfeminism draws attention to the entanglement of feminist and antifeminist views, the analysis reveals that Maggio is described as a subject, yet one whose agency is constrained by norms rooted in gendered ideals within music criticism. The reviews reflect neoliberal logics by framing Maggio's career as an endless project in which success is measured against an unattainable male ideal.}},
author = {{Bolmgren, Nike and Hagström, Elsa}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Aldrig nöjd}},
year = {{2026}},
}