Dr. Amara Pope Uncovers The Missing History Of Canadian R&B
Dr. Amara Pope is a second-generation Canadian-Trinidadian woman. Under thirty, Pope has completed her Ph.D., MA, and Joint Honors BA all while working at several jobs to pay for her education. Nothing was given. The onus was on her to succeed. She does.  Pope brings laser focus and personal clarity to her Ph.D. dissertation, “Canadians Redefining R&B: The Online Marketing of Drake, Justin Bieber, and Jessie Reyez.” The topic stems from the impact music had/ has (although not fully realized at the time) on this little girl growing up in a predominantly white place.
Today, Dr. Amara Pope is a passionate and confident marketing manager, the first in a loving working-class family to graduate with a Ph.D. Music became an important part of her life growing up, and the understanding of why and how significant came later in the journey, with Pope’s insightful Ph.D. dissertation.
Pope’s well-researched work uncovers the missing history of Canadian R&B which had been excluded from Canadian media in the past.  Pope features stories with Crack of Dawn, Oscar Peterson, Jackie Shane, Eleanor Collins & others. The paper critiques the organization of music through racial and national divides with insights from interviews conducted with music professionals and marketing executives. Pope explores how Canadian music was exclusively represented by white rock and folk artists & R&B music was exclusively used to group Black U.S. artists. The extensive dissertation argues that R&B exemplifies a multicultural Canadian identity by investigating how Drake, Justin Bieber, and Jessie Reyez broke into the music industry to represent multiple yet equally Canadian R&B artists.  Pope analyzes the growing popularity of contemporary Canadian R&B in the digital era by examining Drake’s, Bieber’s, and Reyez’s performances during BLM and the COVID-19 pandemic when they all released new music. The researcher takes an in-depth look at the rise of Canadian hip-hop and R&B music, specifically through the struggles of many racialized and immigrant Canadian artists who work together in the periphery of Canadian society to break into mainstream media.  Pope explores how these Canadian artists collaborated with many U.S. artists to establish what she calls “Canadian R&B music”, a mixture of R&B, hip-hop, pop, soca, reggae, and many immigrant sounds, styles, and cultures. The dissertation looks at how Drake, Justin Bieber, and Jessie Reyez reinforce, complicate, and or challenge dominant beliefs of “Canadian-ness” and “R&B-ness.”
At a young age, Pope relocated from Scarborough, On. with its diverse ethnicities to a small town in Elmira, On. where hers was the only “brown family.” They were known as the “brown” family in the corner house. Pope embraced her Trinidadian culture with strength, understanding and a sense of empowerment.  She grew up watching Canadian media reflect a predominately “white” Canada but didn’t question it until her post-secondary studies. She realized after her dissertation that musical artists like Bieber, Drake, and Reyez resonated with her younger self and allowed her to embrace different parts of her identity in ways that her immediate environments did not permit.  While writing her paper it became apparent just how personal it had become. The full impact of her research was only uncovered when the project was completed.  Pope uncovered a deep interest in exploring the ability of musical artists to create experiences that she can enjoy along with other listeners. These experiences champion a sense of being distinctly “Canadian” and create a space that allows herself and others to better understand and reflect on their own identity where they feel heard, seen, and embraced. The biggest takeaway at the end of the Project…Dr. Amara Pope is truly a proud Canadian-Trini from Elmira, ON. who can confidently embrace all intersecting, complicated, and challenging aspects of her complex identity, in no small part because of Canadian R&B.
First off care to introduce yourself to our readers?
I am Dr. Amara Pope, a Ph.D. graduate in Media Studies and a TEDx speaker with over 10 years of experience in Marketing across various industries, including finance, construction, and technology. Currently, I serve as the Marketing Manager of North America for a global telematics company in construction. As a minority woman, I am also a motivational speaker, emphasizing the significance of diverse representation in academia and the industries I engage with.
Tell us a bit about your recent release.
In an extension of my professional work in marketing, I explored the brand and marketing strategies of popular Canadian artists such as Drake, Justin Bieber, and Jessie Reyez. However, during my exploration, I noticed a gap in the history of Canadian hip-hop and R&B artists. This led me to investigate the collaborative efforts of Canadian artists in the periphery of a predominantly white Canadian society, working to build the genre world of Canadian R&B music. I addressed this gap in the literature and traced the episodic history of diverse Canadian artists, many of whom were immigrants, collaborating with U.S. artists and executives to shape the Canadian R&B music scene. The study also highlighted the historical representations of “Black identities” in music, from minstrelsy to the inception of contemporary Canadian R&B music, blending pop, hip-hop, and R&B. I then explored how Bieber, Drake, and Reyez fit into that history and highlighted how they broke into the industry. I explored how they developed their brand during particular historical moments the COVID-19 pandemic and the reinvigoration of the Black Lives Matter movements in 2020. I also conducted 35 interviews with marketing professionals and music executives in the U.S.A. and Canada as part of my study.
How do you typically go about the songwriting process? Do you have a specific method or creative routine that you follow?
Not necessarily. Creativity strikes like lightning and can fizzle out just as easily. When I feel creative, I isolate myself from the world and focus. I engage in internal dialogues until the creative process is complete. Since creativity can strike from anywhere, it’s essential to constantly change your environment, try new things, and be unafraid to venture into new experiences to stimulate both your mind and body.
Looking ahead, what are your plans for supporting this new release? Are there any upcoming tours, music videos, or additional content that fans can look forward to in connection with this project?
I bring a unique perspective to the world of Canadian R&B, examining it through the lens of identity as a minority woman, with marketing industry experience and theoretical academic insights as a Ph.D. graduate. To support this recent publication, I plan to engage with academics and popular culture press to raise awareness about the challenges many Canadians face in breaking into popular culture. I aim to shed light on their voices, music, and struggles. Additionally, I’ll be speaking at various events and company locations to emphasize the importance of diverse representation in approaching media from multiple perspectives, fostering both awareness and real change in how diverse identities are included in the everyday work of many companies.
Looking back on your musical career, is there a particular moment or accomplishment that you consider a turning point or a highlight?
Certainly, my TEDx Talk stands out as a turning point and accomplishment that I am most proud of. Speaking to thousands of people live from a stage and reaching thousands more online without any help from a press company, experience speaking to crowds, or connections in the entertainment industry or TEDx network was a testament to hard work paying off with some luck. After writing an essay on Drake’s marketing and branding strategies in his music videos, presenting it at conferences across Canada, and having it published by Simon Fraser University, my research gained significant press coverage. Networking with the press myself led to interviews with VICE, DailyHive, Toronto Star, CTV, CBC, and more. Subsequently, a TEDx organizer, having read an article about my research, invited me to participate. At the age of 22, I embraced the opportunity and have continued to work hard, anticipating more coverage for my now completed and broader Ph.D. project on the rise of Canadian R&B and the marketing and branding of Drake, Justin Bieber, and Jessie Reyez.
Last but not least, it’s time to pay it forward, what upcoming band or artist would you recommend your fans check out?
In the academic music world, I highly recommend exploring the work of Dr. Keir Keightley, Dr. Will Straw, Dr. Norma Coates, Dr. Alison Hearn, and Dr. Daniel Robinson, among others.
In the realm of Canadian R&B, I suggest listening to Jessie Reyez, Jully Black, Daniel Caesar, Deborah Cox, and Henry Lau, to name a few.
Connect with Dr. Amara Pope:
Website
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