“Fem!” Affective soundscapes and the convening of an aural youth public in #EndSARS

Abstract

During the #EndSARS protests, popular artist Davido's single “Fem”, rose to prominence as an unlikely but effective anthem for protesters. In colloquial use, Fem means “be quiet” and is derived from adults' popular use of the term to caution children from being noisy. the song's rise to prominence during the protests ostensibly followed the moment when the incumbent Lagos state governor had tried to address protesters and was silenced with “Fem”'s opening lines: “E be like you don dey talk too much, small talk, you don dey talk who talk; Fem!”. Drawing on “Fem”'s indexicality in that moment as a noisy interception/silencing of the authorised voice of the state, this paper examines the role of music in producing affective soundscapes through which youth mobilisation can be mediated. Lauren Berlant has described the publicness produced in affective soundscapes as “attachments to and investments in a sense of political and social mutuality that is performed in moments of collective audition”. Following this understanding of affective soundscapes, this paper asks two related questions. First: how does popular music produce environments of social mutuality that enables youth to convene in protest? Second: what forms of inclusion and exclusion are at stake in organising youth belonging through affective aurality? I draw on #EndSARS to demonstrate how popular music opens up a space where competing claims to political publicness can be made.