Wrestling with a theme of George the Poet’s new podcast series, the writer and cultural producer asks if the dreams of romance R&B sold us were really a lie
Alicia Keys, I have a bone to pick with you.
For the moments I spent at the back of the classroom imagining myself into the music video for You Don’t Know My Name. Me, all skin and bone and fantasy, scribbling tunnel-vision dreams on to the backs of school textbooks, distracted by the thought of an almost recklessly venturesome type of love; one that in any R&B music video would see me abruptly leave the room to run towards my lover in slow motion, them standing at the end of the corridor wearing a gold chain and diamante earring, the bridge building its way out into the final chorus.
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