Note: I have updated my argument about Ariana Grande’s “blackface” in Rethinking Transracialism: Ariana Grande and Racial Ambiguity. Contemporary blackface no longer involves minstrelsy’s burnt cork or greasepaint to blacken the performers’ skin, but instead,  make-up foundation, artificial tanning and digital coloring are employed to play with racial mythologies and to exploit what blackness signifies. […]