{"id":1047640,"date":"2022-08-01T19:43:23","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T16:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1047640"},"modified":"2022-08-01T19:43:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T16:43:23","slug":"what-shannon-thornton-from-p-valley-is-listening-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1047640","title":{"rendered":"What Shannon Thornton From *P-Valley* Is Listening To"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What Shannon Thornton From P-Valley<\/em> Is Listening To<\/h1>\n
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The actress worships Janet Jackson and cooks to D\u2019Angelo.<\/div>\n
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By <\/span>Alphonse Pierre<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Graphic by Callum Abbott, photo by Araya Doheny\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Shannon Thornton prepared for her role in P-Valley<\/em>, the Starz dramedy about the lives of dancers at a Mississippi strip club called the Pynk, by getting really into Southern rap\u2014specifically, rap from New Orleans. \u201cI was doing a lot of research, but it was Juvenile and the Hot Boys that made me go crazy,\u201d she says over Zoom. \u201cNow, whenever we want to have a good time in my trailer I put on Juvenile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Southern rap is the backbone of P-Valley<\/em>, which launched its second season earlier this summer. From regional classics to smaller gems that will make you pull out Shazam, the soundtrack makes the location feel lived in. This season, a few of the memorable needle drops have included Memphis underground hit DJ Zirk\u2019s \u201cLock Em in Da Trunk\u201d and Rick Ross\u2019 \u201cHustlin,\u201d along with a guest appearance by New Orleans bounce legend Big Freedia. Meanwhile, one of the show\u2019s characters is a rapper named Lil Murda\u2014played by J. Alphonse Nicholson in a breakout role\u2014and the original songs he performs actually aren\u2019t terrible.<\/p>\n

P-Valley<\/em>\u2019s first season was one of the welcome television surprises of the summer of 2020. The drama in and around the Pynk hooked me like a good soap opera and was my introduction to a deep-benched ensemble, including Thornton as a world-weary sweetheart named Keyshawn. The dancing was the most breathtaking aspect, though. Thornton remembers being put through an intensive bootcamp taught by award-winning pole dancers, including some who\u2019ve worked in Atlanta\u2019s famed Magic City, to develop her skills. This thoroughness extends to every aspect of the dance scenes: Often shot from the point of view of the dancers, the sharp choreography, mystical lighting, and fluid motion of the camera makes the moves look magical, while highlighting the physical demands of the athletic feat.<\/p>\n

That keen eye for shooting the pole-dancing scenes has carried into the darker and more surreal second season, where Keyshawn has left the Pynk and built a money-making foundation of her own, under the watch of her controlling boyfriend. Keyshawn steps into the limelight in the season\u2019s fifth episode, which explores her background and how she ended up in such a miserable and predatory relationship. It\u2019s carried by Thornton\u2019s vulnerable performance, as she goes from excited and full of ambition to broken and fearful in a snap.<\/p>\n

From her home in L.A., with her cat jumping in and out of her lap, Thornton caught up with Pitchfork to discuss how being on one of television\u2019s most musical shows right now has shaped her taste.<\/p>\n

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Janet Jackson: \u201cI Get Lonely\u201d (1997)<\/h2>\n
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Shannon Thornton: I\u2019m coming off a bit of a high right now. The cast of P-Valley<\/em> and I got to go down to Essence Fest in New Orleans and it was the first time we\u2019ve ever really felt famous. Best of all was I got to see a Janet concert and meet her backstage; oh my god, I almost died. I couldn\u2019t even speak, I was so nervous.<\/p>\n

She was my first concert, with Usher as an opener. But \u201cI Get Lonely\u201d has been one of my favorite songs since I was a kid; I think it has one of the most iconic videos ever. It\u2019s about a breakup and there\u2019s some desperation in her voice\u2014it\u2019s sexy and vulnerable at the same time. The beginning makes me lose my mind, when the instruments build up to that explosion. I went nuts as soon as I heard that opening at the concert.<\/p>\n

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D\u2019Angelo: \u201cReally Love\u201d (2014)<\/h2>\n
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I grew up in the era of neo-soul, back when they had the McCaf\u00e9 commercial with all the beautiful Black people in a little nightclub wearing different hues of brown and cream. D\u2019Angelo came out when I was a kid, but I didn\u2019t really understand him until I was older. This is just a beautiful, beautiful song about love. I listen to it when I\u2019m cooking, when I\u2019m getting ready for a night out, when I\u2019m just trying to have a mellow evening.<\/p>\n

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Maxwell: \u201cBad Habits\u201d (2009)<\/h2>\n
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This April I saw Maxwell in concert. He sang everything! At one point he turned his back to the crowd and the crowd sang his song for him. \u201cBad Habits\u201d is one of those songs that always makes me run it back to the beginning. When he sings, \u201cGirl there\u2019s no one as bad, no as bad as you\u201d that part gets me high. I sing louder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I like soulful songs since that\u2019s what my mom used to play, especially Al Green. At first I didn\u2019t understand it because I was like \u201cThis man sounds crazy,\u201d but then I saw him perform \u201cLove and Happiness\u201d on Soul Train<\/em> and it just made me melt.<\/p>\n

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Future: \u201cLove You Better\u201d (2022)<\/h2>\n
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In the makeup trailer I would request Future all the time. Sometimes we would have DJ battles where you go head-to-head with someone playing songs and I always would pick Future. He just gets you ready, especially before you have to go do a big performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove You Better\u201d is on his new album and I\u2019m actually the love interest in the music video. In the video you see Future deal with the consequences of being toxic as he has a nightmare of what life would be like without me. It\u2019s a switch-up for Future; I\u2019ve never heard him speak about love in this way. All the women just look like goddesses and the men look like clowns. That\u2019s just really cool.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

Source URL: https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/thepitch\/what-shannon-thornton-from-p-valley-is-listening-to\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Columns What Shannon Thornton From P-Valley Is Listening To The actress worships Janet Jackson and cooks to D\u2019Angelo. By Alphonse Pierre August 1, 2022 Graphic by Callum Abbott, photo by Araya Doheny\/Getty Images Shannon Thornton prepared for her role in P-Valley, the Starz dramedy about the lives of dancers at a Mississippi strip club called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-1047640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-pitchfork-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1047640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1047640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1047640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1047640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}