hiss

One thing about me that you need to know: I’m a hottie.

For the uninitiated: I’m a fan of Megan Thee Stallion. I’ve been listening to her eponymous album “Megan” since it dropped last week and am mesmerized by her artistry. Megan seamlessly moves from diss tracks (most notably “HISS,” “Rattle,” and “Figueroa”) to celebrations of baddie weebdom (“Otaku Hot Girl” and the bilingual “Mamushi” ft. Japanese rapper Yuki Chiba) to honest melancholy (“Moody Girl” and “Cobra”).

There’s been a lot of great commentary on the album, and I really enjoyed ‘s review. They do a great job of dissecting Megan’s anime references, rejection of heteronormative assumptions around sex, and the (admittedly muddled) imagery of the album and its promotion:

Snakes are a major image from the album, something Megan cultivated with the album’s singles (“Cobra,” “HISS", and “BOA”). She explained the motif in an interview with L’Oreal in May:

As Sidney Madden and Shamira Ibrahim pointed out on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, the snake motif is apt. The album is a return to the confident sound and style that made Megan famous. Just as a snake sheds its outer layer of skin to emerge as a more polished version itself, Megan Thee Stallion has refined her talent and stardom in her latest album.

Snakes are notable for shedding their skin because they remove it all in one piece. (In comparison, humans tend to constantly rub off skin in flakes.) The precise process of snake skin shedding is known as ecdysis. Ecdysis primarily occurs in response to a snake’s growth. In order to elongate, snakes must rid themselves of the rigid layer of scales on their bodies’ surfaces. Additionally, ecdysis facilitates the removal of disease-causing parasites from the organism.

As a snake nears ecdysis, its new skin forms its eyes which appear bluish. This hinders the vision of the snake and decreases its ability to spot predators and prey. This vulnerable period is called the “blue” phase. Typically snakes are inactive during the blue phase, spending little time foraging and preferring the cool temperatures of the shade. When it is ready for ecydsis, the snake will hit its head against a hard surface, like a rock, to break the outer layer of dead skin. Once it works its head through the opening, it can slowly wriggle away from the rest of the shed layer. (Personally, it reminds me of turning a narrow fabric tube inside-out.) Now, the snake can return to foraging, looking for a delicious meal nearby.

As Megan Thee Stallion alluded to in her interview with L’Oreal, snakes have been symbol of spirituality and renewal since Ancient Egypt. Mehen referred to a protective snake deity and a popular board game. In Egyptian mythology, the deity Mehen protected Ra on a journey to the Underworld. The game Mehen parallels mythology and was played on a board of a coiled snake. A player’s objective was to undertake a journey to unite the dead with the god Ra, allowing the deceased to become divine. Historian Timothy Kendall describes the game as “an allegory of the struggle to conquer the terrors of the Underworld in order to achieve everlasting life.”

Megan’s struggles on her journey to rebirth have been chronicled in public - the loss of her mother, a breakup, and being the target of intense misogynoir. Yet, she is more confident in herself than ever, and her openness about her personal struggles, courageous in itself, is just one sign. She is showering herself with self-love (literally in “Down Stairs DJ”). It’s not that all her problems are solved, but she has renewed herself by refusing to let them define her. And that’s growth: neither linear nor clean, yet still palpable and real.

Thank you for reading Queer Science Lab. This post is public so feel free to share it.