Devon Powers facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Devon Powers
Powers at the 2007 Pop Conference, Experience Music Project, Seattle, Washington
Born	1977/1978 (age 46–47)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	New York University (2008)
Occupation	Music journalist, professor
Notable work	Blowing Up the Brand Writing the Record On Trend
Spouse(s)	David Bennion ​ (m. 2007)​
Scientific career
Institutions	Drexel University (2008–2016) Temple University (2016–2022) University of Michigan (2022–)

Devon Powers (born in 1977 or 1978) is an American professor, author, and former music journalist. She teaches about communication and media. Her work often explores how culture and trends are created and shared.

About Devon Powers

Devon Powers was born in 1977 or 1978. Her father, Lee R. Powers, is an engineer. Her mother, Mandy Powers, is a nurse. In 2007, she married a lawyer named David Bennion. Devon Powers is African American.

She studied English and women's studies at Oberlin College. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1999. Later, in 2008, she received her Ph.D. in media studies from New York University.

Between 2001 and 2004, she worked as a freelance music journalist. She wrote many articles for a website called PopMatters.

As of 2023^[update], she is a professor at the University of Michigan. She teaches about communication and media. Her research looks at how people buy things and how cultural trends spread. She also studies how ideas and products are promoted.

She has written two books. One is called Writing the Record: The Village Voice and the Birth of Rock Criticism (2013). The other is On Trend: The Business of Forecasting the Future (2019). She also helped edit a book called Blowing Up the Brand: Critical Perspectives on Promotional Culture (2010).

Writing the Record

In 2013, the University of Massachusetts Press published Writing the Record. This book is based on her Ph.D. research. It looks at the interesting connection between music critics and the rise of pop culture. This happened from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Devon Powers focused on two writers, Richard Goldstein and Robert Christgau. Both wrote for a famous New York newspaper called Village Voice. Powers suggests these music journalists were like "public thinkers." They shared important ideas, even if they weren't traditional university professors.

Powers was interested in this topic because she used to be a music journalist herself. She wrote a column for PopMatters called More Than Words: Musings on Music Journalism. In this column, she explored many of her ideas about the role of music criticism.

On Trend

In 2019, the University of Illinois Press published On Trend. This book explores the business of predicting future trends. It looks at how companies try to guess what will be popular next. This is called the trend analysis and futurology industry.

To write the book, Powers visited companies like Sparks & Honey. She also interviewed many people in the industry. This helped her gather information for the book. The book helps us understand this industry, which is often not very well known.

On Trend was chosen as an "Outstanding Academic Title" in 2020. This is a special award for excellent academic books.